[1] When Captain James Cook, and later the First Fleet, landed on Botany Bay, they encountered the Eora people, a vast and complex Aboriginal group of family and kin relations.

[2] The coast and harbour were particularly important environments for the Aboriginal people of the Eora group, being an abundant source for fishing, food gathering and recreation.

Despite officially establishing enclosed venues where people could undress and bathe in a private and concealed space, the "menace" of open bathers continued, finally resulting in laws being made in 1833 prohibiting bathing "near to or within view of any public wharf, quay or bridge, street, road or other public resort within the limits of the towns between the hours of six in the morning and eight o'clock in the evening".

[4] Unlike Governor Macquarie's previous edict, any transgressions of this Act carried a fine of one pound - a sizeable amount to the working man of the day.

[1] As well as enforcing the notion of public decency and modesty, restricting swimming also served to protect open water bathers from the threat of sharks in the harbour.

With the colony developing in (what is now) the centre of Sydney, the early industries were actively discharging waste and pollution directly into the harbour thus attracting a greater number of sharks.

Ultimately, "with the threat of "finny fiends", a hot climate, the growing influence of the "respectable" middle classes, a wider enjoyment of spare money and leisure time, plus a widespread belief in the efficacy of salt-water bathing and the virtues of exercise, the construction of swimming pools increased apace".

Sport was promoted as a physical balance to the mental activities of the school day but swimming, in particular, was encouraged as a graceful and respectful exercise for women to pursue.

The successful stand against these regulations came in September 1902 when William Gocher (editor of the Manly and North Sydney News) made it his personal crusade to publicly disobey the ban.

Rose McIver (alongside Mina Wylie, Bella O'Keefe and members of the Mealing and Wickham families) also had a significant role in the establishment of the Randwick and Coogee Ladies Amateur Swimming Club.

Although swimming competitions were not held at the McIver Women's Baths (due, in part, to its short and irregular shape), it was the venue where a number of significant female swimmers first learnt their craft.

[1] In the lead up to the Olympics, Durack and Wylie's bid to participate was severely threatened by the gender segregation that remained prevalent at swimming venues across NSW.

[1] Under the conservative feminist leadership of Rose Scott, the NSWLASA maintained strict segregation at the McIver Women's Baths (including forbidding male relatives as spectators) as well as regulating swimming costumes for the female competitors.

[1] Sited on a rock platform to the south of Coogee Beach, the McIver Women's Baths is a naturally-occurring 20 metres (66 ft) ocean pool that was deepened and formalised in the 19th century to create a safe and usable swimming facility within the maritime environment.

Susceptible to natural tidal and wave movements, the pool is aesthetically positioned on the ocean's edge with panoramic views to the surrounding beaches, bays and cliffs.

[1] Accessed from Grants Reserve, the privacy of the baths (and sitting/sun-bathing areas) is maintained by dense landscaping, winding concrete pathways and stairs that lead directly to the water.

[1] The strong conditions of the coastal environment has seen the adjoining fabric (the railings, fences and amenities buildings) already repaired and replaced on a number of occasions.

The McIver Women's Baths are of State heritage significance for the association with Fanny Durack and Mina Wylie, who first learnt their swimming skills at this venue.

[1] Prior to this, the participation of women in competitive swimming in NSW was largely conditional but these restrictions were lifted (in the most part) when Durack and Wylie returned to Sydney as Olympic heroines.

With the panoramic views of the ocean, the neighbouring bays and the rugged cliffs that surround, the baths have an inherent natural beauty that contributes to its value by the community.

The McIver Women's Baths have some heritage significance for the technical skills evident in the excavation of the naturally occurring rock platform and its adaptation into the swimming facility in use today.

[1] The baths have potential to reveal further information in demonstrating the relationship between the site and the Aboriginal women of the Eora group prior to European settlement of NSW.