Stories about the Creek's past - do you have one?

Swimming

Just about everyone from Illaroo Road remembers swimming at a favourite spot on Bomaderry Creek. Iain Chalmers remembers, "In the summer there was swimming at the Alum Rock natural pool on Bomaderry Creek which attracted large numbers of boys and girls of all ages from the neighbourhood. I don't remember any adults ever being in attendance." 
Elaine McMillan wrote in her memories that swimming at Alum Rock was "..wonderful for everyone! I guess the pathway down the cliff near Walsh Crescent is still there..." Margaret Sharpe said, "We sometimes went swimming at Alum Rock which we approached by 'going down the hill' and through Peel's farm. The distance was about 1.5 km but we were not allowed to go by ourselves and as Dad could not take us often we did not go enough to be able to learn to swim." Mavis and Lilian Moulds, along with Evelyn Freeman recall almost drowning in the Creek, but were saved by their neighbour, Frank Clark.

Fred Ralph was another kid who used to clamber down the cliff to swim and dive off Alum Rock. Fred's brother Bill remembers that people used to say it was safer to swim in the Creek as there were too many sharks in the Shoalhaven River. He also remembers that his sister's future husband, Digger James, was the first one to dive into the new Nowra swimming pool when it was built [in 1957]. Carol Booth (nee Beech) remembers building a cubby house down in the bush where Peak Avenue and Condie Crescent are now. She remembers a dramatic day at Alum Rock: "My brothers were swinging out on a rope and couldn't swim. Another brother jumped in to help. Greg Fountain jumped in and saved him. My mother Muriel gave him a pound for saving him."


Extracted from the book, "Track by the River - the early residents of Illaroo Road", with the kind permission of Illaroo Road History Committee and Kathy Sharpe.