Culture - Creating ocean baths

Creativity is evident in the design and siting of these pools. Key aspects are:

• waves of pool construction,
• pool sites, clumps and clusters, and
• range of construction techniques.

Waves of pool construction

Today's set of NSW ocean baths can be characterised as resulting from successive waves of creation and support that have culminated in the current wave of support for the existing ocean baths. As indicated in the following table, each wave had its own characteristics, though waves could and did meet, merge and reinforce each other. Each wave considered the ocean baths 'safe enough' from the waves, currents and sharks, that are integral elements of the coastal environment (See the thematic history relating to  Appreciating the evolving rocky shore).  While the wave of creation in the 1930s produced a great many new ocean baths, the desire for those baths developed during and drew on earlier waves of construction.

 

Wave	Period	Regions with ocean baths (north to south)	Uses of ocean baths
1	1820-1855 Seabathing facilities in a colony of convicts	Newcastle Illawarra (Wollongong only)	Gender-segregated bathing and recreational swimming Ocean baths important as tourist attractions
2	1856-1900 Seabathing and watersports facilities in a self-governing colony	Newcastle Sydney - Eastern Suburbs Illawarra	Gender-segregated bathing, as well as gender-segregated recreational and competitive watersports Structured learn-to-swim programs and school swimming for boys and girls Local government involvement with the ocean baths begins in the municipalities Ocean baths important as tourist attractions
3	1901-1919 Complementing the NSW surf beaches in a new beach-loving nation	Newcastle Sydney - Northern Beaches Sydney - Eastern Suburbs Sydney - Cronulla Illawarra	Gender-segregated bathing recreational swimming at older ocean baths Growing popularity and acceptance of mixed bathing, especially in the new ocean baths Ocean baths important as tourist attractions and in promoting residential development
4	1920-1929 Part of the globe's modern outdoor lifestyle	Newcastle/Merewether Central Coast Sydney - Northern Beaches Sydney - Eastern Suburbs Sydney - Cronulla Illawarra	Mixed bathing and swimming becomes the dominant use for ocean baths Ocean baths important as tourist attractions and in promoting residential development Winter swimming rare at ocean baths
5	1930-1949 Public works for public pleasure amid Depression, war and rationing	North Coast Newcastle Central Coast Sydney - Northern Beaches Sydney - Eastern Suburbs Sydney - Cronulla Illawarra South Coast	Ocean baths no longer acceptable for elite swimming competitions Winter swimming occurs at a few ocean baths Ocean baths important as tourist attractions and in promoting residential development
6	1950-1979 An increasingly rare type of NSW public pool, still being created and upgraded	North Coast Newcastle Central Coast Sydney - Northern Beaches Sydney - Eastern Suburbs Sydney - Cronulla Illawarra Shoalhaven South Coast	Declining rate of construction of ocean baths Decline in the belief that bigger ocean baths are better A more culturally diverse group of baths patrons Winter swimming at ocean baths increases in popularity Ocean baths less important as tourist attractions, but still important in promoting the sale/rent of residential properties Ocean baths still being created at new sites by volunteer activity and council action
7	1980+ A wave of support for ocean baths that may yet prompt creation of ocean baths at new sites	North Coast Newcastle Central Coast Sydney - Northern Beaches Sydney - Eastern Suburbs Sydney - Cronulla Illawarra Shoalhaven South Coast	Ocean baths seen as distinctive NSW public places worth conserving and updating, despite a lack of action to create ocean baths at new sites Growing recognition of ocean baths as a distinct swimming and recreational environment and as places of aesthetic and heritage significance Winter swimming clubs at many ocean baths Increased focus on wildlife conservation in the intertidal area and on minimising risks to human health and safety Ocean baths again promoted as tourist attractions and still used to promote the sale/rent of residential properties

A quick glance at this table shows the folly of using Sydney's ocean baths as the benchmark for heritage studies, when older waves of ocean pools existed at Newcastle and in the Illawarra. Having inherited the many ocean baths created by Bulli Shire Council as well as the Wollongong municipality, Wollongong City Council created still more ocean baths in the 1960s and remains the NSW local government area containing the largest number of ocean baths.

The need for ocean baths emerged first in regional coastal ports, as Europeans with few surf and swimming skills sought spaces among the rocky shores where they could indulge in the 'the luxury of a bath' in comparative safety from the danger of waves, currents, sharks and other wildlife. Ocean baths were slower to develop in Sydney, where the calmer harbour waters long remained more accessible and appealing to city dwellers, than the wilder waters of the surf beaches, that lay further from the centre of the city.

