Club history · Since 1964
Generations in the water.
A Club for life.
From the old War Memorial Pool to Epping and home again. For more than 60 years, Parramatta Memorial Swimming Club has brought families together through racing, water safety and friendships that last.
1959: a pool for Parramatta
On 24 October 1959, around 5,000 people gathered for the opening of Parramatta’s War Memorial Swimming Centre. Years of community fundraising and Council planning had created a place to swim—and a living memorial to those who died in the Second World War.
The campaign had begun long before. In November 1946 the Parramatta-Macarthur sub-branch of the RSL asked Council for public baths. After years of fundraising and planning, the first sod was turned on 23 November 1957, when about 2,000 children dug for buried “lucky tokens”.
The O’Connell Street pool became PMSC’s home when the Club formed in 1964.
Read the opening report in The Cumberland Argus
Read the 1957 first-sod report in The Cumberland Argus
1964: the Club takes shape
On 29 September 1964, 17 people met at the Parramatta Police and Citizens Boys Club to form an amateur swimming club at the War Memorial Pool. The Club’s foundation president was D. A. Cox, later a Life Member.
From 1964, Saturday racing became a family routine, with volunteers laying lane ropes and timing swims with mechanical stopwatches. Peter Hession, Life Member, also recalls water polo, diving and synchronised swimming among the early Club activities.
By February 1965, the Fairfield paper The Biz was reporting Saturday races at Parramatta Memorial Pool “conducted by the Memorial Pool Swimming Club”.
In the early years, families raised funds through raffles, swimathons and lamington drives, and presentation nights at Parramatta Town Hall meant suits and elegant gowns.
“This is where every family got involved.”
Peter Hession, Life Member, recalling the Club’s fundraising
1964: free learn-to-swim begins
In 1964, volunteers began offering free learn-to-swim classes after Saturday races. Peter Hession, Life Member, recalls helpers as young as ten and demand so strong that enrolments sometimes had to close when classes reached capacity. Young swimmers were learning to help the next generation. The lessons continued until the old pool closed in 2017.
1970s: learning to save lives
Founding member Kevin Hession established a lifesaving program in association with the Royal Life Saving Society of Australia.
1980: diving, water polo and a trip to Canberra
By 1980 the Club had divers and water polo players as well as swimmers. In March 1980 all three visited Canberra as guests of the Canberra Amateur Swimming Club and the ACT Water Polo Club. Club divers were also on the program for a high-tower diving exhibition at the National Capital’s 50th anniversary swimming carnival in January 1981.
Read The Canberra Times, 28 March 1980
Read The Canberra Times, 4 December 1980
Late 1980s–1990s: warmer water, busy squads
Peter Hession, Life Member, remembers the pool remaining unheated until the late 1980s, making October mornings a test of resolve: “Nevertheless, we all swam regardless.”
The 1996–97 Club photo names more than 70 members, many of them parents and children from the same families, with Club President Max Potts and a coaching team led by Head Club Coach Fred Mills.
2009: the Kevin Hession Stand
The pool reopened in 2008 after a major refurbishment that added a four-tier grandstand. In 2009, Club President Peter Ayoub lodged the Club’s petition asking Council to name it after founding member Kevin Hession. On 24 October 2009, 50 years to the day after the pool opened, Lord Mayor Paul Garrard officially named it the Kevin Hession Stand. It recognised more than 45 years of service to the Club, the free learn-to-swim program and the Parramatta community.
Read the Club’s request in Council’s papers
Read the Parramatta Advertiser on the refurbished pool, August 2008 (archived copy)
2016: standing up for the pool
In 2016, plans for a new stadium put the pool in its path, and the Club spoke up for it. In May, Club President Peter Ayoub handed the Club’s petition to save the pool to Dr Geoff Lee MP, and in December members joined the Save Parramatta Pool rally in Centenary Square. The old pool could not be saved, but the Club kept pressing for a new one in Parramatta.
2017: farewell to the old pool
The War Memorial Swimming Centre closed on 31 March 2017 to make way for the new stadium. For PMSC, it meant leaving the pool that had been home since the Club began. Members raced there for the last time on 18 March.
At dusk on the final day, most swimmers left the water and stood in silence as the Last Post was played. Club members gathered beneath the Club banner for a members’ evening until the gates closed at 8pm.
That night, the Club said goodbye on Facebook: “Our very last time at our beloved Parramatta War Memorial Swimming Pool. We will miss you. Our club lives on, our spirit, love and camaraderie will continue to thrive until our new home is built.”
Read the Parramatta Advertiser’s report of the final day
Read the Club’s farewell post on Facebook, 31 March 2017
2017–2023: the Epping years
The Club found a new home at Epping Aquatic Centre at Dence Park, with “a beautiful bush backdrop”, as the Club put it after its first meet there on 7 October 2017. There were fewer lanes than at Parramatta, but Saturday racing and training carried on, and in January 2018 the City of Parramatta presented the Club with its Australia Day Sports Achievement Award.
2019–2020: remembering Kevin Hession
In January 2019, founding member Kevin Hession received the Lord Mayor’s Community Service Award, and on Anzac Day 2020, with gatherings cancelled, he laid flowers for the Club at the Parramatta Cenotaph before dawn. He died on 24 September 2020, aged 89, after 56 years as a Club volunteer. By then the Club counted four generations of Hessions, and two of his great-grandchildren were in his training squad.
Four days later, Council held a minute’s silence and resolved to name a stand at the new aquatic centre after him. On 6 October, Julie Owens, then Member for Parramatta, paid tribute to him in the House of Representatives.
“He was central to the creation of this wonderful cross-generational community that is the Parramatta Memorial Swimming Club.”
