// Having this global (mutable) page controller is a bit of a hack. We need it
// to plumb in the factory for _PagePosition, but it will end up accumulating
// a large list of scroll positions. As long as you don't try to actually
// control the scroll positions, everything should be fine.
final PageController _defaultPageController = PageController();
This code is very old (7 years): #7948. Unfortunately the PR that introduced it doesn't include any additional rationale.