A FORMER resident of Bathurst who was traumatised by the city's huge 1964 flood features as part of a new campaign to encourage adults to learn to swim.
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Jillian Mitchell, 70, who grew up in Bathurst but now lives in the southern Sydney suburb of Oatley, says she has had a fear of the water for decades.
"The river had flooded many times before, but this was the worst flood," she says of the 1964 disaster in an evocative video produced by the insurance company Allianz to promote its swim club.
The swim club, which has been created by Allianz with AUSTSWIM and Masters Swimming Australia, is a free eight-week program that is likely to expand after receiving a big response from potential participants.
"My memories are of waking in the night and we got out in a boat," Ms Mitchell says.
"It was just an awful experience.
"I think that's why I've had a fear of the water ever since."
In a June 2008 column in the Western Advocate, then-history columnist Peter Freestone described the June 1964 disaster as "one of the biggest floods in living memory for many Bathurstians", saying "the low-lying areas of Bathurst and Kelso went under a torrent of muddy water".
He said Carrington Park was, at the time, Bathurst's caravan park and a photograph was taken that showed the top of a caravan half-submerged behind the speed limit warning sign close to the park's entrance.
Mr Freestone said the caretaker's cottage and store was also inundated.
A second photo featured with Mr Freestone's column showed the Buttsworth boys - David, Garry and Glen - with two greyhound pups on the back of a truck after they were evacuated from their home in lower Havannah Street.
Mr Freestone said the Howlett's Studio collection of 1964 flood pictures was "a great record of the Bathurst community spirit displayed in a time of adversity".
"There are photographs of low-lying areas like Morse Park, Bathurst Showground, Carrington Park and residential areas under water, people being evacuated, desperate sandbagging efforts in an attempt to hold back the flood waters and people trying to save precious belongings," he wrote.
"There are also photos of the swollen Vale Creek, both sides of the Macquarie River showing a fast-flowing, swirling, muddy sea and at Eglinton with cars travelling over Rankens Bridge as floodwaters lapped at the roadway.
"Considering the bridge was made of wood - not the strongest material when being buffeted by floodwaters and debris - those driving over the bridge literally took their lives into their own hands."
In the Allianz Swim Club video, Ms Mitchell says not swimming has held her back from a lot throughout the years and she is determined to rectify the situation.
"I'm 70 years old now and if I'm ever going to do it, I have to do it now," she says.
"I think it will be like the weight of the world dropping off my shoulders. I'm going to conquer it. I am. And it will be a good thing."
Allianz says its new free learn to swim program is not just about lessons, but about community and belonging.
The company says the first Allianz Swim Club program will operate across 15 pools in NSW, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia and lessons will start from October 9.
More information is available at www.allianz.com.au/swim.
Though Bathurst is not included among the initial 15 participating pools, there are plans for the program to expand in the future after what was described as an overwhelming response to sign-ups.
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And more recently ...
BATHURST has had a big Macquarie River flood only recently.
The city received 86.4 millimetres of rain in a 24-hour period in mid-November last year, leading to a 6.65 metre peak on the Macquarie.
At the height of the drama, the Great Western Highway was severed between Bathurst and Kelso. As well, significant damage was sustained to roads across the region.
At the other end of the scale, though, the Macquarie stopped flowing at Eglinton in early January 2020 at the height of the last big drought.
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