Spring Hill Baths
Spring Hill
The oldest surviving swimming baths in the southern hemisphere, Brisbane's quaint Victorian Spring Hill Baths sit nestled in a quiet street of original Spring Hill cottages.
Preserved in their entirety from the 23.43 metre (25ft 6 in) long pool itself to the line-up of gaily coloured Victorian changing cubicles and the upper gallery with its stepped wooden bleachers, the baths were built in 1886 at the behest of Mayor James Hipwood, who was also their inaugural swimmer.
As the city’s first in-ground pool to replace Brisbane’s increasingly polluted floating river baths, they were drained every evening into the local Spring Hollow drain and replenished from the now boarded over holding tanks at the end of the baths. This colonial practice continued until 1961 when a filtration system was installed.
More recent innovations include an espresso machine, heating, Aqua aerobics classes, babies learn-to-swim and handy conversion charts on the walls so lap swimmers can calculate their distance swum.
As well as single entry, discounts for weekly, monthly and annual are available.
More of the best things to do and see in Spring Hill HERE
