Access to toilet/change facilities Actively maintained Disabled Access

Men Women Children

Current Use: Ocean baths.
Condition: Good, facilities at pool.

1930s
The pool was constructed by unemployed workers.

1960s
Warringah Shire deepened the pool to encourage it to self-fill. A pump was installed, then removed after it proved of little value in controlling the erratic water supply.

2002
Real estate agents promoted Whale Beach as offering privacy, peacefulness, an unspoilt beach environment and the pleasures of swimming in the ocean pool. Few properties at Whale Beach were used only as weekenders.
 

Whale Beach is believed to be named after a nineteenth-century whale beaching. An 1837 land grant to Father John Joseph Therry covered almost the entire peninsula from Newport to Whale Beach. After his death, the Jesuit order sold these lands to finance the construction of a new Catholic cathedral in Sydney on the site of the burned-down St Mary's cathedral.

1906
Warringah Shire was formed.

1919
Weekenders and campers began to use the beach after land nearby was subdivided.

1992
Pittwater Council was formed to administer what had been the northern part of Warringah Shire.
 

National Trust of Australia (NSW)

1930s Depression-era baths later upgraded.

Assessed significance: Local.
Current heritage status: Not yet given heritage status.
 

Related Topics Campers & caravanners Council involvement Pumps & valves Real estate agents Unemployment relief works

Studies & References National Trust listing EJE Landscape Architects & Christa Ludlow. Survey of Harbourside & Ocean Pools of the Sydney Metropolitan Region. Prepared for the National Trust of Australia (NSW). 1994.