Ocean pools
Water worlds: the magic of New South Wales’ ocean pools
For five years, Nicole Larkin has been documenting the state’s unique abundance of coastal pools. Guardian Australia has mapped the Sydney-based architect's efforts, revealing sites of human ingenuity, and natural beauty
We start on the southern edge of a small curved beach in the Clarence Valley. Overlooked by green hills and a 112-year-old surf lifesaving club, Yamba ocean pool is the northernmost in the state. The chain of 58 pools that follows stretches 1,000km, all the way to Aslings beach rockpool in Eden, close to the Victorian border. Cleverly constructed to exploit natural rock platforms, these pools feel intimately connected to their natural environments, with unconstructed edges, lapping waves, sandy bottoms and their own marine ecosystems. Many were built during the Great Depression and all the pools featured here remain vital public amenities to this day. Providing both access to and shelter from the ocean, they are places of celebration, community and play.
North coast
Yamba ocean pool
Yamba’s ocean pool is the northernmost along the New South Wales coast and stretches 33 metres, with pandanus trees nearby. Built in 1969, it underwent repairs in February last year to fix leaks and was reopened in May.
Angourie Blue Pools
The Angourie Blue Pools were formed by quarrying in the 1890s and 1900s that supplied rock for the breakwall at Yamba. After the quarrying finished the pools filled with water. The pools' depth and a facing cliff make it a perfect spot for jumping and diving.
Sawtell memorial rockpool
Opened in 1963, the Sawtell memorial rockpool offers protection from the rip that runs out past it and a safer swimming environment than the deep channels and strong tidal flows that move through the mouth of the creek.
Black Head ocean pool
Black Head ocean pool was opened in 1940 after a push from locals and holidaymakers for a safer place to swim, and because of the poor condition of the nearby creek for bathers. There's the main pool plus a children’s pool at the southern end of Black Head beach. In the 1980s the pool was almost decommissioned because of the maintenance cost but volunteers came the rescue and now collect donations for its upkeep.
Forster ocean baths
The Forster ocean baths were built as unemployment relief in 1935 and began life doubling as a popular dance venue. The pool – which is about 80 metres by 50 metres with a natural rock floor – originally had a grand entrance building, change rooms and dancehall built in the Spanish Mission style popular in the era. The pool also featured floodlights for night swimming, a diving board, lockers, cubicles, a cafe and showers. The baths building was demolished in the 1990s but locals fought to preserve the baths.
Newcastle and the Central Coast
Newcastle ocean baths
Newcastle ocean baths sit behind a faded art deco facade. The large baths are divided into two sections by a walkway, with a 50-metre pool on one side and a leisure pool on the other. There's also a large children's wading pool on the southern end. At the northern end concrete steps serve as a grandstand for sunbathing and there’s a cafe and kiosk in the entrance. The baths were first used in 1913 then officially opened in 1922; Their proximity to the train terminus ensured their immediate popularity with daytrippers from across the Hunter Valley. The baths have withstood storms, neglect, the Newcastle earthquake and the even being shelled by a Japanese submarine in 1942. They're now one of the city's most loved landmarks.
Bogey hole
Newcastle’s bogey hole is the oldest ocean pool in Australia. A natural pool on the site was widened using convict labour in about 1820 for use as a bathing place for soldiers. It was further enlarged in 1884 to its current size of 20 metres by five metres. Various dressing sheds were built over the years but all were destroyed by storms. At high tide strong waves crash over the pool and access is often not possible.
Merewether baths
Merewether baths is a large pool complex with a 50-metre lap and racing pool at the southern end and a children’s pool, as well as change rooms, showers and disabled access. It was built in 1934, like many of the era, as a Depression relief scheme. The pools were hailed as the largest in the state when they opened in 1935. They were damaged by storms in 1974 and 2001 but have been brought back to life each time.
The Entrance ocean pools
These pools date to 1919 when a small rockpool was built on the site. In 1938 a 50-metre pool was built, which by 1965 was so popular the complex was enlarged, with the addition baby wading pool and another leisure pool. In 2002 the council considered closing the baths because of their condition and rising public liability insurance but then a Labor government and the local council stepped up to provide the funding to keep them open. In 2005 Bob Carr opened the upgraded baths on his last day as NSW premier.
Terrigal rockpool
This small wading pool at the southern end of the beach at Terrigal was opened in about 1957. The walls are now incomplete so it’s only full at high tide, though it's still popular with families.
Macmasters Beach rockpool
The 17-metre Macmasters Beach rockpool was built by locals in 1963 at the southern end of the beach as a place for children to learn to swim. It remains a fairly basic structure, without any facilities. In 1981 the pool was rebuilt by the council and in 2002 it was deepened in part, to make it suitable for lap swimming.
