Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool has opened for its 2026/27 season. Bring your togs, bring your sunscreen, bring your people.
There are pools you swim in, and then there is the ABC.
Perched above Woolloomooloo Bay with the Royal Botanic Garden on one flank and the harbour glittering on the other, Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool has spent decades quietly doing something most council facilities never manage.
It became a queer institution. Nobody hung a flag over it. It just happened, the way these things do, one Speedo at a time.
The gates opened again on 1 September and the season runs through to 30 April. Daily hours are 6 am to 8 pm, with public holidays trimmed to 7 am to 7 pm. Which means the deck is available, and so is everything that happens on it.
A swimming hole with receipts
People have been getting in the water here for a very, very long time.
This stretch of Woolloomooloo Bay was a natural bathing place used by Aboriginal people long before the colony arrived. In 1858, the City of Sydney built Sydney’s first free public baths on the spot.
The Edwardian Domain Baths followed in 1908, shortened by locals to “The Dom”, and it was here in 1924 that a Crows Nest-born, Manly-raised teenager named Andrew “Boy” Charlton broke two world records and an Australian record in a single day.
He went on to take 1500m freestyle gold in Paris that same year and collected five Olympic medals before he was done. In 1968 the baths were rebuilt and renamed in his honour.
When closure loomed in the 90s, Sydney did what Sydney does and formed a committee. The Save Boy Charlton Committee got its way, the pool won a $10 million rebuild between 2000 and 2002, and the harbour saltwater kept flowing.
Why the gays claimed it
Queer travel guides list it among the city’s essential stops and Gay Sydney News simply calls it the swim spot beloved by Sydney’s gays. It is not a controversial position. The sun-drenched deck, the fifty metre lanes, the whole see-and-be-seen geometry of the place.
It is also not just vibes. Wett Ones, Sydney’s LGBTIQ+ swimming club and by its own account one of the largest Masters affiliated clubs in the country, runs its summer Sunday morning squad at the ABC from 8.30am.
Know before you go
The main pool is fifty metres, eight lanes, heated saltwater, between 1.2m and 2m deep. There is a smaller twenty metre program pool, one metre throughout, heated to 28 degrees and shaded, which is ideal if you are learning, recovering, or simply not interested in being overtaken by someone in a tech suit. At least one free play lane opens from 9am daily.
Group exercise classes and the Learn to Swim program both return in October, including wellness classes in the Charlton Room with its view straight out over the bay.
Amenities including hot showers, lockers and accessible change rooms are open now. On accessibility, the centre has lift access to the pool deck, a pool hoist, an aqua wheelchair on site, accessible change rooms, mobility parking and a downloadable Access Key guide.
Entry for the 2026/27 season is $8 for adults, $6 concession, $3 for spectators and $19.80 for a family of four.
A twenty-visit pass is $131.40, or $98.50 for concession. Companion Card holders get in free. If you intend to live here until April, the City’s 360 membership covers unlimited access across its pools.
No bookings needed for a casual swim. Just turn up.
And if lap swimming is not your religion
The City has just launched something else worth knowing about. The LGBTQIA+ Community Exercise and Social Club runs on the last Saturday of every month at Cook + Phillip Park Pool, a short walk up the hill, from 10 am to 11 am in the Air Gym, the centre’s outdoor fitness playground.
Functional training gear, music up, fresh air, and a group workout built so nobody is left behind, regardless of where they are starting from. Afterwards, there is time set aside to actually meet people, which is arguably the point.
It is free for LGBTQIA+ community members and allies, and no membership is required, just a booking. The first session lands this Saturday 26 September, Halloween takes over on 31 October, and the November session carries the entirely correct title “Mariah Carey is Thawing”.
Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool, 1C Mrs Macquaries Road, The Domain. Open daily 6 am to 8 pm, 1 September to 30 April. cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
LGBTQIA+ Community Exercise and Social Club, Air Gym, Cook + Phillip Park Pool. Last Saturday of each month, 10 am to 11 am. Free. Book at cityofsydneyleisure.com.au
For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, and community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
