Nestled into the rocks at the base of Jack Vanny Reserve at Marine Parade to the north of Maroubra Beach, and at the bottom of Torringbton Road, is the Mahon rock pool, one of Sydney's iconic ocean rock pools.
Exposed rock outcrops and cliffs above make for a spectacular swimming venue. During heavy seas, the waves wash over the walls of the pool and buffett swimmers.
It is an oblong shape about 25 metres in length enclosed with regular cement walls. These are topped by a number of posts holding guide chains - moved loved by local teenagers who
hang onto them during rough seas in their attempts to brave nature. It has a sandy and rocky floor and has no swimming lane markings.
From the park, there are spectactular views north towards Bondi and Ben Buckler. To the south you can see across Maroubra Bay to the Malabar Headland and Mystery Point.
Steep steps lead down to this ocean pool from the car park. There is a toilet block, showers and change rooms on the cliff overlooking the pool.
These have been recently upgraded and rebuilt.
Opened in 1937
The pool as opened in 1937 and is named after Randwick Council Alderman Patrick Mahon. Mahon pool was originally a natural rock pool at the front of the cliffs at North Maroubra. During the Great Depression
concrete walls were built to make the natural pool safer for swimming. The person mainly responsible for this was Patrick Mahon. Mahon had been a strong advocate for the construction of the pool and raised
the matter at Randwick Council meetings, seeking the support of the State Government. At first it was offically known as "Mahon Memorial Pool".
Along with Alderman Solomon Walsh, Patrick Mahon was the first endorsed Labor candidate for Randwick Council to be successfully elected. He was also President of the Federated Liquor Employees Trades Union.
During the depression he was active in helping the poor and homeless - particularly those unfortunates who had made humpies and had set up tents to create temporary encampments for the
unemployed, such as the one known as 'Happy Valley' at La Perouse. Patrick Mahon was a strong advocate for safe surfing and swimming and was also a vocal
proponent for having shark proof nets enclosing both Coogee and Maroubra beaches so the public could enjoy safe bathing.
Patrick Mahon's Death,
Patrick Mahon collapsed at a Randwick Council meeting and died aged only 43 at Sydney Hospital on
3rd September 1935. It had only been short illness. The son of Thomas and Mary Mahon, he had married Ellen Flynn at Redfern in 1920. They had nine children. He is buried at
Botany Cemetery (Location: RCB - Roman Catholic FM B, Position 608).
A by-election to fill his vacant seat on Council was held on September 28, 1935. His replacement was another Labor candidate, James O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan went on to have a
distinguished career in the Labor movement and in local goverment becoming the first Labor Mayor of Randwick from December 1941 to December 1942. 1935 was a bad year
for the Labor team on Randwick Council. Tragically, Mahon's colleague, Walsh also died suddenly earlier in that year at only 28 years of age.
Looking north over Lurline Bay to Bondi from Jack Vanny Reserve, Maroubra
Body in the Pool: Crime Novel Setting
In the novel Get Rich Quick, Peter Doyle recounts how his ficticious 1950s era anti-hero Billy Glasheen finds a body floating in Mahon Pool:
'I didn't spot the body until I was about to dive in. He was floating face down,
the water around him streaked with red. He looked like William Holden in that film, except this fellow was big, and he wasn't talking about how he got there'
In real life, activitites and events at the pool are much more sedate. The most exciting thing to happen there is when there are big seas, and swimmers are tossed around
in the water, spoiling their attempts to swim smooth laps of the pool.
Competition from New Heffron Pool
Until about 1960, Mahon Pool was the only public still-water swimming facility in Maroubra until Randwick Council opened a modern olympic standard pool at Heffron Park. As a child and teenager,
I remember it was the place to swim if Maroubra Beach's surf was too big. Cathching a bus to use a pool at Coogee was a nuisance, and anyway there was the cost of the bus fare. When the new olympic
pool opened at Heffron Park (then also known as Heffron Pool - or "Heffo" as we called it), we had a choice. And though the Heffron Pool then only consisted of the one large open air 50 metre pool
and a children's wading pool, it was modern, tiled, new, Americana - we thought it was so chic! This disadvantage was that it's fresh water was colder than the sea water, and there was the small
matter of an admission fee. For a lot of the time, locals stayed true to their roots, and continued to use Mahon.
Vulnerable
Mahon pool remains a valualble recreational asset, much loved by locals and visitors. Yet, as the New South Wales National Trust notes, though these ocean pools are an iconic
collection of pools running the length of the State's coast, they are under threat. Along with natural ravages of time and tide, ocean pools are increasingly
vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
REFERENCES
'Alderman P. Mahon' The Sydney Morning Herald Wed 4 Sep 1935, Page 17
Larkin, Nicole, 'Living on the edges', National Trust New South Wales January- March 2022, pp.6-7
Doyle, Peter, Get Rich Quick, Port Melbourne, Vic., Minerva, 1996