Northern beaches
Pearl Beach rockpool
The Pearl Beach rockpool is relatively sheltered from the ocean, receiving little surf even at high tide. It has been used for carnivals, community swimming lessons and other water activities.
Palm Beach rockpool
Located on Sydney's northernmost beach, Palm Beach rockpool attracts international tourists for its appearance in Home and Away. The ocean pool was deepened in the late 1920s to create a training pool for the local swimming club and was renovated in 1946. The 50-metre pool receives breaking waves at high tide every now and then.
Whale Beach rockpool
Whale Beach rockpool was built under the Depression-era unemployment relief scheme in the 1930s and continued to be updated up to the 1960s. Small fish and crabs can often be seen in the shallows, making it appear smaller than its 22-metre length. The pool is loved for its seclusion and quiet atmosphere.
Avalon rockpool
Given the name Avalon by the developer Arthur J Small when the area was being established as a suburb, the ocean pool that existed there was improved. Complete with a smaller toddlers' pool, the Avalon rockpool stretches for 25 metres and is located at the southern end of Avalon beach. The beach and its rockpool risked a closure for up to eight months of the year in 1998 when Baywatch producers wanted to film there, but was strongly opposed by locals who wanted complete access to the beach and rockpool.
Bilgola rockpool
Built by contractors in the 1960s, the Bilgola rockpool offers panoramic cliff and ocean views. Fencing divides the pool in two. The Avalon-Bilgola swimming club started its season in the late 1990s here. Pittwater council stabilised the headland nearby to keep it safe for swimmers.
Newport rockpool
In December 1925 a tender was issued for the Newport pool’s construction for 535 pounds and 12 shillings. The rockpool was officially opened in 1926 with a carnival celebration. On 1 August 2012 early morning swimmers discovered an 11-metre, 30-tonne whale carcass inside the pool.
Mona Vale rockpool
Mona Vale rockpool is sited on a rockshelf between Bongin Bongin Bay and Mona Vale beach. Developed in the 1930s during the Depression, the natural rock was carved out under the unemployment relief scheme. A large number of troops camped in the area and used the baths during the second world war.
North Narrabeen rockpool
North Narrabeen rockpool is best known for its boardwalk. Built in the 1930s under the unemployment relief scheme, the pool was one of the biggest projects in the Sydney area. Costing 500 pounds, it brought tourists and new residents to the area.
Collaroy rockpool
Collaroy hosts two linked rockpools, a 50-metre pool and a shallower wading pool. Both are uniquely shaped, following the curve of the nearby rock face. Officially opened in 1926, the pool was constructed by Arthur Larkin for Warringah shire.
Dee Why rockpool
Dee Why rockpool was renamed in 2019 as the Isa Wye rockpool in recognition of a local who dedicated 85 years to the Dee Why ladies’ amateur swimming club. The baths were officially opened on 27 December 1919 and were further enlarged by 1930.
North Curl Curl rockpool
The North Curl Curl rockpool is situated on a rock shelf that forms the pool's northern side. After residents petitioned for a pool at the beach’s north end it was developed in the 1930s under the unemployment scheme at a cost of 400 pounds. The pool was destroyed in a storm in 1947 and, 10 years later, was rebuilt to include a small wading area. A long scenic walkway from the surf club, the stairs and pathways to the pool were built in the 1970s.
South Curl Curl rockpool
Close to Stewart House on Carrington Parade, this 50-metre, tidally filled pool offers a smaller, shallower section formed from natural rock and also has a separate pool built on the original frame. In 1924 the site was inspected for a rockpool and in 1925 the surf club began enlargement of the natural rock pool to provide safer bathing. In 1926 Warringah shire council completed construction of the South Curl Curl baths.
Freshwater rockpool
Freshwater rockpool was the first rockpool to be opened in the northern beaches and is situated just north of Freshwater beach. In 1924 the Harbord Beach improvement committee asked the local council to support the construction, while the Freshwater surf club also lobbied for the pool. Raising most of the funds through carnivals, the pool was opened on 28 November 1925.
Queenscliff rockpool
In 1925 the Queenscliff Surf Life Saving Club proposed the construction of rock baths and, more than a decade later in 1937, the Queenscliff rockpool was built as part of the unemployment relief scheme. At 50 metres long with an asymetric shape, the pool remains a favourite for serious swimmers and families.
