"About 30 swimmers in the Cotter pool yesterday afternoon received a shock when they realised that they had an unpleasant companion in the pool - a 3-ft. black snake," the article read.

Swimmers left the water in "quick time" once the slithery beast was found.

A witness, Mr. T. M. Knight of O'Connor, said he had never seen anybody move so fast.

After evacuating the pool, in true 1957 fashion, swimmers gathered around the pool to throw rocks at the unfortunate snake.

One swimmer hit the snake directly with a rock, stunning it.

The ill-fated reptile floated to the surface and a swimmer waded into the pool to finish the job with a stick.

Elsewhere on the front page there was a photo depicting young children in awe as they were read a fairy story.

"Small children attending the holiday play centre at Telopea Park burst into merriment as a fairy story read by supervisor Miss June Lewis reaches a happy climax," the caption read.

The fairy story most certainly had a much happier ending than the black snake.

See https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/7144289