Cape Paterson Bay Beach pool
Check out this pool
Cape Paterson has two beaches, the Cape Paterson Surf Beach and the Cape Paterson Bay Beach, which has a man-made ocean pool sited on a rock platform.
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See also Australian Dictionary of Biography entry for William Paterson
Historical notes
1801 Cape Paterson was named in honour of William Paterson, a soldier and explorer, who governed the colony of New South Wales both between the departure of Major Grose in 1794 and the arrival of Governor Hunter and in the period between the departure of Governor Bligh and the arrival of Governor Macquarie in 1810.
1850s Coal was being shipped from Cape Paterson to Sydney.
1909 to 1968 The State Coal Mine at Wonthaggi operated from 1909 to 1968.
Coal miners created the rock pool at Cape Paterson Bay Beach in the 1960s.
2006 Images of the Cape Paterson Bay Beach pool appeared in the Travel Victoria Accommodation Guide for Wonthaggi.
2014 The Cape Paterson Bay Beach Activity Area Master Plan adopted by Bass Coast Shire Council supported improvements to ‘the iconic man-made tidal rock pool’ such as improving access to the pool for people with disabilities and reducing the hazards posed by the pool’s ‘dangerously sharp concrete edges’. Community consultation had highlighted concerns that overdevelopment of the rock pool might detract from its historical significance.
2015 The rock pool is still seen as adding to the appeal of the beach. Images of the pool appear in Travel Victoria’s Wonthaggi photos.
The State Coal Mine at Wonthaggi is a heritage site offering underground tours.
2017 The year when the images on this profile were taken.
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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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