90 Years of History

Pool history timeline

  1. Early colonial watercolour panorama looking out over Sydney Harbour from the north shore, with Aboriginal people in the foreground beside a bark canoe drawn up on the rocks, some standing with fishing spears.

    Cammeraygal Country

    For thousands of years the harbour has provided Aboriginal people who live around it with sustenance, spiritual meaning, mobility and recreation. Lavender Bay was at the centre of Cammeraygal country.

  2. Sepia photograph of Lavender Bay, with the timber Lavender Bay Baths on the shoreline below houses on the wooded hillside and small boats moored offshore.

    Lavender Bay Baths

    Colonists 'bathed' in Lavender Bay from the 1860s. From the 1880s to the 1930s the Lavender Bay Baths was the most important north shore swimming spot, fostering the development of the Australian crawl in competition.

    1800s

  3. The newly completed North Sydney Olympic Pool, empty of swimmers, with its tiered grandstand along one side and a sandstone pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge rising behind it.

    Building a Harbour Icon

    After the Sydney Harbour Bridge opened in 1932, the site of the bridge workshops was transformed into a recreational waterfront with Luna Park and a world-class swimming venue, North Sydney Olympic Pool.

    1932-1936

  4. A swimming carnival at North Sydney Olympic Pool in the 1930s, with a diving tower, strings of flags and packed grandstands, and Luna Park on the foreshore behind.

    4th April

    Opening Day

    North Sydney Olympic Pool opened with an Olympic length 55 yard swimming pool and an immediate world record. A legendary sporting venue was born.

    1936

  5. Cover of the souvenir programme for the 1938 British Empire Games in Sydney, showing a Union Jack on a flagpole framed by the crests of the competing nations and small illustrations of the sports.

    5th - 12th February

    Empire Games

    The Pool welcomed athletes from across the British Empire and hosted the aquatic competitions of the 1938 Empire Games, the precursor of the Commonwealth Games. Dozens of swimming records fell.

    1938

  6. A young woman in a swimming cap smiles up at the camera from the water, holding on to a rope stretched across the pool.

    Sydney Learns to Swim

    Beyond elite sport, generations of locals learned to swim here. Many were taught by champion swimmer Joan Wakeham (nee Thomas) who had raced at the Lavender Bay Baths and in the Empire Games.

    1940s

  7. Three divers in mid-flight with arms outstretched after leaping from the high diving platform, photographed from below against a cloudy sky.

    The Diving Years

    A towering diving platform made the Pool one of Sydney's most exciting sporting venues, hosting competitions and spectacular diving displays for decades.

    1936-1970

  8. Printed 1951 poster for the Sydney Water Nymphs state water ballet, with photographs of swimmers posed in a line and in a star formation in the water.

    Water Ballet on the Harbour

    Long before artistic swimming became an Olympic sport, crowds gathered at North Sydney Olympic Pool to watch water ballet performances.

    1940s-1950s

  9. Dawn Fraser, in a wet tracksuit, stands at the pool edge smiling and talking with a swimmer in the water beside her.

    Dawn Fraser's Pool

    Dawn Fraser broke 10 world records at the North Sydney Olympic Pool between 1956 and 1963, establishing her as an Australian swimming icon and the Pool as a venue for records and sporting excellence.

    1950s-1960s

  10. Kevin Berry swimming butterfly, both arms swept wide above the surface and his head lifted clear of the churning water.

    Kevin Berry Breaks Six

    Butterfly star Kevin Berry stunned the swimming world by setting six world records at North Sydney Olympic Pool in just two years.

    1963-1964

  11. A teenage Shane Gould swimming butterfly with her hair in plaits, arms out to each side and her face lifted above the spray.

    Shane Gould's Golden Summer

    Eight months before she competed in the 1972 Olympic Games that would make her famous, 15-year-old Shane Gould broke the world record for the 100 metre freestyle at North Sydney Olympic Pool.

    1972

  12. Michelle Ford stands on the first-place podium in a tracksuit, smiling and shaking hands as an official reaches up to place a medal around her neck.

    Michelle Ford Makes History

    Michelle Ford's 800 metre swim on 22nd January 1978 was the last world record entered on the Pool's now famous Roll of Honour. It closed one of the greatest chapters in Australian swimming history.

    1978

  13. Swimmers pushing off backwards from the wall at the start of a race in the outdoor pool, seen from above with officials watching from the deck.

    86 World Records

    Eighty-six world records were broken at North Sydney Olympic Pool between 1956 and 1978, confirming its place among the most successful competition pools in Australian sporting history.

    1956-1978

  14. Colour photograph of swimmers sunbathing on the wide concrete grandstand terraces above the pool, with a lifeguard in a red shirt standing on the deck below.

    Heritage Listed

    North Sydney Pool listed as a Heritage item in the Local Environment Plan.

    1989

  15. The 50 metre outdoor pool and the Sydney Harbour Bridge behind it

    Re-opening

    North Sydney Olympic Pool undergoes a heritage restoration and redevelopment. Now, the harbourside wonder pool is ready for its next legendary chapter.

    2026

Frequently Asked Questions

The Pool opened on 4 April 1936 with an Olympic length 55 yard pool and a world record set on opening day. It was built on the site of the Sydney Harbour Bridge workshops, alongside Luna Park, as part of a new recreational waterfront for North Sydney.

Eighty-six world records were broken here between 1956 and 1978, placing the Pool among the most successful competition pools in Australian sporting history. The last was Michelle Ford’s 800 metre swim on 22 January 1978, the final entry on the Pool’s Roll of Honour.

Dawn Fraser broke 10 world records at the Pool between 1956 and 1963. Kevin Berry set six world records here in just two years, and in 1972 a 15-year-old Shane Gould broke the 100 metre freestyle record months before the Olympic Games that made her famous. The Pool also hosted the aquatic events of the 1938 Empire Games.

Yes. North Sydney Olympic Pool was listed as a heritage item in the Local Environment Plan in 1989. The redevelopment that closed the site in 2021 restored its heritage elements and rebuilt the facilities around them, ready for reopening in 2026.