20 December 1969     New Swimming Centre

The new swimming centre in the parklands in North Adelaide was opened by the Premier, Steele Hall, on 20 December 1969. The centre was financed by the State Government, City Council, the municipalities of Prospect and Walkerville and the SA Amateur Swimming Association and cost $469,500. It was designed to replace the old City Baths which were situated on King William Road, behind Parliament House and the old Government Printing Office, and which were originally built in 1860. In 1882 Charles Farr built new baths to the design of the city surveyor although earlier Rowland Rees had won £100 for his design in a competition. The building was of unusual proportions with extraordinary decorations, all of which was left intact, including a fine cedar staircase, when the baths were re-modelled in 1940. At this time a swimming pool of Olympic size was constructed and a high diving tower added and the pool was heated in cold weather. Bathers had to pass under showers and through a footbath before entering the pool area. The building also contained Turkish baths and slipper baths with hot water as well as showers. The whole complex was demolished in 1974.

City of Adelaide Municipal Year Book, 1949/50, pp.161-63 & 1971/74, pp.164-66.
Michael Burden, Lost Adelaide, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1983, p.191.