Governing - Colonial, federal, state and local governments

NSW ocean baths were influenced by policies and actions by the colonial NSW government even before local councils existed and by Commonwealth government initiatives relating to defence and national fitness. Key issues to consider are:

• colonial, federal and state government,
• local government, and
• public servants and council workers.

Colonial, federal and state  government

In the nineteenth century, all the NSW coast's 'would-be Brightons' relied heavily on support from the colonial government to promote tourism and develop public transport by land. As well as providing all the railway services in NSW, the NSW government provided the trams and some of the buses that transported day-trippers and holiday-makers alike to enjoy ocean baths in Newcastle, Sydney and the Illawarra.

Images of ocean baths taken by professional photographers were displayed in Sydney's Martin Place at Challis House, home of the NSW Government Tourist Bureau, and in railway carriages. Apart from selling its own sightseeing trips and packaged tours, the NSW Government Tourist Bureau was the principal ticketing agent for the NSW Railways and the coastal shipping companies. As the NSW government also surveyed and leased sites for ocean baths, funded the creation of public baths, supported school swimming and learn-to-swim programs, the NSW Government Printing Office came to hold photographs of most of the state's public baths.

Ocean pools were associated with the defence of the NSW coast, as colonial soldiers were associated with early baths at Wollongong and Newcastle and later colonial troops  at Newcastle's Fort Scratchley patronised the nearby Soldiers Baths. After Federation, defence became a Commonwealth government responsibility and  during World War II,  searchlight batteries and air observer posts were set up near some ocean baths.  Like other public pools, ocean baths hosted carnivals for servicemen and servicewomen as well as patriotic galas and fundraising events, and later hosted events linked to the goal of National Fitness. One ocean baths (the Ross Jones Memorial Pool at Coogee) was funded from monies paid to Randwick Council for wartime military damage to its beaches.

As the official need and popular demand for maps of the ocean baths continues to grow, the internet now offers access to a wide range of information demonstrating NSW government and Commonwealth government involvement with the ocean baths regarding land titles, tourism, heritage issues and pollution monitoring as well as learn-to-swim programs and an online map of the nation's public toilets that includes toilets located at or near ocean baths.

Top 

Local government

Local government is the tier of government most closely associated with ocean baths, as well as with 'roads, rates and rubbish' (see also the thematic history relating to Utilities - roads, sewage, stormwater, waste management, water supply & conservation, electricity). Council ability  to develop ocean baths was constrained by funding, concerns about the legal status of the intertidal area and a reluctance to spend ratepayers' money 'in the sea'. Several of the Illawarra Councils resolved this dilemma by arranging for community groups to excavate the baths, on the understanding that Council would purchase the excavated material for use on the local roads.

Enthusiasm for the creation of ocean baths was evident in both the nineteenth century coastal municipalities and in the shires created with a decade of Federation. Both nineteenth-century and twentieth-century ocean baths created by volunteer labour were often later transferred to Council control, as was the case with the Newcastle Bogey Hole and the men's baths at Kiama. The ocean baths were often seen as one of the council's greatest assets and as assisting residential development, road-building and the development of coastal tourism (see also the thematic history relating to Coastal tourism & real estate sales).

Bulli Shire in the Illawarra and Warringah Shire on Sydney's Northern Beaches showed a remarkable commitment to the creation of ocean baths to make their shires more attractive to residents and visitors. The ability of coastal Councils to impose a local rate for some defined part of their area enabled the creation of several pools within Bulli Shire.

Council amalgamation meant councils including Newcastle, Wollongong and Kiama  gained control of ocean baths created by other councils that had ceased to exist. Had the creation of Greater Newcastle taken place a few years earlier, it is unlikely that Merewether would have acquired baths larger than the Newcastle Ocean Baths.

Top 

Public servants and council workers

While the NSW Department of Public Works was once the main source of engineering expertise along the NSW coast, many Council engineers have also demonstrated extensive expertise in the construction and operation of ocean baths.  In some cases, that expertise was shared among a number of Councils as in the 1930s, when the engineer for Central Illawarra Shire managed the construction of new ocean baths at Shellharbour.

Since the early twentieth century, most of maintenance of ocean baths has  been undertaken by Councils, sometimes with assistance from community groups and volunteers. The Bondi Icebergs pool is a special case, where the lease of the pool was transferred from a Council to a winter swimming club, long responsible for day-to-day management of the baths.

Top 

Further Information

Back Top