1876

The site of the current Baths is said to be used by women and children from the Bidjigal and Gadigal people.

The Baths, then a naturally occurring swimming site, were also used by female colonists since the 1830s. Up until this point, women in the colony were restricted in their use of men’s pools in Sydney, being limited to certain days and hours of the day. Due to the popularity of the Baths as a private and sheltered rock pool, the Council of the Randwick Bourough met and determined that the site be officially dedicated to women and children. It took ten years to improve the site, excavating, building a club house and an offical boundary, with the Baths opening on its current site in 1886.

To the right is the offical by-law as determined by the Borough of Randwick and printed in the Government Gazette on 4 January 1876.