Thread by @SueletteD

Today we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the community action to save the #FitzroyPool from being closed and sold off. My tweet stream will tell the story.
#advocacy #activist @YarraCouncil

25 yrs ago, the Kennett Govt merged local councils and appointed unelected commissioners to run them:
Julian Walmsley, Barb Champion and Frank Thompson closed the #FitzroyPool because it ‘didn’t turn a profit’.
@YarraCouncil

Julian #Assange was also part of the community campaign to save this beloved icon. It’s very sad he can’t be here today to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Saving the #FitzroyPool for the community.
@YarraCouncil

The original Fitzroy Baths site had innovative reinforced concrete structures designed and built by Sir John Monash, an Australian war hero who brought electricity to much of Victoria (under the SEC) and for whom Monash Univ is named. @YarraCouncil #FitzroyPool

The unelected commissioners closed the #FitzroyPool because ‘attendances were dropping’ (70k visits p/y) and the ‘cost recovery ratio’ was in the bottom 50% of pools.
We proved both claims were lies. @YarraCouncil

The #Fitzroypool had been drained, was empty. We occupied the site. We marched. We leafletted. The council cut power. We got the sparkies to reconnect it and then the Union blackbanned touching the site. @YarraCouncil

On a hot Oct day 25 yrs ago, Julian #Assange helped fill the empty #Fitzroypool with 2,000 ppl who angrily chanted they wanted their community pool back. @YarraCouncil

The TV news showed footage that night shot from a helicopter above the 2,000 angry, hot ppl standing in an empty concrete shell of the #Fitzroypool.
@YarraCouncil

The Deputy Prime Minister of Australia gave a speech at the rally that day.
His dept had funded the new building for the #FitzroyPool.
@YarraCouncil

Julian #Assange helped organise that day, carefully and safely shepherding hundreds of community members in and out of the empty pool.
You can see in the back left of the photo how hard it was to climb up and down the pool ladders into the pool’s concrete shell.
@YarraCouncil

Within 6wks we had *won*.
We had saved this iconic Australian community site - the #FitzroyPool

Community pools, sunshine and hot summers are a core part of Australian culture.
@YarraCouncil

Since then, there have been more than 2 million visits to the #FitzroyPool. It turns a profit for the city. A generation of kids have learned to swim here. @YarraCouncil

A woman at today’s 25th anniversary celebration told me she heard about the Save the #FitzroyPool Campaign in Darwin

Its success inspired other social advocacy campaigns

‘We saw you did it - and won. It made us think we could win too.’
@YarraCouncil
Aerial pic frm @Lensaloft

Julian #Assange was also part of the community campaign to save this beloved icon. It’s very sad he can’t be here today to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Saving the #FitzroyPool for the community.
@YarraCouncil