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Wylie's Baths, Coogee c1915

Wylie's Baths, Coogee c1915

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a191056 / PXE 1028, f56]

(Mitchell Library)

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Coogee Ocean baths Wylie's Baths

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Pools Swimming

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State Library of New South Wales

Wylie's Baths

Ocean baths were established south of Coogee beach in 1907 by Henry Wylie, father of Australia's first champion woman swimmer, Mina Wylie. They have been inspirational to swimmers, painters and filmmakers, and are still open.

Ocean baths

Rock baths, ocean pools and bogey holes have provided Sydney swimmers with 'wild' swimming that is nevertheless protected, linking the suburban with the sublime all along Sydney's coastline.

Coogee

For local Aboriginal people, 'koojah' or Coogee, was a rich source of food, abundant with fish, wallaby and kangaroo. In the nineteenth century the area became a popular weekend destination for picnics, cricket, collecting shells along the beach and swimming. It wasn't until the turn of the twentieth century that residential development really began. Although slow to develop, today the area remains popular with locals, tourists and weekend visitors alike, reflecting the historical nature of Coogee itself.

Pools

Swimming

Coogee

Eastern beachside suburb which has long been a destination for seaside recreation for Sydneysiders and tourists. Its name comes from an Aboriginal word meaning 'stinking place', probably from the smell of rotting seaweed washed up on the beach.

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Wylie's Baths

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Ocean baths built at the southern end of Coogee Beach in the early twentieth century.