'So out of place': 70-year-old mystery solved in North East wares store

There, propped up against the back of the tin shed amongst a plethora of other knick-knacks and collectables was the Canberra Amateur Swimming Club champions board, inscribed with names of club champions, beginning with the first full season in 1931-32 until 1942-43.

"It immediately resonated with me as it looked so out of place there," recalls Mandy who grew up in Canberra and who also recognised the "Calthorpe [of Calthorpes' House fame in Red Hill] name on the board".

With the image of the out-of-place board firmly etched in her mind, Mandy googled the club.

"I was surprised to discover they still existed, swimming at Gungahlin Pool," Mandy, who promptly contacted club president Karl Willett, reveals.

Karl was unaware of the board's existence, let alone its missing status, admitting "knowledge of it was lost in the mists of time". But Canberra historian Frances McGee most definitely was aware.

In fact, in the lead-up to Manuka Pool's 90th birthday in 2021, Frances penned an article for The Canberra Times ("Manuka Pool's Deepest Mystery", Panorama, May 16, 2020) in which she issued a passionate plea for the return of the mislaid board.

"Deep down, I was convinced it was gone," Frances confesses, adding "I was clinging onto hope that maybe a committee member took it home in the 1950s, and it was still in the lurking in back of a shed somewhere covered in dust."

When then minister for the interior Joseph Collins officially unveiled the board in 1945, he paid tribute to three champions whose names were inscribed on the board and who "paid the ultimate sacrifice", during their service in World War 2.

One of these men, Bill Dullard, who was champion for the 1934-35 season, enlisted in the army on August 20, 1941.

Several years ago, when Frances spoke about Swimmers Who Gave Their Lives; the Honour Roll at Manuka Pool (Friends of Manuka Pool, 2018), a book co-authored with Nick Swain, she displayed a haunting photo of Bill along with fellow soldiers from the 3rd Battalion (Werriwa Regiment) departing for service from Canberra Railway Station.

The image of Bill leaning out of the carriage window, the look of innocence etched into his smiling face, immediately sent chills up my spine.

While the identity of his mates in the photo is unknown, we do know details of Bill's untimely end.

According to Frances, on September 24, 1942, "Bill was hit by Japanese machine gun fire and rolled off the Kokoda Track down into a gully. When one of his men called down to him, Bill replied 'I'm alright'. It was the last they heard of him."

Bill was just 25 and has no known grave.

The board took pride of place in the entrance foyer of the Swimming Pool (as Manuka Pool was then known) for 10 years until it vanished in 1955-56 when the Canberra Amateur Swimming Club moved from Manuka to Civic Pool (and later to Gungahlin in 2014).

So just where was it stashed between 1955 and last year when Mandy discovered it at the Dederang Co-Operative Collectables?

Shop owner John Sauervein says he "bought the board along with several other items in 2021 from the deceased estate of Ian Black, who has a property at Nug Nug, near Myrtleford."

"Before Mandy came in, only one other customer had shown any interest in it," he reveals.

Clare Leeuwin-Clarke, who was Ian's partner for the last 40 years of his life, explains, "Ian collected many things, but I don't know how he got hold of the board."

Prior to moving to Victoria, Ian was a policeman and restauranteur in Canberra, opening upmarket Hill Station Restaurant, but is perhaps best known as an independent member of the ACT Advisory Council from 1970 to 1974.

"As part of that role he was responsible for heritage, so I'd like to think he saved the board from being tossed out," Clare speculates, adding, "but I just don't know as it was before I met him."

After returning to the Dederang store and buying the board on behalf of the club for $150, Mandy generously transported it to the club's Gungahlin HQ where it now hangs, high above a sparkling glass cabinet crammed with many contemporary trophies.

"It belongs to us, it's our property, but at least we now have it back," Karl asserts.

While the well-travelled board is rightly back with the club, given its vintage, I suspect it may look even better back on the wall of its spiritual home.

Perhaps the club and the folk at Manuka could consider a long-term loan arrangement where the board is displayed in foyer of the heritage-listed Manuka Pool but returned to Gungahlin when requested such as for special club occasions.

"No matter where it ends up, at least it's back in Canberra and on public display once again," Frances says.

Mandy says, "I've always thought that Dederang store is the sort of place where I might just wander in and find some treasure.

"And it turns out that's exactly what happened ... only it wasn't treasure for me, but it was for the Canberra Amateur Swimming Club."

"It's so lovely to know it's home now," she declares.

You can say that again.