Mrs Enid and Mr Carl Borowsky recall learning to swim in the Georges River in the 1920s, interviewed 1986

Mrs Enid Borowsky was interviewed, with her husband Carl Borowsky, in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900-1960 ' project. They recall learning to swim in Powells Creek and the Georges River in the 1920s, and the effect of drought on water quality.

Transcript

CARL: I learned to swim out in Powell's Creek at Hoxton Park. You hear all these people living around the valley squealing 'it took us years to get a swimming pool'. I said 'what are you talking about?' We all learnt to swim, I said 'what didn't learn to swim down there under the bridge and dive off the old wooden bridge, all of us had a big swimming pool in the creek out there behind Powell's Park.'

ENID: When we were all kiddies, Joe, he used to take us all up the river, we used to go to Casula, just near where the golf course used to be, under the viaduct there and he taught all us young ones to swim. He'd kid us to get on his back and go out in the middle and then he'd dump us. He was a devil.

CARL: And then when we got a dry season and a drought season was on, Dr Pirie, you'd see it written up in the local rag, that Dr Pirie advises the mothers to keep the kids out of the river until such time as it rained and cleaned it out again. Because the weir stopped the flow of water so it became stagnant.