What Micky thinks
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Access - Easy walk from CBD and surrounds, usually parking available on street during weekdays. Good public transport access by bus.
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Value - Adult entry $7.50, less than some other councils, however $2 for locker and if driving parking @ $9 per hour can make this an expensive outing.
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Water Quality - Lovely, good clean visibility, and salt/chlorine combination makes it a slightly quicker swim
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Amenities - Good, large change rooms and showers
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Surroundings and Experience - Limited green space. However, being right on the harbour with spectacular views makes this a great experience
In a nut shell
At a minimum, this is worth a visit for the views and a great comfortable swim. A must for any visitor who likes getting wet! The café has high quality food and coffee (slightly pricey). Particularly good for inner city dwellers and city workers – knock off early on a Friday and start the weekend here!
Location
1C Mrs Macquaries Road
The Domain 2000
Directions and transport
More details are available on the pool website.
The Pools
The 8 lap 50m outdoor pool is ideal for lap swimming. The pool is heated from 1 September to 30 April and filled with chemically treated salt water.
The smaller (20m) pool is 1m deep throughout and great if you’re learning to swim or just want to have fun. This pool has a shade cover to protect you from the sun.
There are features in place to make sure Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool is accessible to people with disability.
Opening Hours
This pool is seasonal, open early September until 30th April
Monday-Sunday: 6am – 8pm
Christmas Day and Good Friday: Closed
Background
On the shores of Sydney Harbour this site was used for swimming by first nations people. In 1883 the site was used as a ladies’ baths, later amended in 1840’s as Robinsons baths. In 1908 it was fully fenced as a swimming area. First Olympic size pool established in 1968 and named in honour of the Australian swimmer Andrew ‘Boy’ Charlton, who won a gold medal in the 1924 Olympics in Paris and set five world records. This is the site of Australia’s first swimming race against Andrew ‘Boy’ Charlton beat Arne Borg of Sweden in a 402m (originally 440 yd’s) race.
The early years
Since the first European settlement in Sydney there have been eleven different bathing establishments in Woolloomooloo Bay. In the early years, the small sandy beach where this pool now stands was reserved for the exclusive use of the military of NSW including the Marines, the New South Wales Corps and any British regiments stationed here.
In the 1820s dressing sheds were built but the swimming area was not enclosed. The first swimming facility planned for the area was a floating public baths called Robinson’s Hot and Cold Baths. Thomas Robinson was granted a lease for the area in December 1829 but construction of the baths took another ten years to complete. Beating Robinson to the jump was the wife of Governor Macquarie’s coachman, Mrs Biggs. She opened the first ladies’ baths, which included a bathing machine, in 1833 on a small flat inlet near the north-western corner of Cowper Wharf. The baths went out of operation in the late 1840s. In November 1843, Robinson’s baths reopened after a refurbishment which included deepening the ladies’ pool and the introduction of a shallow children’s area. Warm showers and a towel were also available for all bathers.
Andrew Boy Charlton as a young adult
First swimming races
It was in the “Gentlemen’s Baths” that Australia’s the first official competitive swimming events took place. On 14 February 1846 two races were held, an open event over 402 metres (440 yd) (won by W. Redman in a time of 8 min 43 sec) and a 91-metre (100 yd) event for juveniles. Annual championships were held here for some years afterwards. In 1850 the Fig Tree baths and what was left of Mrs Biggs’ women’s baths were granted by the Government to Sydney Council with the intention that the Council build new baths on the site. However, with the dismissal of the council in 1853 the project stalled. In 1854 Mrs Macquarie’s Road was opened to horse-drawn vehicles improving access to the baths. Towards the end of the 1850s Sydney Council, or “Corporation” as it was known, built new baths around the wharf at Fig Tree which projected into Woolloomooloo Bay.
This brought to three the sets of baths in the bay at this time. In addition to the Corporation Baths was a Ladies Baths (not Mrs Biggs’ although near her former site) and a fully enclosed Gentlemen’s Baths. Although the Corporation Baths were still there in 1888, more than 30 years later, they were largely unusable because of sewerage discharged into Woolloomooloo Bay. By 1890 there were four baths; the corporation had a ladies’ and a gentleman’s baths and there were also independent ladies and gentleman’s baths.
In 1901 the State Government extended the lease for the baths with Sydney Council. Funding was also provided to remove the haphazard collection of bathing buildings which had accumulated over the years and construct a new baths. These were officially opened in October 1908 and consisted of a fenced swimming area and concrete platform over the old stone one attached to the shore. Another fence provided privacy from the path and there was a timber and corrugated iron change shed.
