Crawley Baths was a public swimming facility, in Matilda Bay, near

Crawley, Western Australia Crawley is a western suburbs (Perth), western suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. The area is part of the local government areas of Western Australia, local government area of the City of Perth and was previously shared betw ...

along

Mounts Bay Road Mounts Bay Road is a major road in Perth, Western Australia, extending southwest from the Perth central business district, central business district along the north bank of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River, at the base of Kings Pa ...

. The timber structure was opened on 7 February 1914. The opening ceremony was conducted by Premier

John Scaddan John Scaddan, Order of St Michael and St George, CMG (4 August 1876 – 21 November 1934), popularly known as "Happy Jack", was Premier of Western Australia from 7 October 1911 until 27 July 1916. Early life John Scaddan was born in Moonta ...

and included a swimming carnival and

life saving Lifesaving is the act involving rescue, resuscitation and first aid. It often refers to water safety and aquatic rescue; however, it could include ice rescue, flood and river rescue, swimming pool rescue and other emergency medical services. L ...

displays. The baths were the largest enclosed body of water in the southern hemisphere and were an important recreational facility in Perth for fifty years. They were demolished in 1964 after

Beatty Park Beatty Park Leisure Centre is a swimming pool complex in the suburb of North Perth, Western Australia. Originally known as the Beatty Park Aquatic Centre, it was built for the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games as the major swimming ev ...

was built for the

1962 Commonwealth Games The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Western Australia, from 22 November to 1 December 1962. Athletic events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in the suburb of Floreat and swimming events at Beatty Park in North ...

. A bronze statue ''

Eliza ELIZA is an early natural language processing computer program developed from 1964 to 1967 at MIT by Joseph Weizenbaum. Created to explore communication between humans and machines, ELIZA simulated conversation by using a pattern matching and ...

'' commemorates the baths and stands in the river near its former location.

References

External links

''Sunday Times'' February 1936
(photo of children's swimming classes at Crawley Baths) {{australia-stub Sports venues in Perth, Western Australia Swimming venues in Western Australia History of Perth, Western Australia Swan River (Western Australia) Crawley, Western Australia Bathing in Australia Defunct swimming venues Defunct sports venues in Australia

See also

References

External links