Sydney's ocean pools cut into the rock

Concrete tanks blasted into the sandstone shelf between Palm Beach and Cronulla, filled and flushed by the swell that breaks over their seaward walls. Aspect and shelf height decide everything: a pool sitting low on an exposed east-facing platform washes out in a big southerly, while one tucked behind a headland stays swimmable on the same morning. Entries note depth, lane length, whether entry is free, and the weekly drain-and-clean that empties several of them.

Places in this collection

  • McIver's Ladies Baths — Australia's last remaining women-only ocean baths, carved into the rock on the Coogee cliffs and open since 1886, which makes this well ove…
  • Ross Jones Memorial Pool — Built in 1947 by Randwick Council with money from a compensation payment, and easy to recognise by its castellated walls, which look like t…
  • Malabar Ocean Pool — Created in the 1890s and closed down by the 1970s, along with the rest of Long Bay, because of pollution. In 1997 NSW Premier Bob Carr and…
  • Dee Why Rockpool — A 50-metre pool cut from the rock that dates back to 1915, with a lap pool and a small toddler wading pool alongside it. It is a short walk…
  • Bogey Hole — A semi-enclosed natural rock formation next to Bronte Baths at the southern end of Bronte Beach, used as a swimming hole by locals for over…
  • Collaroy Rock Pool — Carved into the rock platform at the southern end of Collaroy Beach and recently upgraded, with a modern outline and access provision for w…
  • MacCallum Pool — A 1920s saltwater pool at the edge of the harbour on Cremorne Point, completely ringed by a timber deck and looking straight across at the…
  • Newport Rock Pool — A 25-metre pool with a sheltered children's section, halfway up the Northern Beaches and used mainly by locals rather than visitors. Newpor…
  • Avalon Rock Pool — A 50-metre pool with its own toddler section at the southern end of Avalon Beach, taking spray off the ocean when there is any swell runnin…
  • Whale Beach Rock Pool — At the southern end of Whale Beach, 1.5 kilometres south of Palm Beach, with a cliff wall behind it and quiet conditions in the early morni…
  • Queenscliff Rock Pool — A 50-metre saltwater pool with a separate children's section at the northern end of Manly Beach, tucked against the cliffs at the very end…
  • Giles Baths — A small natural rock pool at the far northern end of Coogee Beach, open to everyone and free. It occupies the site of the former Lloyds Bat…
  • Wylie's Baths — Founded in 1907 by long-distance swimming champion Henry Alexander Wylie and set on a timber deck beneath the cliffs at the southern end of…
  • Maroubra Rock Pools — Constructed in the late 1920s by the Maroubra surf club at the southern end of the beach, built from concrete and small rocks taken from th…
  • North Narrabeen Rock Pool — One of the largest of the rock baths built in the early 1930s under the Unemployment Relief Scheme, sitting at the entrance to Narrabeen La…
  • Mahon Pool — Cut into the rock in a cleft of the cliffs north of Maroubra Beach, built in 1932 by Randwick Council as an Unemployment Relief project. It…
  • North Curl Curl Rock Pool — A 50-metre lap section with a natural rock floor, plus a sheltered toddler pool, set on the rock platform at the northern end of Curl Curl…
  • Bronte Baths — Five marked lanes, 30 metres long, carved into the sandstone platform at the southern end of Bronte Beach and washed over by the swell. Als…
  • Bondi Icebergs — Eight lanes and 50 metres cut into the rock at the southern end of Bondi, with waves breaking over the sea wall to refresh the water. Swimm…

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