Development of seaside municipalities and shires fostered successive waves of the development of ocean baths. From the earliest days, NSW ocean baths usually consisted of a single pool, though many nineteenth-century public baths in Britain offered a selection of first, second and third class pools and sometimes a separate women's pool all with distinct facilities and charges. From the nineteenth century onwards, where a second pool was created at an ocean baths in NSW, it was usually intended as a children's pool.

Since the 1980s, coastal councils and the NSW State Government have demonstrated their support conservation and upgrading of existing ocean baths, but have shown little interest in assisting with the creation of new baths. Community support for the creation of ocean baths at Stanwell Park in the Illawarra has been demonstrated through fund-raising and persistent lobbying, and there is also some ongoing interest in creating ocean baths at Port Macquarie on the north coast. Most of the older NSW ocean baths have been remodelled extensively to keep them safe, functional, up-to-date, appealing and still in use.

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Pool sites, clumps and clusters
Different waves of creation produced different patterns of ocean baths. From a purely functional viewpoint, the rocks on a rock platform or headland at the southern end of a NSW beach are the most convenient place to create semi-protected, resilient and readily accessible ocean baths. Sometimes, the most appropriate rock actually occurs in the middle rather than at either end of the surf beach as at Mona Vale, or there is no sand among the rocks (e.g. at the Newcastle Bogey Hole, Gerringong Boatharbour or South Coogee).

Some coastal communities developed and used more than one ocean baths. In the nineteenth century, Bondi and Bronte both acquired formalised ocean baths at the southern end of the beach, right next to ring-of-rocks 'bogey holes', long popular as bathing places. In other coastal communities, the urge to provide maximum separation between the separate men's and women's baths resulted in baths located on different sides of a bay  (e.g. Coogee, Kiama) or a headland (e.g. Wollongong). At Wollongong and Kiama, the men's baths were located more conveniently to the town than the women's baths. 

Clusters of ocean baths at Coogee and Wollongong became even more elaborate by the early twentieth century to accommodate demands for women's competitive swimming (the Wollongong Ladies Baths), a private enterprise baths  (Wylies Baths) and mixed bathing facilities (Wylies Baths and the Wollongong Continental Baths) separate from the earlier baths. Finally in 1947,  Coogee did acquire ocean baths in the classic southern end of the beach position to round out its cluster of baths.

After the acceptance of mixed daylight bathing at surf beaches in the twentieth century, other factors could also produce clumps and clusters of baths, beyond the 'one ocean baths per beach' minimum. Separate communities on opposite sides of a bay, especially if they had separate surf clubs, could develop ocean  baths at both ends of a bay as at Bondi and North Bondi. A desire to create a substantial children's pool could prompt development of children's baths separate from, but close to an earlier deeper, rectangular ocean baths as at Newcastle (Canoe Pool next to the Newcastle Ocean Baths) and  North Bondi (North Bondi Children's Pool next to the Wally Weekes Pool).

A single rock platform may host a cluster of adult-size ocean baths and a children's pool. On the rock platform that divides Cronulla Beach from South Cronulla beach,  two large pools now sandwich a shallow children's pool, developed at the same time as the earlier of the large pools and all three pools are still in use.  At Merewether, a large rock platform hosts both the immense Merewether Ocean Baths with its children's pool and the older Merewether Baths.

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Range of construction techniques

The existing set of ocean baths embodies several different types of construction. The simpler construction techniques produce pools which are more robust in the face of storms, earthquakes and other environmental disturbances.

While the simpler pools are filled by waves and tides, the more elaborate ocean baths may make use of pumps and valves to maintain a good swimming depth at all states of the tide. Provided the coastal waters are unpolluted, pumping fresh seawater into the baths helps to maintain good water quality in heavily used ocean baths.

With a few exceptions such as Wylies Baths and the Newcastle Ocean Baths, the buildings at the ocean baths have tended to be functional, rather than monumental or aesthetically significant, the pools themselves are now seen as successful examples of 'design with nature'. This assessment reflects both the much-admired views available to patrons of the pools and to people passing by the pools, plus the elimination of some of the less aesthetically appealing structures that once existed at present-day ocean baths. This attitude is further explored in the thematic history relating to Creating images and other creative works relating to ocean baths. Ocean pools are undeniably far more sustainable recreational public spaces, than indoor aquatic centres and inground public pools.

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