Yuendumu Community Pool needs you to splash out

Yuendumu sits on the hot, windy and dusty southern cusp of the Tanami Desert, 300km north-west of Alice Springs, where the best escape from the summer heat is the local pool.

The Yuendumu Community Pool was established late in 2008 on the back of community donations and government funding, but is constantly fighting to collect enough donations and funding to keep it running throughout the hot summers.

Money donated to the Yuendumu Community Pool is used to help pay salaries, as well as funding operational costs for chemicals, supplies, repairs and maintenance.

While offering an escape from the heat, the pool also creates incentives for children to stay in school with the "yes school, yes pool" policy: students who go to school can swim for free. It also provides a host of jobs for locals.

In late 2010, just two years after opening, the pool had more than 12,000 visitors in 201 days, an illustration of the success of the initiative.

The pool is regularly used by Yuendumu School, Yuendumu Childcare, Nyirrpi School and Mt Allan School as well as Nyirrpi and Willowra Mt Theo youth programs.