By Lim, Irene written on 24-Feb-2009
National Library Board Singapore

Comments on article: InfopediaTalk

Mount Emily swimming pool was the first public pool in Singapore. It was also the first pool in Singapore that used fresh water instead of seawater. It was located along Upper Wilkie Road, where Mount Emily Park is today. Converted from a municipal reservoir, the pool was declared open on 10 January 1931. It was an extremely popular venue, with the number of bathers hitting a record of 8,000 a month in the mid-1930s. There were scheduled daily bathing periods of varying durations to ensure access to all members of the public. It used chlorination, and later filtration as well, to keep the pool water clean and clear.

History
Mount Emily swimming pool was a municipal reservoir before the decision was made on 11 September 1929 for the Public Works Department to convert it into a pool. It was one of the two service reservoirs constructed in the 1880s along Upper Wilkie Road to supply the town with fresh water. In 1929, a larger storage reservoir at Fort Canning was opened and those at Mount Emily were adapted to different uses. While one became a swimming pool, the other was used to store water for town cleansing and drain flushing.

To convert the reservoir tank into a pool, its depth had to be reduced from the original 15 feet and its floor had to be graded from one end. Earth was used to fill the tank to the required depth and concrete was then poured over it to form the pool floor. A vertical wall was also built round the sloping sidewalls of the tank. The wall was perforated to allow water to pass through, thereby throwing the weight of the water onto the original boundary walls of the tank.

Opened on 10 January 1931, the swimming pool was initially managed by the Municipal Commissioners but it was later requisitioned to the British military. It was operated by the Japanese during the Japanese Occupation (1942-1945) and returned to the British military after the war ended. On 1 August 1946, charge of the pool was again given over to the Municipal Commissioners, which closed the pool promptly for maintenance and repairs. It was reopened on 1 December 1949, to a long queue of bathers eager for a dip.

At the end of financial year 1981/1982, Mount Emily was one of 14 swimming complexes managed by the Singapore Sports Council (SSC). It accounted for only 0.4% of the total attendance of all the pools, which stood at close to 3.9 million. There is no official information on the closure of the Mount Emily swimming pool, though the facility was no longer reported on in the SSC annual reports after 1982.

Description
Mount Emily was the first swimming pool in Singapore to use fresh water. A system of inlet and outlet pipes was built to ensure a continuous flow of fresh water from the town mains. Used pool water would then flow into the unconverted reservoir nearby to be used for street washing and drain flushing. This was considered more economical than emptying and refilling the pool periodically. When fresh water supply needed to be conserved, seawater from the Johnston's Pier (which also supplied the Young Men's Christian Association's seawater pool) would be pumped in.

The pool had two sections that were divided by a concrete wall. The shallow end, for beginners, was 90 by 60 feet wide (27 by 18 metres) and its depth was graded from 2 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 9 inches (from 0.8 to 1.75 metres). The deep end was 164 by 40 feet wide (50 by 12 metres) and 8 feet deep (2.4 metres). At one end of the deep pool was a three-board diving stage.

When the pool first opened, its amenities included 20 cubicles and 6 showers, with an additional 30 cubicles, 2 showers and a shelter in the pipeline.

The pool's first superintendent was J. Imm and its first lifeguard was Yeo Jin Hin. More lifeguards were subsequently hired. Lee Hong Ming, a founding member of the Singapore Life Guard Corps, was a lifeguard at the pool before he became its superintendent in the 1940s.

Pool Usage
Being the first public pool in Singapore, Mount Emily was an extremely popular venue. In the mid-1930s, the number of bathers reached a record high of 8,000 a month. Pool staff noted that 30% of its users were of the coolie class.

When the pool was under the charge of the British military, it was reserved for their use. After it was de-requisitioned to the Municipal Commissioners and reopened to the public in 1949, it could accommodate 300 bathers at each bathing period.

Besides the daily bathing periods, schools and associations used the pool for swimming lessons and water sports events. In September 1951, schoolchildren got to swim for free for a week as part of City Day celebrations. Asia's first Christian charity marathon, where 96 swimmers swam for 12 hours from sunrise to sunset, was also held here on 16 June 1979.

In the 1930s, admission charges ranged between 10 cents and 20 cents. There were some periods of free admission for schoolchildren each week, which were well utilised as these children had no access to private pools. There were four bathing periods of between one and two hours daily. Initially, the days of the week were also allotted for male and female bathing alternately, with no mixed bathing allowed. Over the years, mixed bathing was gradually allowed and the number and duration of bathing periods were amended to maximise public access to the pool.

