page_title: Swifts Creek
section_title: Diving blocks
hierarchical_section_title: Swifts Creek / Sport / Diving blocks
context_page_description: Swifts Creek is a town in the Tambo Valley of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. The town is on the Great Alpine Road between Omeo and Ensay, 379 kilometres east of the state capital Melbourne and 300 metres above sea level. The area was originally settled by Europeans in the gold rushes of the mid-1800s. At the 2011 census, Swifts Creek and the surrounding area had a population of 419, with a median age of 47.
context_section_description: Local legend holds that the diving blocks currently in use at the Swifts Creek Pool were those used in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. Considerable weight is added to this story by careful comparison between these blocks and historical photos from the Olympics, such as this distant photo of a race showing the blocks front on, and especially this close-up photo of block four at a similar angle to that shown here (both historical photos are from the National Library of Australia collection).
  It can be seen from the photos that the blocks in Swifts Creek are identical in size and structure to those used at the Melbourne Olympics, and would only have had to be repainted to account for the different colouration and style of the block numbers. Furthermore, the legend states that one of the missing blocks was given to Australian swimming icon Dawn Fraser as a souvenir of her success at the Games (there were eight blocks for the Olympics, but only six survive in Swifts Creek now). However there has been an alternative local legend circulating how one diving block was stolen during the 1970s by some say a Bairnsdale boy by the name of Michael Weston accompanied by Daniel Redenbach and Tom Alvin during a local festival. Today the diving block is believed to be in Dunkeld buried by a local Dunkeld boy. Swifts Creek resident Tony Skelton is said to know the precise location of the Diving Block in Dunkeld. If this legend is correct, then Swifts Creek has an important piece of Australian sporting history in everyday use, but largely unknown to most of the population.
caption: The diving blocks at the Swifts Creek Pool, front and rear view. Legend holds that these are the blocks from the 1956 Melbourne Olympics (see text)
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