Fairy Bower rockpool
Located in Manly’s Cabbage Tree Bay, the Fairy Bower pool is tiny, triangular and adorned by two sculptures. It’s the first pool north of Sydney Harbour and dates to 1929. The two ceramic sculptures known as the Oceanides were installed on the pool’s seaward side as part of Manly council’s public sculpture program.
Sydney east
Wally Weekes pool
The first ocean pool south of Sydney Harbour, this modified tidal rockpool borders the North Bondi children’s pool. The earliest version of this pool was a swimming spot created by residents in the early 20th century.
The pool was later named after Wally Weekes, a boxer and patron of the North Bondi surf lifesaving club.
North Bondi children's pool
This children’s wading pool is located below Biddigal Reserve at North Bondi and a grassy hill popular with locals for its afternoon sun. In 1947 the Waverley municipal council decided to build a children’s swimming pool which was originally called the Mermaid’s pool. In the 1960s a mosaic wall of sea imagery was created alongside it in a community arts initiative. The pool was rebuilt and reopened just in time for summer 2019-20.
Icebergs
Arguably the most famous ocean pool in Australia, this complex is home to the Bondi Icebergs, a winter swimming club. It hosts an eight-lane main pool plus a children’s pool and is a popular spot for locals and tourists.
Bronte baths
The Bronte baths are also known as the Bond ocean pool in tribute to a lifesaving pioneer, Major Bond. The pool was built in the 19th century pool and adapted for lap and competition swimming by using a wooden turning board to define a rectangular course within the pool. Next to the pool on the beach is a semi-circle of rocks forming the bogey hole, which protects swimmers from the sometimes treacherous surf.
Giles baths
This naturally formed rockpool near Coogee beach was a popular swimming place from the 1850s, despite there being fewer than 20 houses in the area. Giles baths have remained a popular spot for swimmers and photographers alike.
Ross Jones memorial pool
The Ross Jones memorial pool was built in 1947 by Randwick council and funded with 963 pounds of a compensation payment from the commonwealth government for wartime damage to Randwick’s beaches. The baths were dedicated to Roscoe Samuel Jones, who was an alderman from 1934 to 1937 and was closely associated with the Coogee surf lifesaving club.
McIver's ladies baths
Situated between the Coogee surf club and Wylie's Baths, this stunning pool is still reserved solely for use by women and children. Once a traditional bathing place for Aboriginal women, the pool has gone under several developments. In 1918 Robert and Rose McIver began operating the Ladies baths, leading to their current state and title.
Wylie's baths
In the 1900s the champion swimmer Henry Alexander Wylie obtained a special lease for the southern end of Coogee Bay. Carved out of rock and almost Olympic in size, the pool opened as Wylie's Baths on 12 December 1907. A statue of Mina Wylie, Henry’s daughter who won a silver medal in swimming at the 1912 Olympic Games, stands near the entrance.
Ivor Rowe rockpool
This natural teardrop-shaped pool was named after a local, Ivo Rowe, and has remained a popular swimming spot for decades. In 1965 the Randwick Apex club enlarged the pool by filling a channel through the edge.
Mahon pool
Maroubra developed as a suburb in the 1920s once the tram line was extended out to Maroubra Junction and Maroubra beach. Mahon pool was built in 1932 by Randwick council as an unemployment relief project. It became a popular place for children in the 40s and saw the establishment of the Maroubra Seals winter swimming club in 1958.
Malabar ocean pool
Named after a 1930s mishap when the ship Malabar was stranded in shallow waters, Malabar ocean pool is home to both local swimmers and sealife including small stingrays and fish. The original rockpool was first used in the 1890s but, under the former NSW premier Bob Carr, the ocean pool was rebuilt and reopened in 1997.
Cronulla
North Cronulla rockpool
Both the north and south Cronulla rockpools are located on the same rock platform between the north and south Cronulla beaches. Both were built in 1941 and were rebuilt in the early 1990s. In 1939 the rockpools became the first and only ocean pools to have train station access. The southernmost rockpool is the size of an Olympic pool and is considered the main pool. The Esplanade connects the north and south ocean pools to the Shelly beach pool.
South Cronulla rockpool
Shelly beach pool
The Esplanade connects Shelly beach pool to other ocean pools along the Cronulla coast. Construction began in the 1900s by residents, and was completed in the 1930s. The pool is used by local lap swimmers and is favoured for its seclusion and quiet atmosphere. The ocean pool area is home to clans from the Dharawal First Nations people.
Oak Park pool
Construction of the Oak Park pool finished in 1931, with rocky walls extending from the beach into the ocean. The pool is located Cronulla Esplanade between Bass and Flinders Point to the south and Shelley Park to the north.