By 1951, it was estimated that 150,000 swimmers had used the facility. In the 1970s, it remained one of the most popular pools, along with the Farrer Park, River Valley, Queenstown and Yan Kit swimming pools. Admission charges were raised to 40 cents for adults and 20 cents for children. Still, long queues would form before the pool opened, and as many as 300 people could be turned away during school holidays.

Pool Maintenance
The hygiene of the pool water was a concern for its operators and users alike. In the 1930s, the water was purified using chlorination. The municipal bacteriologist tested samples of the pool water every week, and the water was turned over every four hours. The pool was also closed periodically for maintenance.

During the Japanese Occupation, the Japanese used seawater rather than freshwater for the pool. After the war, the British military continued to use seawater until it de-requisitioned the pool to the Municipal Commissioners in 1946. By then, the purification plant had deteriorated and was in need of repair. The Municipality contended to the use of seawater without a good purification plant. In fact, the news of that time showed a debate over whether the pool should be supplied with fresh or sea water, given that the former was an important resource for the town.

The Municipal Commissioners then decided to install a filtration system. After the pool was reopened in 1949, filtration was able to keep the water crystal clear, whilst chlorination kept it clean. The municipal chemist analysed the pool water at every bathing period to determine when the water needed to be changed. In addition, the route from the entrance of the swimming complex to the pool itself had been redesigned to ensure that no one entered the pool without a shower, by leading bathers directly to the dressing rooms and through the showers before reaching the pool. Bathers who were not reasonably dressed or appeared to have skin disease were also turned away at the pool gate.

Misadventures
Throughout the years that Mount Emily pool was in use, there were occasional reports of drowning or other death incidents. Besides drowning, a common accident was that of bathers jumping off the diving platform and hitting their heads against the pool's concrete floor.



Author
Irene Lim



References
Annual report/Singapore Sports Council. (1973-82/3). Singapore: The Council.
(Call no.: RSING 354.5957093 SSCAR-[AR])

Annual report. (1981/2). Singapore: Singapore Sports Council.
(Call no.: RCLOS 354.5957093 SSCAR[AR]).

Bathing fatality at Mt Emily [Microfilm: NL 644]. (1931, February 10). The Straits Times, p. 12.

Chua, C. J. (1998). A nation at play. Singapore Sports Council. Singapore: Times Editions.
(Call no.: RSING 796.095957 NAT)

Edwards, N., & Keys, P. (1988). Singapore: A guide to buildings, streets, places. Singapore: Times Books International.
(Call no.: RSING 915.957 EDW)

Free swimming for a week [Microfilm: NL 2626]. (1951, September 1). The Straits Times, p. 5.

More amenities for Singapore [Microfilm: NL 634]. (1930, April 23). The Straits Times, p. 12.

Mount Emily pool opens again [Microfilm: NL 2499]. (1949, December 2). The Straits Times, p. 8.

Mount Emily pool re-opened [Microfilm: NL 2499]. (1949, December 2). The Straits Times, p. 12.

Mount Emily pools de-requisitioned. [Microfilm: NL 4860]. (1946, August 2). The Straits Times, p. 5.

Municipal affairs [Microfilm: NL 627]. (1929, September 11). The Straits Times, p. 12.

Municipal amenities [Microfilm: NL 648]. (1931, June 27). The Straits Times, p. 11.

Oon, D. (1975). Additional day at Mt Emily swimming pool. Retrieved November 3, 2008, from http://www.a2o.com.sg

Swimming pool at Mount Emily [Microfilm: NL 644]. (1931, January 9). The Straits Times, p. 15.

Singapore municipal swimming pool scenes [Microfilm: NL 1501]. (1935, July 8). The Straits Times, p. 20.

They all wanted a swim [Microfilm: NL 2499]. (1949, December 5). The Straits Times, p. 5.

Why a large air conditioning company is sponsoring Asia's first non-stop 12-hour Christian relay swimmathon [Microfilm: NL 10178]. (1979, June 6). The Straits Times, p. 2.


Further Readings
Gillis, K. & Tan. K. (2006). The book of Singapore's firsts. Singapore: Singapore Heritage Society.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 GIL -[HIS])

Lai, C. K. (2008, February-March). A historical sketch of the Mount Emily area. The Singapore architect, 64-71.
(Call no.: 720.5 SA issue #233)

Singapore Life Guard Corps. (1990). 40 years of lifeguarding: 1950-1990. Singapore: Singapore Life Guard Corps.
(Call no.: RSING 797.200289 FOR)



The information in this article is valid as at 2009 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.