Rockpool
As rock pool ( English rock pool or ocean pool ) man-made swimming pools are called in the English-speaking world, which lie on the coast on a rocky ground and were bordered by walls made of plastered bricks , natural rubble stones or concrete. They are often found in connection with sandy beaches. Many of them are washed over by the tides or waves. They still offer bathers protection from surf , ocean currents and dangerous marine animals. The pools, almost all of which can be entered free of charge, are usually around 50 meters long.
In Australia , where there are most of the rock pools, they were important to national history and culture. They were also an important prerequisite for the development of Australian swimming in the early years around 1910. There are also Rockpools in the United Kingdom , the United States , South Africa and Malta .
Many rock pools in Australia have an additional small non-swimmer pool . The term rock pool is also used for artificially constructed rock landscapes in public baths.
Australia
history
Most of Australia's rockpools were built with funding from local communities or their respective governments with the intention of promoting tourism. Only two rock pools were built through private initiatives. These are the Pearl Beach Rock Pool near Gosford , built in the 1920s, and the Wylie's Baths for women on Coogee Beach . Convicts who had been deported to Australia at the time were also involved in the construction of the first rock pools. More rock pools were built during the Great Depression .
Listed Rockpools
The Rockpool McIver Woman's Bath on Coogee Beach, southwest of Sydney city center, was inscribed on the Australian National List of Historic Monuments in 2011. Before the Europeans came to this area, the Eora Aborigines had already bathed on Coogee Beach , the women in the southern and the men in the northern part of the beach. This rock pool has been used by Europeans since 1830. In 1870 it was made an official bathing place. From 1912 the Rockpool was privately operated and declared a women's pool. Previously, women and girls were only allowed to use the men's baths at limited times. The 22 by 22 meter rock pool is still only allowed to be used by women with their children, although boys up to the age of 13 are allowed to swim there accompanied by their mother.
There are two other rock pools registered in the monument list. The Wylie's Baths , which also lies on the beach in Coogee, and Bogey Hole at Newcastle . Bogey Hole is Australia's first ever historic rock pool. The swimming pool, which was built from 1819 to 1822, was created by convicts on the instructions of the then English city commander of Newcastle, who had it built for himself. It was opened to the public in 1863 and expanded to its present size in 1883.
Cultural history
One of the first governors of the British penal colony at the time , Lachlan Macquarie (1762–1824), recognized the importance of bathing in the warm Australian waters for the regeneration and health of the population at the time. He issued an edict that recommended bathing, but restricted it to bathing near inhabited settlements.
When the first bathhouse opened in 1826, only men were allowed, and the first women's bathhouses appeared in the 1830s. In 1833 legal regulations were enacted that allowed bathing only in the vicinity or in the field of view of municipal port facilities, quays, roads, paths and bridges. However, the law restricted bathing times and only allowed them from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Violations were fined £ one .
Most of the Australian population at that time could not swim or only to a limited extent. Furthermore, at that time you had to go into the water fully clothed, which not only made it much more difficult to move around, but also created additional drowning risks for inexperienced swimmers. For example, the sandy beaches are dangerous for non-swimmers if they inadvertently enter areas that require swimming skills. All of these were reasons that rock pools became very popular with the population, because they are spatially manageable and had shallow water. For example, the McIver Woman's Bath only has an average water depth of 1.5 meters.
Sports history
When the importance of the transport of people and goods on waterways for Australia was recognized in the early 19th century, swimming activities developed not only for recreational purposes, but also as a sport. At the same time, it was also recognized that a rescue service was required on the beaches and rock pools, and the Australian swimming and beach culture emerged. In addition to being lifesaving, swimming has become a major Australian sport. In 1903 there was also a loosening of the rigid swimwear. With the development of swimming, numerous rock pools became training facilities for Australian swimming enthusiasts around 1910. An example confirms this: Mina Wylie , the daughter of the builder of Wylie's Baths , won the silver medal in Olympic swimming at the Summer Olympics in Stockholm . The Australian Fanny Durack won the gold medal in this discipline before her.
Australian states
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→ Main article : List of rockpools in Australia
There are around 100 rockpools in the Australian state of New South Wales , around 44 of which are located in the coastal area of Sydney with its suburbs. The Rockpools are concentrated in New South Wales on the eastern suburbs and the Northern Beaches of Sydney, on the south coast between Illawarra and Shoalhaven and on the central coast and Newcastle .
The Rockpools in the states of Victoria and Western Australia do not achieve any significant numbers.
On Fraser Island ( Queensland ), natural rock formations on the rocky coastline, which form a kind of swimming pool, are known as champagne pools .
Other states
Rockpools are also found in the United Kingdom, occasionally in the United States, in South Africa, where they are generally called tidal pools , and in Malta. There are two rock pools each in New York and Los Angeles in the United States.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d McIver Women's Baths , on environment.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
- ↑ Swim between the rocks. In: The Sydney Morning Herald. March 1, 2008, accessed July 27, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c Raymond Bonner: Sydney's Rock Pools , February 24, 2008, on nytimes. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
- ^ King Edward Park Group (Bogey Hole) Public Baths , on environment.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved September 20, 2016
- ↑ Bogey Hole on newcastle.nsw.gov. ouch Retrieved September 23, 2016.
- ↑ Swim between the rocks , at smh.com.au. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
- ^ Adrian Bridge: Britain's best lidos and outdoor pools , The Telegraph - Travel, August 28, 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
- ↑ The 11 Best Tidal Pools in Cape Town. December 13, 2018, accessed July 24, 2020 (American English).
- ↑ James Debono: Heritage in a pool: The story told by the Sliema baths , In: Maltatoday of July 27, 2018