Swimming Sydney A tale of 52 swims

Swimming Sydney is a tale of 52 swims in and around Sydney that take place over the course of a calendar year. From Palm Beach to Cronulla, Mount Druitt to Bondi, Chris Baker swims at iconic beaches, municipal pools, harbour enclosures, hidden rivers, tidal rock pools, bushland lakes and in a backyard pool. Taking his weekly plunges, he swims with the many tribes of Sydney: a septuagenarian aqua aerobics class; a six-month-old baby learning to swim; a Saturday morning LGBTQIA+ swim squad; asylum seekers finding refuge in a Western Sydney pool; a cancer survivor at Bondi Icebergs. Splashing, paddling, floating or doing serious laps, Baker muses on mental health, nudity, real estate, ancestors, climate, sexuality, class, cinema, spirituality, mortality and family. And how swimming can help us understand ourselves, our city and our island nation.

Chris Baker is a lifelong swimmer, educator and writer who was born and raised in Sydney. He has spent much of his professional life overseas, living and working in Vancouver, Prague, Hong Kong and Berlin. Chris was lured back to Sydney by its beautiful beaches, superb municipal pools, wild swimming holes and world-famous ocean baths. His favourite swimming venue in the world is Wylie’ s Baths in south Coogee.

Summer 1 Rites of passage: Shelly Beach, Manly 2 Fraternité : Clovelly Beach 3 Moonlight: Mahon Pool, Maroubra 4 ‘ May you be well … ’ : MacMasters Beach 5 Ancestors: Nielsen Park and Parsley Bay Reserve, Vaucluse 6 Miracles and ghosts: Giles Baths, Coogee 7 The water view: Greenwich Baths 8 At the movies: Mount Druitt Swimming Centre 9 Feng shui: Garie Beach, Royal National Park 10 ‘ Always was, always will be’ : Victoria Park Pool, Camperdown 11 Dog paddles and pluto pups: Leichhardt Park Aquatic Centre 12 Storm clouds: Cockatoo Island 13 The Swimming Pool Library: Andrew ‘ Boy’ Charlton Pool, Sydney Autumn 14 Grandfathers: Watsons Bay 15 #shack: Burning Palms, Royal National Park 16 Bare truths: Lady Bay Beach, Sydney Harbour National Park 17 The siren: Tamarama Beach 18 Dawn in April: Dawn Fraser Baths, Balmain 19 The sacred and the profane: North Curl Curl Rock Pool 20 The children: Mermaid Baths, North Bondi 21 The pen is mightier than the board: Thirroul Pool 22 Puberty Blues: Gunnamatta Bay Baths, Cronulla 23 Exile and quarantine: Little Bay Beach 24 Our pool: MacCallum Pool, Cremorne Point 25 The Secret River: Brooklyn Baths Winter 26 On Golden Pond: Lake Parramatta 27 Red leaves and Rose: Murray Rose Pool, Double Bay 28 The Golden Girls: Annette Kellerman Aquatic Centre, Marrickville 29 Wild swimming: Glenbrook Gorge, Blue Mountains National Park 30 The crypt: Cook + Phillip Park Pool, Sydney 31 Nobody’ s gone surfing: North Narrabeen Rock Pool 32 Bridges: National Centre of Indigenous Excellence, Redfern 33 Wade: Marrinawi Cove, Barangaroo 34 Grand design: Prince Alfred Park Pool, Surry Hills 35 Swimming with Frankie: Pacific Swim School, Crows Nest 36 Safe harbour: A haven for asylum seekers 37 Beyond blue: Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre Ultimo 38 Can too!: Bondi Icebergs Pool Spring 39 Gold, silver, bronze: Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre 40 Cook and oil: Brighton-Le-Sands Beach 41 As she told me: McIver’ s Ladies Baths, Coogee 42 The backyard pool: Engadine 43 Shells, snakes, survival: Little Congwong Beach, La Perouse 44 The film set: Palm Beach 45 Skin: Maroubra Beach 46 We can be heroes: Obelisk Beach, Sydney Harbour National Park 47 The superstar: Bondi Beach 48 Away from her: South Cronulla Rock Pool 49 City of joy: Bronte Baths 50 ‘ The swamp’ : Lawson Swim Centre, Upper Blue Mountains 51 The underwater bushwalk: Gordons Bay Summer 52 Mina and Joana: Wylie’ s Baths, Coogee