1924
The Harbord Beach Improvement Committee (HBIC) asked Council to support the construction of a rock pool to the north of Freshwater Beach, just below McKillop Park and permission to hold surf carnivals to raise funds for it. Council agreed and arranged for the Shire engineer to design two pool options. The HBIC selected the longer pool option (70 feet by 50 feet).

The Freshwater surf club had also lobbied Council for the pool's construction and raised most of the funds via concerts and carnivals. Many of the functions were held under the auspices of the Beach Improvement Committee. At a fundraising carnival attractions included performing dogs, a horse sideshow, merry-go-round, baby show and a Queen competition.

1925
Shire President Parr opened the pool on 28 November 1925. The pool measured 33 yards (30.18 m) and was the first rock pool to be opened on the Northern Beaches. The pool had been constructed by Mr W. H. Morgan for a total cost of 472 pounds. In September, Mr R. Antill won a tender to construct the lower path from the beach to the pool at a cost of 105 pounds. The HBIC again contributed half the funds.

1926
There were requests to improve the pool by concreting its bottom providing lighting.

1930s
Concreting of the pool bottom was completed.  The pool was used for swimming races by lifesavers who competed for a trophy donated by H. C. Butterworth, the secretary of the Freshwater surf club.

Early 1940s
The Women's Amateur Swimming Club formed and later affiliated with the NSW Amateur Swimming Association and joined the Northern Suburbs Women's Amateur Swimming Association which also involving ladies clubs at the Collaroy, Dee Why, Manly and Narrabeen ocean pools.

1949
Photos show Isabel Letham's swimming school in Freshwater rock pool. Around 1949, an 'aquacade' day at Freshwater pool involving a water ballet performance by the Freshwater Ladies Swimming Club saw crowds using the rock face next to the pool as a spectator seating.

Early 1950s
The Men's Amateur Swimming Club  (Freshwater Amateur Swimming Club) formed and its current clubhouse opened in 1954. The lower half of the clubhouse was erected by volunteers who later added an upper storey funded by Warringah Shire. It was the first building on this site, as until then the members of the Freshwater Amateur Swimming Club  had used the surfclub building.

1956
On 25 July 1956, a Trust for the swimming club was set up for the care, control and management of the pool, the clubhouse and McKillop Park. It comprised officials of the Men's and Ladies Amateur Swimming Club and three ex-officio Council members. It was also authorised to hire out the clubhouse. The clubs were responsible for the internal maintenance of the clubhouse and the Council for any external repairs and painting.

1962
To comply with the standard for competition swimming pools, the Freshwater pool was extended from 33 to 55 yards at the western end.

1966
The men's and ladies Amateur Swimming Clubs amalgamated and held races on Saturday afternoons and Wednesday evenings.

1978
The pool was restored with a new pump, water outlets and walls.

1990
The Amateur Swimming Club and Harbord Diggers Sunday Morning Swimming Club agreed to share use of the clubhouse. The Amateur Swimming Club was the prime tenant, although the Diggers used the club year-round and the Amateur Swimming Club used the pool only during the summer swimming season.

1998
Councillor Darren Jones proposed that Warringah Council establish a suitable park seat and an appropriate plaque in the vicinity of the Freshwater rock pool as a memorial to the contributions of the late Roy Longley to the coaching of junior swimming.

1999
A baptism took place at the pool in front of thousands of onlookers.

2001
The President of the Freshwater Amateur Swimming Club sought Council assistance to make the lane markings in the rock pool more distinct. Council responded that its service-level agreement for construction and maintenance of the rock pools only covered cleaning and minor pump maintenance and that no funds were available for line marking.

2002
The running route from the end of Freshwater Beach up around the rock pool and onto the Harbord Diggers Club was popular.

Middens, rock engravings and stone tools found on the headland testify to a long Aboriginal presence in the Harbord area around Freshwater Beach.

1884,
The Manly Land Company subdivided the Freshwater Estate named after a small fresh water creek, which entered the sea at the northern end of the beach.

Early 1900s
Freshwater Beach was a workers'  holiday resort with calico tents, then whitewashed hessian and primitive houses available for use on weekends and holidays.

1906
Warringah Shire was formed.

1915
Isabel Letham rode surfboards with world famous surfer and swimmer Duke Kahanamoku at Freshwater.

1980
On 14 November 1980, the Harbord Beach, but not the surrounding suburb, was officially renamed Freshwater by the Geographical Names Board. The decision was supported by Warringah Council, backed by a petition signed by over 100 local residents.

1986
A statue of Duke Paoa Kahanamoku (donated by the Harbord Diggers Club) was set in a landscaped area in McKillop Park on the ridge. This statue is a significant cultural feature related to the pool and beach and a tourist attraction.

 

Letham, Isabel
National Trust of Australia (NSW)

The ocean baths at Freshwater Beach are sited above the beach seen as the birthplace of Australian surfing and its surfclub and the statue honouring Hawaiian swimmer and surfer Duke Kahanamoku on the headland. Freshwater Pool is strongly linked to these beach cultures through its location and via Isabel Letham, the woman who rode with Duke Kahanamoku on his surfboard.

After working in California as a teacher of swimming, Letham returned to the Freshwater pool to teach swimming and organise aquacades showcasing synchronised swimming. She not only provided a link between the glamour of Hollywood and life at the ocean baths and beaches on the NSW coast, but also with nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century traditions of aquatic spectacles as well as sport at the ocean baths. Unlike the other watersports of swimming, diving and waterpolo, synchronised swimming was very much a sport developed by women for women, particularly North American women. Freshwater Pool helped nurture this sport in NSW.

Constructed during the fourth wave of ocean baths creation (from 1920-1929), the Freshwater Pool is also representative of the Northern Beaches ocean baths, which developed during the 1920s and 1930s, always as pools that were available to all and free-to-use. In that era, when women were not admitted as full members of the surf lifesaving clubs, women's swimming clubs at the ocean baths served as a counterpart to the surf club at Warringah's surf beaches. Being recognised as a key community facility for residents and visitors, the northern beaches pools attracted strong community support in the form of fundraising, working bees and lobbying as well as support from Warringah Shire.

Assessed significance: Worth nominating for State Heritage Listing.
Current heritage status: Listed with local heritage status in the Warringah Local Environmental Plan in 2000.