For the swimmers among us, Sydney’s sdy pools are more than a place to cool off. They’re places of memory, tradition and adventure – and they’re facing some serious challenges.
While the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge are known to the world, the city’s ocean pools are often overlooked. Yet with one of the iconic swim spots in the process of a major upgrade, we take a closer look at the pools and how they’ve helped shape the city.
Sydney abounds with venues for what Kate Rew, the founder of Britain’s Outdoor Swimming Society, describes as “wild swimming”. These public seawater pools sited on the rocky surf coast from Palm Beach in the north to Cronulla in the south are less subject to human control than indoor and some tidal pools, making them more alive and open to sea, beach and sky. They host recreational and competitive swimming, learn-to-swim programs and treasured forms of wave-play.
They’re also vulnerable to sea levels and rising climate change. Built on rock platforms, the pools are flushed by the waves, and the ones with sandy bottoms will need to be raised if they’re not to disappear under swell and erosion. “Rising sea levels will change how ocean pools work,” Nicole Larkin, an architect and specialist in ocean pools, tells Jordan. “The ones that are flooded by the swell will have to be maintained differently.”
For swimmers in search of some wilder swimming, there’s Mahon Pool in Maroubra, cut into the inter-tidal rock platform. The pool is set among exposed rock outcrops, with steep steps leading down to the water. It’s a secluded spot where women have been swimming since 1886, and whiting and little dartfish swim up and down alongside the swimmers taking unhurried laps.
On the northern Sydney beaches, the Cabbage Tree Bay Eco Sculpture Walk links Manly and Shelly with this secluded rock pool that hasn’t changed much since it was built in 1929. It’s a roughly triangular pool that adjoins the promenade, and its outer edge is marked by a Sea Nymphs sculpture. It’s a short detour from the main road to Manly, and is part of the NSW National Parks’ Sea Nymphs Trail.
In Sydney Harbour, the Murray Rose Pool (formerly Redleaf Pool) is a safe harbourside tidal enclosure that sits on some of the best harbour real estate in the city. Dozens of yachts bob in the distance, while multimillion-dollar homes line the shore. It’s a sheltered oasis that feels miles away from the city, but is just a few steps from the busy thoroughfare of Marine Parade.
The redeveloped pool is expected to open in late 2024 or early 2025, but the project has hit several snags. The Covid pandemic and a La Nina weather event have eaten into construction time. And a design review found the cost has exceeded the original estimate of $86m. Still, the council is pushing ahead – despite the optics – because it wants to retain this precious resource for generations to come.