Forbidden dips, leeches and tea-totalling catering

THE Chiltern Memorial Hall is a far cry from the original 'gathering of the troops' when four young women met in a car to come up with a plan to get the old Chiltern pool upgraded 60 years ago. But that was where members of the Chiltern Ladies Pool Auxiliary met on Wednesday, March 3 to share a morning tea and plenty of stories - tall and true by all accounts. Two years ago, Marianne O'Connor was made aware of the huge community effort to raise funds for upgrading the pool facility and felt there should be a commemoration plaque at the pool. "There is a lot of gratitude for the facility itself, but no history of why or how it came to be there," Marianne said. "I took the idea to the Athenaeum Committee who thought it was a fantastic project. "Faye Lappin and Maureen Everett have been collaborating with me and going through the archives from the (Chiltern) Federal Standard newspaper. "Faye put together the Powerpoint presentation for the morning tea which traced the history of the pool from the first days of the baths in the 1860s until the 1970s." In the 1860s, Chiltern found itself among the influx of those seeking their fortune during the gold rush and the Alliance Mine was used as pools. Reports in the Federal Standard at the time reference a swimming bath or swimming hole and there is a story that there was a baptism by immersion at Black Dog Creek in 1861. The birth of the Chiltern Baths came in 1873 when tenders were called for and the Barambogie Water Scheme was constructed the same year to supply Chiltern's water. The summer of 1874-75 saw the baths opened and it was no doubt enjoyed by youngsters who were allowed in the one foot depth near the shore, as well as the teens and adults who were allowed all the way to the eight foot section. Until 1912, mixed bathing was not allowed and there was plenty of chortling when this fact was mentioned - one of the women suggesting that once it was allowed, it's how they came to be created. The baths received an upgrade of some sort in the 1920s, but most of the stories from the gathered women were from the 1950s onwards and one fact that didn't seem to make the papers, but was still foremost in the minds of the women, was that the 'old' baths with its mud/dirt floor was full of leeches. Isabel Edgar told the story of the one and only time she went in the baths in 1952. "I came to work in Chiltern in 1952 and Wilma talked me into going for a swim, so I bought a pair of swimming togs and I went over and they chucked me in," she said. "Well, I got out faster than I got in, because I was covered in leeches." Norma Bagley also told the story of when her she and her sister visited the old pool. "My sister had to dink me to school because I was only little, and we weren't supposed to go near the swimming pool but of course, we didn't do as we were told. "So we were at the swimming pool and low and behold, Ev got pushed in, clothes and all. "Well, we went home in a fit because we knew we were in trouble but mum wasn't home, so we washed our clothes, got them out and ironed and all ready for when she came home. "She didn't find out for three weeks, but when she did, the two older girls got a bit of a spanking and I got away with it." As the 1960s drew closer, rumblings started in town about the need for a pool, a proper one, which is when those original four women met in a car and decided that they would be the ones to do something about it. Isabel Edgar, Norma Bagley, Margaret Chivers (later Cornford) and Edie Peisley were those four women and after that first auspicious meeting, they recruited friends and started meeting at the CWA rooms or at one another's homes, attending meetings and fundraisers with their children in prams. The Chiltern Ladies Pool Auxiliary was formed and they set about raising funds (for a concrete floor in particular) by catering weddings, funerals, dinners, dances, balls, street stalls and race meetings with the first wedding charged at '7 and 6' per head. One particular wedding stood out: the bride and groom were tea-totallers but the mother didn't approve of that, so she slipped some port or sherry into the punch. The children in attendance thought it was lovely! The pool was officially opened with a swimming carnival on December 20, 1964 and the Governor of Victoria - Sir Rohan Delacombe - was in attendance on his first visit to Chiltern. He presented trophies to the winners of the carnival alongside Raymond Baker, who was the President of the Swimming Club. Nine year old Denise Edgar (now Fisher), daughter of Ladies Auxiliary member Isabel Edgar, presented flowers to the Governor as well as Shire President of Chiltern Ben Hicks and his wife. Isabel said that Denise was dressed all in white - from her shoes and knee-high socks, to the simple dress, to the flowers wrapped around her hair and the white gloves she had to don because she was going to hand something to the Governor. After the pool was open, the women ran the kiosk out of a cement grey shed on the weekends, collecting the ice cream from the train ready to be sold and they continued to fundraise with all monies going towards wages for the groundskeeper, kiosk and general attendants. "It was a lot of work, but we had a lot of fun," they noted. In 1965, Councillor Jack McInerney opened the amenities block, replacing the bathing boxes. No one quite remembers how many women were in the auxiliary but there were suggestions of around 70 over 16 years with 15 former members attending last week. The highlight of the swimming season seemed to come on New Year's Eve when a carnival was held. At the end of the carnival, a duck would be thrown into the pool and whoever managed to catch it, could take it home and cook it up for New Year's Day dinner. The diving board at the park end of the pool evoked more stories, with the women saying it was always popular but after a number of accidents was removed in the 1970s for safety reasons. The Ladies Auxiliary was still raising funds for salaries in 1976 but when the fundraising and payments became too much, the Chiltern Shire Council took over the running of the pool. Chiltern Shire Council became Indigo Shire Council, who is still in charge of the pools today. Apart from a shade sail added in 2018, the pools are exactly what they were when the women worked so hard to have them created in 1964. These trail-blazing women may be in their twilight years, and many former auxiliary members have passed away or were unable to attend due to ill health, but the ones who were there showed the sort of spirit and can-do attitude that 'got it done' so many years ago. Marianne is hopeful that permanent storyboards will be placed at the pool to share its history, and she is working to create a booklet of memories from the Chiltern Ladies Pool Auxiliary members.

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