1929 - 1963

Turkish and Hot Seawater Baths were an exotic feature of the Bondi Pavilion when they opened in 1929, at a cost of £10,000. The baths faced the beach on the Pavilion’s southern ground floor. Patrons enjoyed a fully equipped gym, massage room, lounge, free ‘medical’ weighing machines, an electric fan for hair drying and rooms for warming up and cooling down – the tepidarium and frigidarium, respectively.

The Turkish ‘baths’ were three over-sized porcelain tubs, each fitted with a chrome faucet. Saltwater was pumped up from the south end of Bondi Beach via a pipe that ran along the promenade wall. The water was gas-heated in each Turkish bath and ‘Zotofoam’ – derived from seaweed extract – was sometimes used to create bubbles. Men and women had access to the baths on different days, and top jockeys – including Bondi resident Jim Pike, who rode Phar Lap – often used the baths to help them lose weight.

Unfortunately, the beach pump was often clogged with sand. The popularity of Turkish baths also began to wane, and the bath house was shut after only three years. In October 1933, Waverley Council leased the space to the North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club for meetings, drills and storage of reels and rescue equipment. The next year, however, the club reopened the bath house. Olympic masseur Charlie Saunders and his wife Bobby were among the baths’ other leaseholders. The famous American Mormon wrestler Brother Jonathan ran the adjoining gym.

The fabric of the Turkish Baths area soon began to deteriorate and the equipment became outdated. Limited operation continued into the 1950s. Around 1963 the Turkish Bath was closed and converted to a gymnasium run by the Bondi Boys Club. In the early 1970s, Waverley Council decided to remove the baths as part of a Pavilion renovation. Original tiles from the Turkish Baths’ heyday were revealed as part of the 2021 restoration on the building.

Images courtesy the Waverley Library Local Studies Collection.