Boat Harbour, Gerringong

On the way home from Rosedale we stopped at Gerringong Boat Harbour to take some photos of the rock pool and surrounds. (On the way down we stopped at Werri Beach, a bit further north. From the 1820s, red cedar was shipped from Gerringong's small boat harbour. Once the cedar was cut out, dairying became the district's main industry.

The pool is a short walk from the boat ramp, where some fishers were cleaning their catch, and the pelicans and sea gulls were waiting expectantly!

There's a great tessellated rock platform, and some terrfic rock formations. The information below is from the NSW Ocean Baths website.







































Photos taken 13 January 2009

1894
The Gerringong Council wanted to dedicate a portion of the Gerringong wharf for use as a ladies baths. But when the NSW government suggested that the Council could take over responsibility for the wharf, Council sought a more convenient site for the baths. No rates could be expended on the wharf. and by that December, only the lack of funds for material was delaying the construction of ladies baths.

1905
According to the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company's illustrated handbook, Gerringong had 'good seabaths in a park with lawn tennis courts' and was becoming 'a favourite resort for visitors'.

1911
Opening of new men-only baths in a more exposed site at Boatharbour enabled the existing baths to be reserved for use solely by women and children.

Early 1920s
Conflict over use of the rock platform arose between a licensed Sydney shell-grit miner, whose workmen had to cross the Ladies Baths up to 18 times an hour and the Gerringong community, which wanted to preserve both the privacy of the women's baths and their local practice of exploiting the shell-grit resources at no cost.

1926
There were complaints about baths not being cleaned out and mixed bathing at the Ladies Baths. Apparently on Boxing Day, 'men had possession of the baths' and 'most of the ladies would not go if men bathers were there'. Since the surf beaches already offered mixed bathing, Council instructed the caretaker to prohibit mixed bathing at the baths. The Gerringong community took a long time to reconcile itself to mixed bathing at the Boatharbour Baths.

1927
Soon after its formation in 1927, the Gerringong Progress Association urged improvements to the Boat Harbour Park and Ladies Baths. Aldermen wondered 'whether it's the ladies or the baths' that attracted men to the Ladies Baths and whether one of the existing baths should be declared 'continental'. The counter view was that 'there are a lot of ladies in Gerringong who'll never go into Men's Baths or fall in with the continental idea. They have their own baths and it is Council's duty to provide them'. Eventually Council decided to fix the Ladies Baths and then the Men's Baths.

1928
Seaweed clogging the Men's Baths, but not the Ladies Baths, prompted local men to start swimming at the Ladies Baths (or so they said).

1929
Weather delayed work at the Baths. New roofing was needed for the Ladies dressing-sheds.

1930
Some ladies from Nowra who came up to Gerringong for a swim found a lot of men in the Ladies Baths. The ladies would not go in and were very disappointed that their planned swim was not possible. While acknowledging that 'a man might want to swim with his wife or children', Gerringong aldermen agreed that 'Gerringong is not like a city' and 'some of our ladies are a little shy' and 'don't want to plunge in with men'.

Despite one aldermen's assertion that 'there is no excuse for men going to the Ladies Baths', it seems that several aldermen had been observed using the Ladies Baths. Seaweed in the Men's Baths was again offered as a justification. One alderman complained that 'as things are now, if I want to teach my children to swim, I cannot do so in Gerringong'. When considering setting hours when men could go with their wives and children to the Ladies Baths, Council noted that 'costumes often worn at the Men's Baths are not such as would be worn to continental bathing'.

1932
Both the men's baths and women's baths at Boatharbour were in use and Gerringong Council was even considering a federal loan to create a continental bathing place.

1935
Suggestions for improvements to the Ladies Baths were back on the agenda. Steps to the dressing sheds constructed some 19 years earlier were dilapidated and unfit for use and a ramp was needed down to the baths. Materials were on the spot and the cost by relief labour was not great.

Depression-era emergency relief men using 14 bags of cement improved the Ladies Baths at little cost. Council discussed rebuilding the rails leaning up to the dressing-sheds at the Ladies Baths, but further work was deferred until the 'finances of council were better and a new structure could be erected'.

1937
By February, both the Gentlemen's Baths and the Ladies Baths were leaking and empty.

1942
Both the Boatharbour baths were in a bad state, hardly fit to swim in. Cleaning of both the Gentlemen's Baths and Ladies Baths had to wait until a suitable tide.

A racing greyhound named Socialite was expected to recover after falling 100 feet into the Ladies Baths, when chasing a rabbit on the cliffs above the pool.

