As Wollongong prepares to celebrate 200 years of European settlement, a swim club wants government funding to build a 50-metre Olympic pool it says was promised more than 60 years ago.

Wollongong Swim Club, one of Australia's oldest swimming clubs (founded 1894) and based at Beaton Park, has put together a comprehensive proposal for what it calls the Bi-Centenary Memorial Pools to coincide with the Anzac centenary and the city's bicentenary.

The three indoor pools - a 50m Olympic pool, 20m hydrotherapy pool and children's wading pool, would be built in a complex big enough for at least 3000 spectators, next to the current Wollongong City Council-run 25m indoor pool at Beaton Park Leisure Centre.

Club president Col Bruton, who drew up the plans and submitted them to all levels of government last year, said it would cost about $25 million and the land was already reserved. He said it had the backing of the South Eastern Swimming Association and Swimming Australia and more than 700 people had signed a petition of support, which was submitted to the city's Future of Our Pools strategy 2014-2024.

The club wants funding from the council, state and federal governments.

Mr Bruton said the council and state government had promised to build a 50m Olympic pool in Wollongong as far back as 1954.

"Wollongong Swim Club has been pushing for an Olympic pool since 1932," Mr Bruton said.

Councillors backed a 50m pool at a public meeting in 1954 with state and federal MPs promising funds. At a public meeting in 1963, the council said plans for an Olympic pool had been prepared with state and federal support, land had been acquired at Beaton Park and they were ready to start building.

"The funds went through the bureaucratic shrink ... from department to department until it was only sufficient to build a substandard 25m pool in 1983," Mr Bruton said.

The council's property and recreation manager, Mark Bond, said the city already had seven Olympic-sized swimming pools, in addition to the pool at the University of Wollongong.

He said the Future of Our Pools strategy, endorsed by the council in June last year, confirmed the need for extra water space at Beaton Park.

"A key action in ensuring our facilities provide a diverse range of aquatic recreation opportunities was to prepare a master plan for pool expansion/upgrading of Beaton Park pool," Mr Bond said.

"It was suggested to council by consultants that an additional 25m pool and a further 250 square metres of leisure pool water could be considered by council."

Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said while he would love to have the funds to build and maintain a 50m pool, the city already had other pools available for swimming clubs.

"We've got nine ocean pools and the community said their highest priority was to have all those pools retained," he said.

Cr Bradbery said the trend was away from pools or "concrete tubs" and towards water parks.

Mr Bruton said the NSW government had guaranteed $1.2 billion from the lease of power poles and wires for sports and cultural facilities.

"What we're asking for is a very small fraction ... we could have international events such as the South Pacific Games."

The club had 168 members but a 25m pool meant they could not host summer carnivals.

Club member Georgia Robson, 14, said smaller towns such as Ulladulla had bigger and better pools and a 50m pool would give them more space during training.