Nuns & brothers

From the late nineteenth century, many coastal communities had Catholic primary schools run by Catholic nuns. Some of the larger centres also had Catholic boys schools run by the Christian Brothers.

When nuns were a readily identifiable and distinctively dressed group of professional women, their behaviour attracted a lot of public scrutiny. Nuns had well documented concerns about modesty and sought privacy in their bathing and dressing arrangements. They strongly supported the Ladies Baths in Wollongong and at Coogee and avoided using nearby continental baths for themselves and the pupils at their schools into the 1940s.

After Kiama converted its baths at Blow Hole Point for continental bathing, Kiama Council agreed to impose special men-only hours at the baths during the visits of the Christian Brothers from the Sydney suburb of Burwood, as the Brothers had holidayed at Kiama for many years.

The Christian Brothers based in Wollongong used the Continental Baths for school carnivals and sought a volume discount for their holiday use of Wollongong's ocean baths. Wollongong's Christian Brothers and the local Tourism Association were also among the groups who protested against the surprise demolition of the dressing shed at the Wollongong's men's baths in 1932 and insisted that the sheds be replaced.

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