By the late-1930s, only record swims in still, freshwater pools were officially recognised worldwide.
Australia – New South Wales
Clubs, schools and elite Australian swimmers continued to train and compete in the ocean pools, that provided appealing and affordable summertime leisure activities for men, women and children. Surf coast councils had limited funds for pool maintenance or other projects related to ocean pools. Wollongong Council did not even have sufficient funds to donate a trophy to a swimming carnival staged by the unemployed to raise money for a food depot.
Many ocean pools were created or improved using funds made available to surfside councils for unemployment relief and public works. Thanks to those schemes, new ocean pools appeared at Forster, Merewether, North Narrabeen, Shellharbour, Werri Beach and Bermagui. The older surfside municipalities of Randwick, Shellharbour, Kiama and Gerringong developed new ocean pools specifically for mixed bathing.
Even after sharkmeshing was introduced at Sydney’s surf beaches, the twentieth-century combination of a lifesaver-patrolled beach and an ocean pool continued to provide an affordable means of satisfying residents’ and visitors’ demands for safe bathing/swimming venues and promoting tourism and residential development on the NSW coast.