Curio

State Library of New South Wales

The Swimming Enclosure, 1941

Oil painting Bequest of Dr RJ Pope, 1954 Reproduced with the kind permission of Vision Australia ML 573

Parsley Bay, Vaucluse, is still a favoured public swimming spot

By Martin Wale, 2007

Parsley Bay, Vaucluse, is still a favoured public swimming spot largely due to the efforts of William Notting. His Harbour Foreshores Vigilance Committee lobbied the State Government from 1905 to secure waterfront access for the people of Sydney. The land had been in private ownership since a 1792 land grant to Thomas Laycock, a Quartermaster in the NSW Corps. The most distinguishing feature of the inlet is the magnificent cable suspension footbridge (not shown), designed by Edwin Sautelle, which elegantly spans between the shores above the frolicking swimmers. A ‘new’ floating shark net was installed in 1982.