Bogey Hole
The Bogey Hole, also known as the Commandant's Baths, is a heritage-listed sea bath in Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. It is thought to be the oldest surviving European construction in the city area.[1] The pool was hewn from a sandstone/conglomerate rock shelf at the base of cliffs near Shepherds Hill. The pool has an average depth of 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) and its maximum dimensions are 10 by 6.5 metres (32.8 ft × 21.3 ft). The open side of the pool is fenced by stanchions and chains.[1] Lieutenant-Colonel James Thomas Morisset, the Commandant of Newcastle (1818–23), ordered the construction of the pool by convict labour in about 1820 for his own use.[1]
The baths are currently managed by the New South Wales government who undertook a project in 2012 to restore safe access through the provision of a new platform and stairs.[2]
Incidents
The Welsh poet and lecturer at the University of Newcastle T. Harri Jones drowned in the pool while swimming in January 1965.[3]
On the 2nd of January, 1881, a young woman, named Annie Leonard, nearly drowned in the pool; "...she was wading in the water barefooted, and fell into an excavation known as Bogey Hole..." She was then rescued, with difficulty, by a local man named James Dimond.[4]
References
- 1 2 3 "Bogey Hole, The". Section 1. Items listed under the NSW Heritage Act. Environment & Heritage, New South Wales Government. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
- ↑ "Bogey Hole". About Newcastle. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
- ↑ Croft, Julian (1996). "Jones, Thomas Henry (1921–1965)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: Australian National University. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
- ↑ "Hash.". The Australian, Windsor, Richmond, and Hawkesbury Advertiser (NSW : 1873 - 1899) (NSW: National Library of Australia). 8 January 1881. p. 3. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
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Coordinates: 32°56′07″S 151°46′54″E / 32.9352°S 151.7817°E