General News
3 October, 2025
Family swimming legacy
Big crowds, lawns filled with towels, an Olympic-sized pool used as it was intended — these are the memories of four generations of the Branch family.
Maryborough’s heritage listed outdoor pool has been the centre of life for generations of locals — until it wasn’t.
In a familiar story to many, Maryborough’s Outdoor Pool Precinct was closed in 2022 after the 85-year-old 50-metre pool was declared to be at “end of life” stage.
In the years since, a groundswell of community support has come together, helping secure $9 million in state and federal funding — all in an effort to reopen the pool.
Another step in this journey comes with the townwide garage sale next Saturday, October 11, to build awareness of the pool’s plight.
For the local Branch family the closure wasn’t just the end of a pool, but a way of life.
From Arthur Branch who coached at the pool, to his son Robert who competed, his son Jacob who has fond memories, and his daughter Zayah who wants a chance to make her own.
Although Robert might now be grey, he was a young athlete once, and he’s got the ribbons to prove it.
He recalls fondly a love of swimming passed on from his dad to him and his five siblings at a young age.
“Everyone could swim like fish. The whole lot of us were involved in swimming,” he said.
Robert and his siblings would go to the pool “religiously” during the summer. The warmer months established a routine.
He’d walk down, spend the day at the pool, get picked up by his dad after work, and then do it all again.
“The pool itself, whilst it was going, honestly you couldn’t have gotten a better recreation place to grow up in,” Robert said.
It’s that experience Jacob grew up with too, and one Zayah almost had, but as the years go on time is running out.
“They’re going to be old enough they’re not even going to care anymore,” Jacob said.
That’s why Colleen Branch, Robert’s wife, and the rest of her family are taking part in the garage sale.
“They’re at the age where we should be taking them to the outdoor pool, that window has nearly closed, so it’s sad,” she said.
“We want them to experience that pool life and they do too.”
The community are invited to next weekend’s whole-town garage sale raising awareness for the pool and money for its community advocacy group Friends of Maryborough Outdoor Pool Precinct.
Locals are also able take part in the garage sale by registering online, by scanning the QR code on the event poster, or at participating businesses such as the Visitor Information Centre, ASQ, Mitre 10, newsXpress, Bi-Rite, and the Bull and Mouth.
Colleen, who said she’d march down the street if it’d reopen the pool, calls on the whole community to take part.
“Get on board with this pool and get on board with this community,” she said.
