The Nun's Pool - Wollongong

Mid-1830s
The pool site was used for women’s bathing. A natural depression in the rock platform formed the pool and a barrier of rocks at the mouth of the cove broke the wave action.
1837
Around 300 convicts began excavation works and construction of a breakwater to improve Wollongong’s harbour.
1839
Lady Jane Franklin’s diary records ladies using a ladder to get to the pool for bathing and that military officers had erected a hut for the use of the ladies. The top of the hill had barracks for 30 troops of the 85th regiment and huts housing about 115 convicts engaged in harbour works.
1841
Wollongong’s population was 831, comprising 330 free males, 286 free females, 47 soldiers and dependents (39 males and 8 females) and 168 male convicts in the stockade of Flagstaff Hill. Most of the population was less than 45 years old and had arrived as free settlers.
Ladies and children bathed in a secluded cove that was located on the northern tip of Flagstaff Point. The baths were first recorded in 1830s as a ladies swimming place when convict labour erected a hut and improved access to the natural swimming hole. In 1842 Governor Gipps directed that convict labour be used to improve the pool and a path was built down the cliff to access the pool and ropes were strung across the cove to aid swimmers. In 1897, chains replaced the ropes and the pool then became known as the Ladies' Chain Baths. Largely superseded by the Ladies' Baths that were built further south in the 20th century, the Chain Baths became favoured by the nuns at a nearby convent and, over time, the pool became known as the Nuns' Pool. The remains of the baths can be seen today.