Terrigal Rock Pool, Terrigal, NSW
Sited at the southern end of Terrigal beach, an easy walk south from the beach along the Terrigal seawall leads to the rock pool and the boardwalk link to The Skillion.
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Historical notes 1827 The district’s first white settler was John Gray, Deputy Harbour Master and Chief pilot at Port Jackson, who was granted 640 acres of land by Governor Brisbane in 1827. Gray named his property Tarrygal. His assigned convicts grew corn, onions and potatoes, fished, hunted and smoked fish for the Sydney markets.
1928 The ‘beauty beach’ at Terrigal was 7.5 miles of ‘excellent tarred road’ from Gosford and about a two-hour drive from Sydney or Newcastle by the Great Northern Road. The road from Terrigal to the Entrance was just ‘trafficable’, while the road from Avoca to Terrigal was ‘practicable in good weather’. Terrigal had many boarding-houses, holiday cottages, a school, churches, a surf club and a progress association and was promoting itself as ‘the sunniest winter spot in New South Wales’.
While Terrigal beach was promoted as ‘absolutely safe for surfing’, there were plans to construct a ‘bathing pool right on the ocean’s edge among the rocks near the Skillion’.
Late 1950s The rock baths (children’s bathing pool) at the southern end of the beach appear to have opened around January 1957.
1988 Gosford Council assessed the Terrigal rock pool as having high usage, though suitable only for paddling. The pool was flagged for retention.
2004 The pool was still in use, though its walls were not intact. It was still seen as a visitor attraction.
2017 The NSW Government announced that $250,000 would be provided from the Public Reserves Management Fund Program to assist with works at Terrigal Rock Pool.
2019 Central Coast Council approved an upgrade to the Terrigal Rock Pool.
2020 Work on the construction of the Terrigal Boardwalk and upgrading of the Rock Pool continued.
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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.
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