Beach swimming pools in Sydney
Sydney’s outdoor swimming pools are equally popular among locals and tourists alike. A plan to renovate one such swimming pool is hotly debated. It was against this background that Gary Nunn visited and tried to see how the city’s pool culture was born.
In addition to the famous opera house and bridge, Sydney’s city is also a treasure trove of secrets.
Few people know that another reason for Sydney’s fame is the 35 swimming pools on the seafront. This is the highest number of polls in any city in the world. Cape Town is second with 19 such pools.
It’s unique to have such many marine pools in Sydney, says Dr. Mary Louis McDermott, an expert on the subject.
Explaining the reasons for the emergence of these poles, Dr. McDermott said that where they were built to avoid injury, to protect them from sharks, it also brought dignity and respect.
In the 19th century, special clothing worn during swimming was not very common. People usually bathed naked or in clothes they didn’t care to get wet.
Once a time when taking bath together was illegal
It was illegal for people to bathe together in daylight hours. Still, people could bathe individually in their pools at any time, says Dr. McDermott and, that laid the groundwork for separate bathing times and pools for men and women. That’s why Kogi, a suburb on Sydney’s coast, still has the McLeod Ladies Baths, a special bathing place for women, built-in 1876.
Sofia Day, 27, says women’s bathing areas are places where they feel safe and free, especially when they want to swim completely naked from above. Sophia and her mother go swimming in such special places.
Australia’s shores are generally dangerously turbulent waters where sharp edges are felt. So, as a precautionary measure, the construction of poles on the beach began. Before constructing these pools, there were expert volunteers on the shores trained to save the lives of drowning people in distress.
In 1911, gender discrimination and the ban on bathing together were lifted.
However, the ban’s lifting increased the chances of women and girls drowning because they did not have as many opportunities to learn to swim as men.
The situation in other countries?
Dr. McDermott says the situation in Cape Town is similar to Sydney. There are also sharp waves and sharks.
However, many other countries have not promoted the culture of building beach pools.
In British culture, poles are built on the beach instead of under the sea, says Dr. McDermott.
He said that a bathing machine takes people into the sea not to be seen without clothes. In Australia, you can’t take a horse-drawn carriage into the rough seas.
People in North America And Bath
People in North America did not have much interest in visiting such places. Their sea water was cold. It was not uncommon for people to go into the water for fun, even though there were fewer sharks.
Ben Jordan, 37, and Lorraine Hockey, 30, who moved from Romania to Sydney, often visit the pool.
They have no rivals, says Lorraine Hockey. You can swim in the brackish water in a safe place where there is often beautiful scenery. I did very little swimming before coming to Australia. Now I do it every week and almost every day in summer.
It’s the perfect place for people who don’t want to face the waves or who are worried about what’s under their feet in the water,” Lorraine added.
Andrew Ward, a Sydney resident, founded an organization called Head Abu Water. The organization uses marine pools to improve people’s mental health.
Last year I had a mental health problem and the swimming community in the northern suburbs of Colorado helped me a lot, said Andrew.
Effects of taking sea shore on Health
Any exercise is helpful to avoid semi-depression, but being close to the sea has its own thing. Seaweed helps to heal your mental level and, all your senses are awakened. Sydney also has artificial and indoor pools.
North Sydney Olympic Pool
More than 40 million was recently announced for the renovation of the North Sydney Olympic Pool. The pool is located next to the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It was inaugurated in 1936 and used in the 1938 British Empire Games.
