Clovelly Beach Audio Guide

Clovelly Beach: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Clovelly Beach

   Welcome to Clovelly Beach, a small beach tucked into the head of a long, narrow bay in Sydney's eastern suburbs. You are about 8 kilometers south-east of the city centre, in a mostly residential seaside suburb, and the bay is famous for being kind to swimmers. Its calm, sheltered water has drawn swimmers, snorkellers and families for well over a century. This little bay has a surprisingly big story. In the pages of its past you will find a crowd of 15,000 on a single summer night, a swimming pool billed as the first of its kind in Sydney, an underground military post cut into the cliffs, and a blue fish that became a local celebrity. Over the next few stops we will walk through the beach's changing names, the Depression-era works that gave it its pool-like feel, the hidden fortress on its northern headland, and the marine life that keeps locals coming back. Settle in, look out across the water, and let's begin.

2. 02

   From Little Coogee to Clovelly

   Clovelly has not always gone by this name. In its early days the beach and the suburb around it were known as Little Coogee, a nod to its famous neighbour just along the coast. From the 1860s the area was dominated by a grand house called Mundarrah Towers. The name changed in 1913. When the search for something new began, the English seaside town of Eastbourne was put forward. But the president of the local progress association suggested Clovelly instead. It was the name of a local estate owned by Sir John Robertson, and that estate had itself been named after the village of Clovelly on the north Devon coast of England. So when you say the name here, you are echoing a village on the other side of the world. The beach also had its share of colourful chapters. Over the years it has been used for racehorse training, and it was a stage for the controversy over mixed bathing, a reminder of how differently people once thought about a day at the seaside. Trams helped bring people here too. A line ran down Clovelly Road and ended at the beach, delivering city dwellers right to the sand.

3. 03

   The Night Sydney Went Swimming

   On a sweltering night in January 1929, the Labor Daily opened a report with a simple line: Sydney went swimming last night. Hundreds were turned away from the city's baths after a long working day, and an estimated 15,000 people packed into Clovelly, a remarkable crowd for such a small bay. That heat-driven rush helped shape what you see today. Randwick Council began major foreshore works in the 1930s, partly to cater for swimmers and partly to give men work during the Great Depression. The concrete promenade and access points date from this era, and they give the bay its distinctive, pool-like feel. Work on Clovelly Pool began in 1930, and it was described as Sydney's first Olympic-size swimming pool. Nature had other ideas about the grand plan. A breakwater had been built, but a huge storm caused massive damage and the plans had to be altered. The council had hoped for more, yet the foreshore is what was finished, and it still defines the beach. Look along the south side for a clue to another lost attraction. Old locals talk about the Springboard steps, the second last set of stairs on that side. From the 1930s to the 1950s a springboard stood there, and daring beachgoers dived from it into the ocean. A famous Sydney Morning Herald photograph from 1940 captured it.

4. 04

   Shark Point's Hidden Fortress

   Turn your gaze to the northern cliff of the beach, known as Shark Point. It looks like plain sandstone, but in the early 1890s it became a coastal defence facility, excavated from the rock itself. It included barracks and a powder magazine, and in 1893 it gained a 9.2 inch Mark Six British Armstrong disappearing gun. A disappearing gun was designed to rise to fire and then drop back out of sight, protected behind the rock. This emplacement was one of three originally designed to protect Sydney Harbour from a supposed Russian attack from the sea. The word supposed matters here, because the threat was a fear of the age rather than a battle that ever arrived. The underground barracks and gun emplacement were gradually demolished in the 1960s. So the cliff you see now once hid a military world inside it, and a headland that today frames a swimming bay was part of the harbour's defence system. It is a lovely contrast: a place built for war that is remembered mostly for summer swims.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Clovelly today is known for calm water, rock platforms and excellent snorkelling, which makes it a favourite with families and nature lovers. In summer the beach is a hub of community activity. The marine life has produced its own local legend. Bluey, an eastern blue groper, swam alongside snorkellers here for years and became a symbol of the beach's vibrant underwater world. People debated which fish Bluey really was, and sadly the story is also tied to spear-fishing incidents. Either way, Bluey became part of Clovelly folklore. Before you go, take a slow look around. Picture the springboard that is gone, the trams that ended at the sand, and the gun hidden in the northern cliff. Then look at the water, and wonder what might be gliding beneath the surface right now. The more you notice here, the more the little bay gives back.