Julie Owens, then Member for Parramatta, House of Representatives, 6 October 2020
2020–2022: swimming through COVID
The 2019–20 season finished on 21 March 2020, days before COVID-19 closed Council’s pools. The Club kept going: the committee met online, a registered COVID-safe plan brought members back to the pool for the next season, and the postponed trophies were presented at the Family Fun Day in December 2020.
After the 2021 lockdown, racing returned in late October, and that season’s Club photo was taken in masks.
2023: home again
After six seasons at Epping, the Club held its last Club day there on 18 March 2023. On 25 September, Parramatta Aquatic Centre opened, and Club members joined the celebrations as PMSC returned to Parramatta.
In 1959, local store Murray Brothers had marked the old pool’s opening with a swimwear fashion parade. At PAC’s opening, Club members paid homage with a fashion show of their own: a joyful link between two opening days, 64 years apart.
The connections to the past remain: the outdoor Memorial Swimming Pool, the Kevin Hession Stand—his name carried over from the old pool—and a heritage display featuring Club memorabilia.
The Club today
Club racing, training and social swimming continue at PAC, with new swimmers and volunteers adding their own chapter.
Christmas Fun Day
Each December, the year’s racing ends with family relays, a Club tradition since the early years, plus games, dress-ups and plenty of food.
Anzac Day
The Club Captains lay a wreath at the Parramatta Cenotaph dawn service, a link to the war memorial pool where the Club began.
Season presentation
Each season ends with the presentation of awards, a tradition that goes back to the Club’s Town Hall nights. In May 2025, it marked 60 years of the Club.
Drawn from Club records, Council archives and members’ memories. With thanks to Peter Hession, Life Member, and the families who have preserved the Club’s photographs.
Sources and photo credits
- PMSC archive: minutes of the public meeting on 29 September 1964; Peter Hession’s account of the early years; the Club’s record of the Kevin Hession Stand naming on 24 October 2009; Club photographs, including the named 1996–97 Club photo; the Club’s Facebook posts, 2016–2026 (the pool campaign, the farewell, the Epping and COVID-19 years, Kevin Hession’s later years and Club traditions); committee minutes and President’s reports, 2019–2024. Approximate periods for early Club memories follow Peter Hession’s account; individual outings are not precisely dated.
- City of Parramatta: The Parramatta and District War Memorial Swimming Pool—community fundraising, opening and closure.
- Trove, National Library of Australia: The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, 13 November 1946, p. 4—the RSL’s request for public baths (out of copyright; clipping reproduced); The Cumberland Argus, 27 November 1957, p. 1—the first sod.
- The Club in the press, via Trove, National Library of Australia: The Biz (Fairfield), 10 February 1965, p. 12—the earliest press report found of Club racing; The Broadcaster, 29 November 1977, p. 8—D. A. Cox as the Club’s foundation president and life member; The Canberra Times, 28 March 1980, p. 14 (Robert Bidmeade) and 4 December 1980, p. 28 (Jonathan Green)—the Club’s divers and water polo players in Canberra.
- News reports: Sydney Morning Herald, 6 April 2016 (Melanie Kembrey)—the plan to demolish the pool for the new stadium; Parramatta Advertiser, 26 August 2008 (Scott Howlett)—the refurbished pool and its new grandstand; 16 March 2017 and 5 April 2017 (Tony Bosworth)—the Club’s members’ evening and the pool’s final day; Parra News, 25 September 2023 (Ellie Busby)—PAC’s opening. The 2017 Advertiser reports are on the Daily Telegraph website (a subscription may be needed); the 2008 report no longer exists there, so it links to the Internet Archive’s copy.
- Council papers, 27 April 2009, item 11.2—the Club’s petition to name the grandstand after Kevin Hession, lodged by then-President Peter Ayoub and supported by Parramatta Diving Club and Parramatta Water Polo Club, with Kevin’s teaching and the 1970s lifesaving program. Resolution 10663 records Council’s support.
- Swimming Pool Stories: Tiles, curves and schoolgirls and the last days of Parramatta Pool, Therese Spruhan, 5 April 2017—the grandstand named in Kevin Hession’s honour, and her photograph of the Kevin Hession Stand.
- Council minutes, 9 April 2018, item 7.3—PMSC as an Epping Aquatic Centre user group.
- Council papers, 28 September 2020, item 8.2 and minutes—condolence motion for Kevin Hession, his years of service and the stand at the new centre.
- Hansard, House of Representatives, 6 October 2020—Julie Owens MP’s statement on Kevin Hession.
- City of Parramatta: Naming Project for the Parramatta Aquatic Centre—the grandstands named after Kevin Hession at the old and new pools.
- Council papers, 25 September 2023, item 8.1—PAC’s opening and memorial names.
- City of Parramatta: Swimming through time—the Club’s volunteer lessons and memorabilia display.
- City of Parramatta: A Pool for Parramatta!—the 1959 swimwear parade. 1959 film still supplied by Brodie Wright from Parramatta Heritage’s opening-day film at 3:06; linked to the original video. The Club’s 2023 tribute is recorded in the Club’s opening-day photographs and account.
- Town Hall photograph: City of Parramatta Heritage Archives, c. 1982, from Parramatta History and Heritage: Parramatta Town Hall, reused under Council’s Creative Commons attribution share-alike terms.
- Original pool photograph: City of Parramatta Archives, PRS111/980, from the Council Engineers’ Department photographic negatives. Source linked in the caption; Council’s copyright and reuse information. Image reproduced without alteration. Other photographs: PMSC Media Archive, with named collections or photographers credited in captions.