Oatley Swimming club and Bondi's little mermaid

Our swimming club, in its modest corner of Oatley Baths, has had a wide reach across Sydney.

Our Val, a member of the club since she was a teenager, can boast that she swam in the same race as the model who posed for the sculpture of Bondi's Little Mermaid.   (It is not known who won.) 

The sculpture is no longer sitting on that rock on Bondi Beach, tho the rock itself remembers her, and is still called Mermaid Rock.

Here's what the Australian Women's Weekly wrote on 1 June, 1960...

 According to the Waverley Library website, you can visit one of the little mermaids in the library...

Winner of Ron Coombs trophy 2016

Congratulations to Nick, winner of Ron Coombs trophy 2016

Oatley baths - an oil painting

An oil painting of Oatley Baths by a member of the Oatley Amateur Swimming Club.

When we were young: group photos from 1985-86

Anyone you know?  Click on photo to enlarge. 

Oatley baths in the era of black and white photos

Thanks to Michelle Corbin for sharing this photo of Oatley Baths from 1920s

In his younger days, Ray drew up the race schedule for the summer, setting a time for the Sunday races as dictated by the high tide.  We arranged our summer Sundays around these race meetings, so Ray would be in trouble if he misread the tide charts.  Perhaps he did - nothing has been documented, but this cartoon - with Ray's name superimposed into the caption - has something to say...

Swimmers in the sunlight

Ready for the swim around the baths (and yes, you can use flippers)

Taking to the air

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 The relay swimming race sets the scene for this series of diving photos.  As swimmers race to complete the final leg of the relay, they dive from the pontoon in the middle of the baths and fly out over the water.

A dive is a thing of beauty.

A dive is a commitment.  There's no going back.

And diving has always been with us.  Here's a Greek fresco dated 470BC: Diver, Paestum, Italy.

Diver, Paestum, Italy

Diver, Oatley Baths, Australia

Diver: Harold Belcher.