Nurses

NSW had quite a number of hospitals located near ocean baths, especially in the mining villages of the Northern Illawarra. From the early 1900s, the Coast Hospital (later Prince Henry Hospital)  at Little Bay had its own ocean baths as well as its own beach.

Like the beaches, the ocean baths offered cheap recreation. The presence of nurses no doubt added to the attractiveness of the ocean baths as social centres.

Nurses from the nearby hospital were quick to offer assistance when alerted to an emergency at the ocean baths at Coledale in 1938.

In the 1940s, people rescued and resuscitated at ocean baths were often rushed to hospital for treatment in an iron lung.

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