Bundaberg Regional Council to demolish Anzac Park Pool one year before centenary

Bundaberg Regional Council has brought forward plans to demolish the Queensland city's historic Anzac Park pool, to remain eligible for federal funding.

The council has received a $5 million government grant to build a new riverside recreational precinct, but the terms require the development — including demolition of the old pool — to be finished by 2023.

It will leave a community of 100,000 people with one public pool, until the new aquatic centre is completed in 2024.

Australian Olympian Michelle Pearson fondly remembers the hours of training spent in the Anzac Park pool back in the 70s.

The pool was the breeding ground for her illustrious career, including her bronze medal in the 200-metre individual medley at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

The 59-year-old said she supports the construction of a new aquatic centre, but the community needs more than one pool to accommodate swimmers.

«We were under the impression it was going to stay open for another two or three years — as long as it took for the other pool to be completed,» Ms Pearson said.

«We have got quotes where [Bundaberg Mayor] Jack Dempsey has said he was going to keep Anzac pool open until the new pool was built. 

»He has gone back on that word.

«We definitely need a new pool, either a revamped Anzac pool or a new facility.

»We need two pools to cater for all of the different community groups, swimmers and schools that use the facilities."

The council expects demolition of the 99-year-old pool to begin in the middle of this year.

It will see 1950s architecture reduced to rubble.

The council's Executive Director of Strategic Projects and Economic Development, Ben Artup, said the timeline had to be accelerated to meet funding guidelines.

«It is bittersweet, we've