When it came to bathing, that
was done in the early decades at various locations in the
Harbour. The soldiers often used Cockle Bay (Darling Harbour)
close to their barracks built on land which is now Wynyard
Park. Others preferred the secluded little beach overhung
by Port Jackson fig trees at the eastern edge of The Domain.
This came to be known as the Fig Tree Baths, and is today
the site of the Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool. Many people didn’t
go in for much bathing at all.
By the end of the nineteenth century the Harbour was greatly
polluted with sewerage and rubbish and bathing became something
of a hazardous occupation. But when the sewer outfalls were
directed to the ocean the attractions of bathing returned
and in the early twentieth century the Council upgraded several
of its harbour pools.
