Ocean pools are an important feature of the Australian coastline particularly in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Ocean pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built above ground (as ...

s or ocean baths are defined as public seawater pools sited on a rocky surf coast, so that waves can wash into the pool. The width, length and depth of ocean pools varies and often depends on their location on the coastline. Australia also has many harbour pools and these are usually netted or fenced and located in harbours or river mouths but not regarded as ocean pools.

History

Ocean pools date back to the

convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...

era in Australia with Newcastle's

Bogey Hole The Bogey Hole, also known as the Commandant's Baths, is a heritage-listed sea bath in Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. It is thought to be the oldest surviving European construction in the city area. The pool was hewn from a sandstone/ ...

being constructed in 1819 by convicts under the orders of Commandant James Morisset. Construction of ocean pools was generally through community subscriptions or government funded. Two ocean pools were privately built: the Pearl Beach Rock Pool, near

Gosford, New South Wales Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council (New South Wales), Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast region, about north of Sydney central ...

was constructed by a real estate developer in the 1920s to help sell land, and

Wylie's Baths Wylie's Baths is a heritage-listed tidal swimming pool located near Coogee Beach, in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The baths are noted for holding the first Australian Swimming Championships and for being one of the ...

Coogee, New South Wales Coogee is a beachside suburb of local government area City of Randwick 8 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is typically associated as being part of the Eastern ...

by entrepreneur Henry Wylie and his sons. Several ocean pools were once reserved only for the use of men or only for use by women and children and Sydney's Coogee Bay still hosts an ocean pool reserved solely for the use of women and children. Coogee's McIver's Baths constructed in the 1860s seems to now be the only seawater pool in Australia still reserved solely for use by women and children.

Fanny Durack Sarah Frances "Fanny" Durack (27 October 1889 – 20 March 1956), also known by her married name Fanny Gately, was an Australian competition swimmer. From 1910 until 1918 she was the world's greatest female swimmer across all distances from f ...

and

Mina Wylie Wilhelmina "Mina" Wylie (27 June 1891 – 6 July 1984) was one of Australia's first two female Olympic swimming representatives, along with friend Fanny Durack.Hirst,Warwic"Wylie, Wilhelmina (Mina) (1891–1984)"Australian Dictionary of Biogra ...

, who won gold and silver medals in the Women's 100m Freestyle at the

1912 Stockholm Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, bet ...

trained at this pool. The Beverley Whitfield Pool in Shellharbour is named after another of Australia's Olympic swimmers.

established in 1907 at

, by Henry Alexander Wylie, the father of

, was one of the first mixed gender ocean pools in Australia. There are about 100 ocean pools in New South Wales. In

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

there has been impetus to build ocean pools as a result of shark attacks.

List of ocean pools

References

{{reflist

Bibliography

McDermott, Marie-Louise. Wet, wild and convivial: past, present and future contributions of Australia’s ocean pools to surf, beach, pool and body cultures and recreational coasts. PhD, Edith Cowan University, 2012

McDermott, Marie-Louise. Ocean baths. Dictionary of Sydney, 2011

External links

Flickr New South Wales Ocean BathsOcean Pools NSW
Swimming venues in Australia Swimming in Australia Lists of sports venues in Australia Coastline of Australia