2006
Pool still in use and maintained by Kiama Council.

Werri Beach Pool, Gerringong

Photos taken 27 December 2008

Information from NSW Ocean Baths website
Name: Werri Beach Pool (Ourie Park Baths, South Werri Ocean Pool)
A main pool out on a wide rock platform plus a separate concrete formed children's pool nearby.
Created in the 1930s Depression to cater for campers rather than local people.

1935
A Sydney man who had camped at Ourie Beach (early spelling of Werri Beach) for a number of years complained to Gerringong Council about the lack of baths for campers and suggested baths be constructed at the southern end of the Beach.

Concerned about the need to retain campers and provide an incentive for tourists to visit Gerringong, the Gerringong Council included the proposed pool in the works program for the Emergency Relief Scheme for the unemployed.

A Gerringong Council delegation discussed the proposed pool with NSW Minister E. S Spooner during his June 1935 visit to Kiama and mentioned that pool construction would yield some very fine road metal. Alderman Hindmarsh explained that 'a very large number of campers visited the beach and had asked for a swimming pool' as the surf there was dangerous, and that Council would like the pool constructed by Christmas. The Minister promised to treat the matter as urgent, offered to take the matter up with other Departments of the NSW Government and see if an Olympic-size pool was mandatory and promised to send an engineer down to inspect the site and report back.

In October 1935, the NSW Local Government Department approved construction of a swimming pool up to Olympic standards (165 feet by 75 feet, 9 foot six at the deep end and 3 foot six at the shallow end) at the southern end of Ourie Park under the Emergency Relief Scheme. The inspecting engineer of the Emergency Relief scheme wrote that the work would be undertaken immediately. By December, the road to Ourie Park was metalled and the pool was big enough for swimming.

1936
Work proceeded well until winter. There were concerns about the rate of progress, whether the baths were being constructed at the wrong place, were too exposed and too hard to access at high tide, whether baths of Olympic-size were required and whether the pool would still be unfinished in two or three years. Departmental engineers overruled Gerringong aldermen who insisted that baths a good deal smaller than Olympic size were sufficient for local requirements.

When Gerringong Council sought a grant of 500 pounds for the new baths at Ourie Park Beach in late 1936, the Minister for Local Government and Public Works, Mr E. S. Spooner, was asking for detailed cost estimates. By then, Spooner was encouraging councils to resume their post-Depression programs and forego Emergency Relief Schemes.

By December 1936, Gerringong's aldermen were certain that constructing a small wall would make the baths fit for use over the holiday season and that 'if the baths attracted a few extra tourists, they would pay for themselves'. Income from camping fees from Gerringong was 68 pounds, 14 shillings and ninepence, while expenditure on emergency relief work at the new baths amounted to a little over 150 pounds. Realising that any wall constructed for temporary needs would have to be blown up later, Council decided to provide only a temporary sandbag wall for the holiday season.

Over the Christmas holidays, the Werri Beach reserve was packed with campers, who used the new baths, and looked forward to having them 'enlarged and completed'. Gerringong Council was seeking expert advice on the probable cost of completing the baths. Aldermen were arguing that while the reserve was a great asset, the income from camping fees was largely offset by the need to employ a caretaker. 1936 camping fees for Gerringong exceeded 78 pounds.

1937
The costs of completing Olympic-size baths were estimated as 1,320 pounds, while baths 75 feet by 40 feet could be constructed for 800 pounds. Minister Spooner offered Gerringong Council a pound-for-pound grant up to 3,000 pounds covering work on the Ourie Park baths and the Crooked River bridge and foot bridge, subject to his approval of plans and estimates. Despite fears that locals would consider Olympic baths a white elephant, Council decided to accept the Minister's offer in principle and call tenders for work on the baths. Gerringong's aldermen knew the difficulty of attracting tourists off the Princes Highway and the need to spend money on roads.

1939
There were further suggestions for improvements to the Ourie Baths and tenders were called for crushing a large quantity of stone excavated from the baths.

1942
By January, the baths were not filling and two openings were made in the side of the baths to ensure they were filled and ready for use by the Volunteer Defence Corp camp.

1985
The Gerringong Gropers winter swimming club formed. The Gropers swim at the South Werri ocean pool at 10am on Sundays, swim from the South Werri Point to Werri Beach and meet for hot and cold food and refreshment afterwards. They are closely associated with the Gerringong surf club.

2005
Still in use, even attracting the occasional nude swimmer during the winter months.