Remote NT community cheers as swimming pool reopens

ABC NEWS (Australia)

After five long, hot summers, people in the remote top end community of Wadeye are cheering the return of their local swimming pool. The pool has sat empty, with children forced to take respite by swimming in saltwater crocodile-inhabited creeks.

Transcript

00:00 A moment of unbridled joy as Wardair finally gets its pull back.

00:07 Our kids are all happy because it's been a long waited for five years for this pool to

00:14 get repaired and kids are really, really happy.

00:18 I like to watch them enjoying themselves and it was pretty hot.

00:23 Yeah, it's good to have swimming pool back and the kids are excited.

00:29 With a population of more than 2,000, Wardair, 400km southwest of Darwin, is one of Australia's

00:36 biggest remote Aboriginal communities and sees temperatures soar above 40 degrees.

00:42 For years the pool has sat empty, which residents say caused kids to seek out swimming spots

00:47 in dangerous croc inhabited creeks and rivers.

00:51 It was danger for them to get drowned or something. Now everyone's excited, all the adults too,

00:57 for their children to be safe.

01:01 With dancing and traditional ceremony, the pool's $4.5 million rebuild was officially

01:07 opened this week. Locally trained lifeguards on deck to make sure it all went off with

01:12 a splash.

01:14 Kids drowning or something will happen to them, so we're there.

01:18 It's been a tough couple of years here in Wardair and many are hoping the return of

01:22 the pool can help bring about a new chapter of peace and help break the cycle of frustration

01:28 and boredom in the hot summer months.

01:30 Diving in to a new chapter for this unique part of Australia.

01:34 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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