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Current Use: Ocean baths.
Condition: Good.

1883
Waverley Council set aside 150 pounds to build a pool at Bronte, but had difficulty getting permission from the NSW Department of Lands to occupy the site near the popular Bogey Hole at South Nelson Bay.

1886
At Council's request, the NSW government gave permission to Mr A. Williams, an engineer with the Harbour and Rivers Branch of the Department of Public Works, to design and supervise the construction of public baths at both the Bronte and Bondi Baths.

1887
The lease was granted at a cost of 20 pounds a year, the Bronte Reserve was created and sea baths opened for segregated bathing. Council set a further 235 pounds aside for the Bronte Baths project. The Bronte Baths cost 235 pounds more than the original estimate, but the torrential floods of April 1887 may have increased the construction difficulties. F. W. Lloyd was appointed caretaker of the baths on 18 October 1887.

In late 1887, after complaints to Council about bathing during prohibited hours, Council adopted regulations for the conduct of the Bondi and Bronte Baths. The Bronte Baths 1887 Regulations stated 'gentlemen could bathe between daylight and 10am and from 4pm 'till dark each day. Ladies were welcomed from 10am to 4pm daily' except on Sundays and Public Holidays, when the baths  were reserved exclusively for men 'from daylight to dark' and that 'each person using the baths shall wear an appropriate bathing dress'. Baths entry cost fourpence for adult and tuppence for children. Monthly tickets were available and towels could be hired.

1888
In January, Council formally recorded its grateful appreciation for the satisfactory manner in which Mr Williams had supervised the work and for the NSW government for making his services available.

1889
The 1889 lease from Council was 60 pounds per annum.

1892
Renewing its five-year lease of the baths cost Council 10 pounds per annum.

1893
Following gale damage to the baths, removal of the dressing shed was recommended at a cost of 50 pounds.

1894
Charles Kindred took over the lease of the baths.
The Eastern Suburbs Swimming Club moved its headquarters from the pool at the Coogee Aquarium to the Bronte Baths.

1895
Harry A. Wylie, champion distance diver of Australia, took a five-year lease of the baths at 100 pounds a year.

1898
Wylie was a popular lessee and under his management the baths offered both showers and the hot sea baths popularised by the medical profession. The baths were 150 feet end-to-end, but longer on the sea wall and 72 feet wide at the widest part. Large boulders beyond the concrete wall on the seaward side helped break the force of the waves, making the baths safe even in high seas.

1901
Lessee G. H. Rowles paid 125 pounds per year for his lease of the baths and was sworn in as a special constable, so he could keep good order at the baths.

1903
After a Royal Lifesaving squad under Major Bond witnessed a drowning at Bronte, it decided to extend its operations from the pool into the sea.

1907
Waverley Council had spent about 400 pounds on the swimming baths at Bronte.

1908
Waverley Council accepted W. H. Bond's tender of 201 pounds 10 shillings, including a cottage for the baths.

1921
The Bronte Splashers swimming club formed and included several older members of the Bronte Surf Life Saving Club. Its aims included creating 'a friendly feeling of good will between all beach and baths swimmers', holding races and arranging social functions for its members. Winter swimming was a feature of the club.

1923
Council accepted John Bond's tender of 325 pounds for the lease of the baths for three years. Bond introduced mixed or continental bathing on Sundays, holiday afternoons and evenings from 1pm.

1925
Baths improvements costing 1,700 pounds included a room for the swimming club and the installation of a centrifugal pump. Dennis Brown was the lessee at the end of 1925.

1928
Les Bond paid 538 pounds a year for the lease of the baths.

1939
A photograph of Bronte Beach at low tide shows a diving board at the baths.

1951
Debentures issued to members of the for the Bronte Splashers funded the erection of a new club-house at the Bronte Baths. Successful fundraising through social functions meant debenture holders were repaid in about 12 months. The Splashers paid a nominal sum to Waverley Council for the lease of the premises at the Bronte Baths.

1958-59
Bronte Amateur Swimming Club had a record membership of 185 members.

1960s
Storms destroyed dressing sheds at the Bronte Baths.

1987
Alderman Carolyn A. Markham, the first female Mayor of Waverley, unveiled a plaque commemorating a centenary of community use and enjoyment of the Bronte Baths.

1991
The baths and park were proposed as a heritage park.

1990s
The Bronte ocean pool was closed for well over the expected time for a $250,000 renovation. Afterwards, there were complaints that the new pump did not work and that algae obscured the newly tiled lane markings.

1997
The Bronte RSL Swim Club held its annual carnival at the Bronte Baths. The Dee Why RSL Swimming club participated.

1999
Local artist Martine Emdur exhibited a ghostly image of Bronte Baths in the moonlight in her Coasting exhibition at the Art House Gallery.
The Sea Theatre Festival (also held in 1996 and 1997 but not 1998) ended at Bronte Park with the Synchronised Sushi Swimmers performing in the rock pool.

2001
Bronte Splashers winter swimming club celebrated its 80th anniversary.

2003
Waverley Council refused permission for QANTAS to film an advertisement in its I Still Call Australia Home campaign at the Bronte Pool. Council felt the area, which already attracted five million visitors a year, did not need the international publicity, nor an enforced three-day closure of the pool at the busiest time of the year.

In the early 1880s, colonial architect Mortimer Lewis designed and partially built Bronte House, the first house in the area, then known as South Nelson Bay.

1903
Despite a lack of documentary evidence, the Bronte surf club dates its operation back to 1903 with Bond's squad developing the first rescue reel in 1904 and building the first boat in 1905.

2002
Bronte rated well on the NSW EPA's cleanest beaches list for 2002.
The NSW government created an aquatic reserve from Bronte to Coogee. Within this protection zone, which extends to 100 metres offshore, recreational fishing is allowed, but there are bans on taking a whole range of intertidal invertebrates such as oysters, mussels, crabs and pipis.

Wickham, Alec
de Lacy, Evelyn
Williams, A
Wylie, H. A.

National Trust of Australia (NSW)
RSL

Demonstrates the evolution of simple pools on rock platforms into formalised ocean baths. The development of this site coincided with the growth of amateur swimming, the pursuit of aquatic sports, the acceptance of mixed bathing on beaches and baths, the use of ocean pools as training facilities for lifesavers and others and the growing popularity of competitive winter swimming.

Assessed significance: State.
Current heritage status: No.
 

Related Topics Continental bathing Council involvement Dressing sheds Government involvement Health & therapy Surf clubs Swim clubs Swimming Swimming costumes Winter swimming

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.