Cronulla South Pool
This is the main Cronulla pool, an Olympic-size 8-lane pool. No pumps are needed at this pool or at any of Cronulla’s other ocean pools. Southernmost of the three ocean pools on the rock platform between North Cronulla Beach and South Cronulla Beach and linked to Cronulla’s other ocean pools by The Esplanade, a popular walking track. A short walk from the railway station.
This pool attracts more photographers than the other pools on this rock platform.
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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.
1939 Cronulla became the only Sydney beach with a railway station.
1941 The original pool was built.
1960s Cronulla’s low-rise holiday guest-houses were being replaced by high-rise flats
1990 The South Cronulla rock pool still needed repairs some five years after experiencing storm damage. Funds to create a new pool at the site at an estimated cost of $300,000 came from the NSW Department of Sport, Recreation and Racing ($130,000) and the Sutherland Shire.
1991 The poor state of the South Cronulla rock pool meant large crowds vied for swimming space at the Shelly Beach pool. Work to replace the earlier pool began early in 1991 and the pool was available for use in the summer of 1991-1992.
1992 As noted on a plaque near the pool, Shire President, Cr. Ian Swords, opened the new Cronulla Rock Pool on Australia Day 26 January.
2003 An assessment of the Shire’s ocean pools 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.
The pool was well used by the public on an informal basis and had many regular users. Surf club nippers and winter swimmers train and compete in the pool.
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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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