Wollongong to Kiama
Bulgo pool
Bulgo pool is considered a heritage site, created by the shack community for children to bathe in and to store live fish that had been caught. Laid-off miners from nearby collieries set up the original shack communities in the 1930s to live off the land, but it wasn't until the 1960s that the existing natural rockpool was blasted out to create a larger pool.
Coalcliff rockpool
Built in early 1920, Coalcliff rockpool was a popular leisure spot for locals of the mining town and in 1939 reached its peak popularity among tourists as well. The pool has views of the Royal national park and the bush-covered coastline.
Wombarra rockpool
A decade after Bulli shire council was formed a new railway station was built at Wombarra, aimed at allowing easy access to the Wombarra rockpool, which had opened in the 1930s. High tide makes access to the ocean pool hard and sometimes hazardous while low tide reveals the rock platform.
Coledale rockpool
Work to build Coledale rockpool began in the early months of the first world war and it was officially opened to the public in 1921. Years of disuse and a lack of maintenace allowed oyster shells to accumulate along the ocean pool walls, posing a hazard to swimmers. Members of the Coledale Oyster swimming club frequent the pool and, now cleared of oysters, it is used by adults and kids.
Austinmer rockpool
The Austinmer rockpool was built as a tourist attraction in 1914. Development continued until the 1940s, which helped boost land prices and the community's economy. The pool is at the southern end of Austinmer beach and recieves ocean surf at high tide when the waves crash over its walls. It is used by the Austinmer Otters, a local swimming club.
Bulli rockpool
Bulli rockpool is 50 metres long and has a children's pool on the cliffside. Built in 1921, the ocean pool became an attraction for tourists and is used by local swimming clubs.
Woonona rockpool
Woonona rockpool opened in 1928 and was originally longer, before being rebuilt to the size of an Olympic pool. The pool has views of Bulli beach and Collins Park.
Bellambi rockpool
Opened in 1965, the Bellambi rockpool is the Illawara's youngest ocean pool. Located at the southern end of Bellami beach, the pool is 50 metres long and is often used for lap swimming. A mini-pool was built adjacent to it for young children.
Towradgi rockpool
Towradgi rockpool, built in the 1960s by volunteers, is among the youngest ocean pools in NSW. Located south of the shipwreck Queen of Nations, visitors can swim to one end of the pool to look out over Corrimal beach or to the side for a view of Wollongong beach, with the harbour in the distance.
Nuns pool
The Nuns pool, first used in the 1830s, is the oldest ocean pool in Wollongong and is one of the oldest in the state. Formerly known as the Chain baths, the Nuns pool is sectioned off by a rock curtain that forms its edges. It was previously used by the nuns of St Mary's convent.
Wollongong ladies baths
The Wollongong ladies baths is a heritage-listed ocean pool that was built as an alternative to the Chain baths. It's no longer reserved for women.
Fishermans beach pool
Thought to have been built by residents in the 1930s, Fishermans beach pool is 16.6 metres wide and 24.5 metres long. It was extended. Though beloved by the local community and used from time to time, the pool has fallen into disrepair.
Pheasant Point baths
Opened in 1870 as a ladies-only ocean pool to match the Blowhole Point men's rockpool, the Pheasant Point Baths hosted girls' swimming carnivals. A recreational facillity now open to everyone, the pool is pleasantly shaded by overhanging cliffs and offers wheelchair access.
Blowhole Point rockpool
The Blowhole Point rockpool is located near Kiama's famous blowhole. Opened in the 1880s, it's the smaller of the two Kiama rockpools and was originally intended as a men's bath. The ocean pool is almost completely natural, with some rocks removed to expand its area for public use.
Ourie pool, Werri beach
The Werri beach pools were built in the 1930s to further attract campers to the area, and are still used by tourists and swimming clubs. They're not as long as most modern ocean pools and getting to them can be a very different experience, depending on the level of the tide.
Boat Harbour pool
The Boat Harbour pool extends over a wide rock platform. The complex became ladies-only baths in 1911 when the opening of new men-only baths nearby allowed them to be reserved for women and children. Debate continued throughout the 1920s and 30s about mixed bathing (or "continental" bathing as it was known).
South coast
Blue Pool
The Blue Pool sits below the cliffs of Scenic Drive, where steep steps lead down into the saltwater wading pool. Built as an expansion of a naturally occurring ocean pool, the Blue Pool was built between 1936 and 1939 and is split into a 'big' and a 'little' pool.
Aslings beach rockpool
Eden's rockpool is situated at the southern end of Aslings Beach and has the distinction of being the most southerly in the state. Having opened some time in 1904, the rockpool was historically used for swimming lessons by students from St Joseph's Catholic primary school.
