"A joyful, moving, nostalgic and original take at what it means to be Australia. Dive in! Robert Drewe" -- Front cover.

Bibliography: pages 236-251.

Introduction -- Suburban pools: -- Trent Dalton: sprinting to the Sandgate swimming pool -- Yusira Metwally: becoming an Auburn water baby -- Bryan Brown: bumping into life at Bankstown Baths -- Bay pools: -- Mick Thomas: everyone was welcome at Geelong -- Tony Doherty: captured in cool green wander -- John McSweeney: showing off at Brighton Baths -- Therese Spruhan: embracing the glorious king tide -- Sea pools: -- Lizze Buckmaster Dove: falling in love with the blue pool -- Ashley Hay: reflections on the water at Austinmer -- Richard Chimelewski: diving for catches in Adelaide -- Linda Kennedy: living it up at the Hollywood Pool -- Building pools: -- David Bartlett: endless games in the backyard -- Kim Mettam: plunging into the beauty in Perth -- Lily Sisa: dreaming big in Lightening Ridge -- Merv Knowles: a bonzer brother at Manuka -- Historic pools: -- Ellen Connor: the campaign to save Fitzroy Pool -- Diane Vukelic: toasting a Swan River icon -- Jo-anne Larter: a water-lover in Launceston -- Diane Fingleton: escaping to the Spring Hill Baths -- Champions of the pool: -- Priya Cooper: from Kalamunda to the Paralympics -- Shane Gould: learning about life at Pymble -- Daniel Kowalski: from little pools big champions grow -- Laurie Lawrence: smashing records in Townsville -- Country pools: -- Leah Purcell dancing in the water of Murgon -- Jan Cornall: wrestling with the boys in Rochester -- Lee Fontanini: growing up at Fonty's Pool -- Merrick Watts: Disneyland in Broken Hill -- Biographical notes -- Acknowledgements.

“Smell the chlorine, taste the hot chips and feel the burning concrete underfoot as you read these stories of Australia childhoods at the pool. Swimming is a central part of most Australian childhoods. We idealise beaches and surf, but for many kids the local pool - whether it's an ocean, tidal or a chlorinated pool - is where they pass summer days. Pools are places of imagination, daring, belonging, freedom, friendship and romance. For some they are places of hard-core swimming training. This delightful, nostalgic anthology bring together reflections and recollections about the swimming pools of childhood from a range of Australians of diverse ages and backgrounds, well known and not-so-famous, including Trent Dalton, Leah Purcell, Shane Gould, Bryan Brown and Merrick Watts. Evocative, funny and sometimes bittersweet, 28 people remember the pools that shaped their childhoods. Everyone who has every dived into their local Olympic pool, bush waterhole or saltwater baths will want to submerge themselves in this beautiful book.”--Back cover.