Access to toilet/change facilities Actively maintained Disabled Access

Men Women Children

Current Use: Negligible.
Condition: Toddlers pool was in such poor condition that  that its demolition was recommended in 2003.

From the mid-1830s
Children in Wollongong bathed with their mothers at the Chain Baths (Nuns Pool) or from 1856 in the Ladies Pool facing South Beach.

1920s
Construction of a Toddlers Pool at Clarkes Hole.

1930
A storm created heavy seas that reportedly 'washed away' the Toddlers Pool.

1932
Wollongong Council removed the dressing-shed for the gentlemen's and Toddlers Pool. After this unpopular decision, new concrete sheds were erected further back from the pool's edge.

1950s
The toddler's pool was rebuilt, reportedly by volunteers. This quick, cheap rebuild did not include horizontal reinforcement, vertical anchors or tie-downs to fix the concrete structure to the rock platform.

1970s
Photographs show the walls of the Toddlers Pool were in good condition.

1994
A structural investigation of Council-owned rock pools and saltwater pools rated the Toddler's Pool as a 'minor safety hazard, particularly to children who may be encouraged to play in it'.

2003
The Toddlers Pool was still used occasionally, even though it no longer retained water at low tide, was generally in a very poor condition with a concrete floor that was severely cracked, broken and eroded. Its concrete blocks were considered unsightly and of little significance and proposals for its removal were widely accepted. The Stedinger study recommended that archival recording of the pool be lodged in the Wollongong City Library. The site itself was considered to have some historical and associational significance.

1829
A military garrison and stockade relocated from Red Point in Port Kembla to the boat harbour at Wollongong.

1837
Around 300 convicts began excavation works and construction of a breakwater to improve Wollongong's harbour.

1841
Wollongong's population was 831, comprising 330 free males, 286 free females, 47 soldiers and dependents (39 males and 8 females) and 168 male convicts in the stockade of Flagstaff Hill. Most of the population was less than 45 years old and had arrived as free settlers.

1850s
Wollongong was one of the oldest municipalities in NSW. 

1947
While Wollongong was one of the oldest municipalities in NSW, parts of the present-day City of Wollongong once belonged to other local government areas. Central Illawarra Shire, North Illawarra and Bulli Shire were amalgamated with the Municipality of Wollongong to form the City of Greater Wollongong. 

To be added.

The Toddlers Pool was a rare example of a very small-scale place designed for safe aquatic recreation by young children lacking water skills. Rare example of children's baths associated with a traditional men's bathing place.

Assessed significance: This pool site could be of State Heritage significance if considered as part of the cluster of pools within the Belmore Basin Conservation Area.
Current heritage status: Pool site lies within the Belmore Basin Conservation Area listed in the Illawarra Regional Environmental Plan.
 

Related Topics Children Council involvement Injuries & public liability 'Lost' & abandoned ocean baths Working bees & voluntary labour

Studies & References Stedinger Associates, A Heritage Study of Five Tidal Rock Pools along the Wollongong Coast. Prepared for Wollongong City Council, 2003. Meredith Hutton. Conservation Study for Belmore Basin Conservation Area, Wollongong, NSW. For Wollongong City Council, 1997.