Newcastle Canoe Pool
This large shallow children’s pool sited on the same rock platform as the Newcastle Ocean Baths is one of the few standalone ocean pools created specifically for children’s use.
An old tourist map for Newcastle shows this pool jammed with small boys in canoes circling the coloured concrete map of the world that once graced this pool. This pool is a popular subject for photographers and other artists.
Click to find location on AllSwims.au
Historical notes 1937 The Young Mariner’s Pool completed next to the southern end of the Newcastle Ocean Baths was considered both ‘educational and recreational’ as the bottom of this new pool featured a map of the world in pigmented cement. This geographical pool originally intended fortiny children also appealed so strongly to bigger children and was often crowded.
1939 A massive 1939 extension on the ocean-side of the existing ‘Young Mariner’s Pool’ created the present-day Canoe Pool. This ‘new boat pool for children’ with a shelving bottom at the north rocks of Newcastle Beach and to the side of the Ocean Baths was expected to be ‘popular with youngsters in the summer months’.
Early 1940s The two sides of the pool were still referred to as ‘Young Mariner’s Pool’ and the Canoe Pool.
1950s Photos show the map of the world at the Canoe Pool. A tourist map for Newcastle shows this pool ‘regarded as providing ‘perfect safety for children’ was jammed with small boys in canoes circling the pool’s coloured concrete map of the world .
1960s Problems with sea lice and dirty water prompted calls to close the Canoe Pool.
1968 The Canoe Pool’s map was demolished.
1997 A feasibility study on restoring the map of the world produced estimates that Council considered too expensive.
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Historical data and text adapted from All into Ocean Pools Inc (originally published at allintooceanpoolsinc.org, including research contributed by Marie-Louise McDermott), retrieved via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. Used under Creative Commons Attribution guidelines.
Allintooceanpoolsinc.org was a great resource which has been lost to the internet and we have restored the page content to keep it live and available. If you have updates or images related to this please contact us to add them. We also want the original authors to contact us. Thank you
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