(Image taken in June 2002. Author’s own collection.)
The Children’s Pool cut out of the rock shelf is the middle of the three ocean baths between North Cronulla Beach and South Cronulla Beach and linked to Cronulla’s other ocean pools by The Esplanade, a popular walking track. Close to a railway station.
Location
Gerrale Street, Cronulla, NSW, 2230, Australia
(Latitude South 34 degrees 03 minutes 16 seconds, Longitude East 151 degrees 09 minutes 21 seconds)
Historical notes
Clans of the Dharawal people lived around North Cronulla and Cronulla Beach
1827
Surveyor Dixon used the term ‘Cronulla beaches’.
1885
The railway reached Sutherland and the Cronulla area gained popularity as a picnic place.
1888
The Oriental Hotel occupied the site near the present-day North Cronulla Hotel.
1906
Sutherland Shire was proclaimed.
1911
A steam tram linked Sutherland and Cronulla.
1920s
Motor cars gave more people readier access to semi-rural Cronulla.
North Cronulla Surf Club began beach patrols in 1925.
1932
Sutherland Shire Council decided to formalise the ocean pools, creating ‘spacious concrete bathing pools swept by breakers from the ocean’ and facilities for visitors close to the Cronulla surfing areas. The first rock pool was a children’s pool with a uniform depth of 18 inches that had been cut out of the rock shelf. The Shire engineer supervised the construction work.
The Minister for Local Government opened the main baths (132 feet long and 60 feet wide) and the neighbouring children’s pool on Eight Hour Day 1932. Sutherland Council and the Cronulla surf club and the Cronulla Fire Brigade co-operated in activities associated with the opening of the Cronulla rock pools.
1939
Cronulla became the only Sydney beach with a railway station.
1960s
Cronulla’s low-rise holiday guest-houses were being replaced by high-rise flats.
2003
An assessment of the Shire’s ocean baths was identified as a necessary part of the ongoing management of its coastal assets.
2005 to 2006
Incidents at the beach fuelled the December 2005 riots at Cronulla. Extra Beachsafe police were deployed to Cronulla for the rest of the 2005/6 beach season.