Find of the Month

August 2026

Heating Manuka Pool

Manuka swimming pool under construction. NAA: A3560, 6446.

Manuka Pool was Canberra's first pool, originally simply named “The Swimming Pool”. Originally planned for Acton, the Public Works Committee then recommended an alternative site to be closer to the Telopea Park School. Shorter than the original design, with a now-novel length of 30.48 metres (100 feet), the pool was officially opened on 26 January 1931.

A postcard from the 1940s depicting Manuka Pool. Courtesy of ACT Heritage Library, HMSS 0250, Item 1940_19.

Swimmers enjoy the water at the Manuka Swimming Pool, 1930s. Photograph courtesy of ACT Heritage Library, reference number 001226.

There was sustained demand for heating of the pool from various community groups. The Canberra Amateur Swimming Club advocated for the installation of heating to extend the swim season, writing to Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies and getting articles in The Canberra Times. The club invoked child safety as an important argument for heating, arguing that as the temperature dropped each year, attendance at learn-to-swim classes dropped as well.

'Fight' For Heated Pool To Continue, The Canberra Times 21/01/1964, Page 24.

ACT Government records contain a 1977 letter from the Telopea Amateur Swimming Club to the Commissioner of the National Capital Development Commission (NCDC), and their reply.

ArchivesACT: ACT59, NC-77/01119 page 66 and 67. Click the images to view larger.

In 1977, a study examined the feasibility of both heating Manuka Pool and extending its length to 50 metres. Heating with a boiler was recommended, and the prospect of solar heating was advised “to be deferred until the solar-heater installation at the Macquarie Swimming Pool [later known as Big Splash] has been studied for several years” (NC-77/01119, p32). Since other specifications of the pool such as the lane widths and depths did not comply with Olympic requirements, the cost to extend the pool was not seen to be justified. The report advised that heating the Manuka Pool was feasible, however the NCDC prioritised heating the Canberra Olympic Pool.

A chart graphing estimated pool water temperatures. ArchivesACT: ACT59, NC-77/01119 page 43. Click the image to view larger.

A 1980 minute paper stated that “Manuka Pool is the last pool to be heated in Canberra” (NC-81/01267p260). In 1981, a Standing Committee on Development report about public swimming pools recommended (among other works at Dickson and Civic Pools) that the Manuka Pool be heated. It also recommended "that Solar heating as a supplementary heating method be installed progressively in Canberra pools as a matter of policy" (NC-81/01267 p270).

The 1980s records contain a collection of technical research relating to water temperature, evaporation, efficiency curves, and thermal properties of different materials. They comprise studies, reports, and copies of product information brochures from various suppliers. The solar heating was installed by the end of 1981. A gas boiler to augment the solar was installed later.

ArchivesACT: ACT59, NC-81-1267 page 130 and 131. Click images to view larger.

A plan diagram for installation of solar heating at Manuka Pool. ArchivesACT: ACT59, NC-81-1267 page 277. Click image to view larger.

Records show that a pool cover was also installed at around the same time. The records are novel as they contain stapled-on samples of proposed materials for the pool cover and the solar heating system.

Design for the pool cover roller. ArchivesACT: ACT59, NC-81-1267 page 167. Click to view larger image.

Samples of materials. ArchivesACT: ACT59, NC-81/01267

ACT Government records provide a part of the rich history of the Manuka Pool, which remains a popular destination to this day. As for the social history, community stories, and memories surrounding Manuka Pool there is much more you can explore. The ACT Heritage Library holds the 1994 book That's Where I Met My Wife: A Story of the first Swimming Pool at Manuka, as well as related material in the records of the Canberra Stories Group.

Special thanks to the Friends of Manuka Pool for recently seeking out these records and providing the impetus for us to share them with you. Their website has more interesting history and stories, and photographs.

Ready to start your own research? Make an enquiry and we will be happy to help.
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ACT Government records used

NC-77/01119 MANUKA SWIMMING POOL GRIFFITH018 MODIFICATION
NC-81/01267 MANUKA SWIMMING POOL SOLAR HEATING

Other sources

Federal capital architecture : Canberra 1911-1939 / text: Ken Charlton ; photography: Rodney Garnett with sketches by Martin Fowler. National Trust of Australia (A.C.T.), 1984.
Government Records about the Australian Capital Territory / Ted Ling. National Archives of Australia, 2013.
Manuka Pool Website
Friends of Manuka Pool Website
Heated Pool Would Extend Swim Season, The Canberra Times 28/04/1964, Page 21.
'Fight' For Heated Pool To Continue, The Canberra Times 2 /01/1964, Page 24.
Pool is part of history, The Canberra Times 04/12/1994, Page 27.