BY SHANI DOIG
What would memories of a childhood spent at Wynnum be without some reference to the Wynnum Wading Pool?
To a child’s eye it seemed the single most enormous pool in all of Brisbane and sat there tantalising and tempting ready for seemingly hundreds of children to paddle, splash and slide every weekend.
If you say “slide” to a child today they think of wave and water parks and the seemingly death-defying water slides that exist therein.
When I talk of the slippery slide at the Wynnum Wading Pool back in the day I am talking of a wooden structure with a few steps leading up to a metal slide into the pool.
That’s right kids – none of this plastic stuff, my generation risked splinters and very hot bottoms before sliding down a whole metre and a half into the water below.
We may not have been the daredevils of today, but we were tough – really, really tough!
It’s funny, when I think of the wading pool I think of children, as its depth is just perfect for pint-sized people. Imagine my surprise then to learn that the wading pool was not designed to be the sole purview of children but also for their adult counterparts.
Built in 1932 by depression workers, it opened in 1933 for the use of day trippers and holiday makers who, prior to its construction, had to swim in the sea. Alas with both sharks and jellyfish being a very real threat for those who took at dip in Moreton Bay, the wading pool was designed in the 1920s as a safe and rather respectable alternative.
Now of course times have changed and most adults can find their way to swimming pools or the ocean allowing the wading pool to be used for the most part by children. It is the laughter and squeals of absolute delight from said children that bring a smile to my face every time I visit.
