PEOPLE, this needs to happen.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Greater Taree, sorry, Barrington Coast is baking under the hottest summer since last summer. Even the most strident climate change denialist (aka the National Party) remain silent on the subject. This is a full blown 21st century crisis.
And the beach isn’t giving us any relief from the extreme weather because of the howling north easters and weed choked surf. So the good people of Taree and environs, not to mention our many visitors, struggle to beat the heat.
There’s only one solution here. Reopen The Quarry.
For those unaware of such things, The Quarry was once Taree… nay… NSW’S… nay…. Australia’s premier swimming hole. It’s located in Cowper Street, Chatham. The Quarry was an oasis on a hot day and it was one of the playgrounds of our youth.
Had it been properly managed The Quarry would have been a major tourist attraction for the Manning. It was the one advantage we kids from the tough streets of Chatham held over our affluent counterparts from Taree West. They swam with the bull sharks at Nellie’s Rock. We had The Quarry with all its pristine beauty (and the occasional eel).
Back then The Quarry was bordered by pastures and a timber mill. Then civilisation encroached and some two decades ago The Quarry was closed for business. Swimming is verboten screams a sign on a fence now surrounding the famous water hole.
This correspondent, rather naively, wrote a similar piece to this back in the late 1990s soon after the old Taree Baths closed, leaving the town without a public swimming pool. This was before the Manning Aquatic and Leisure Centre (MALC) was opened in 2000. We argued that The Quarry could be Taree’s pro tem swimming pool.
Naturally we expected to be lauded for our foresight. Instead we received a lengthy and tersely worded letter from a representative of The Quarry’s owners, accusing us, among other things, of being an ‘irresponsible journalist.’
We took exception. Fancy labelling this correspondent a ‘journalist.’ They were tense times.
However, we trust that those wounds have healed. For now The Quarry needs to be reopened to The Public, at least in mid-summer as the temperatures regularly soar to 40 degrees and beyond.
Related reading:
This is a matter of public safety. Why, perhaps the owners of The Quarry could employ a life guard at The Quarry during the warmer months. We’re sure Steve Bromhead would be able to organise some sort of State government grant to cover the cost. This is win-win.
Reopen The Quarry has to be our clarion call. For the sake of all residents of Barrington Coast (but mainly Taree).