Deception Bay Sea Baths facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Deception Bay Sea Baths |
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Fisheries Bath, 2016
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| Location | Captain Cook Parade, Deception Bay, Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia |
| Design period | 1870s - 1890s (late 19th century) |
| Built | 1880s - 1890s |
| Official name: Deception Bay Sea Baths, Bancroft Sea Baths | |
| Type | state heritage (archaeological, built, landscape) |
| Designated | 4 July 2006 |
| Reference no. | 602509 |
| Significant period | 1880s-1890s (historical) |
| Significant components | swimming/bathing enclosure, boardwalk, steps/stairway |
| Builders | Joseph Bancroft |
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The Deception Bay Sea Baths are old swimming pools located at Captain Cook Parade in Deception Bay, Queensland. They are considered important historical sites. These baths were built around the 1880s and 1890s by a famous scientist named Joseph Bancroft. They are also known as the Bancroft Sea Baths. Today, they are protected as part of the Queensland Heritage Register, having been added on 4 July 2006.
Contents
A Look Back: The History of the Baths
The Deception Bay Sea Baths are two rectangular pools dug into the sandstone rocks along the Deception Bay shoreline. One is called the Fisheries Bath, and it's about 4.3 meters long and 2.7 meters wide. It sits in the area covered by the tide. The other is the Boardwalk Bath, which is 3 meters long and 1.8 meters wide. It's close to the foreshore boardwalk. Most likely, Joseph Bancroft built these baths in the 1880s or 1890s.
Settlement in Deception Bay started slowly in the 1860s. The roads were bad, and the bay was too shallow for big ships. Many early settlers left their land. However, Joseph Bancroft was one of the few who stayed and bought more land.
Joseph Bancroft was born in England and moved to Queensland in 1864. He worked as a doctor in Brisbane. But he and his son, Thomas, were also very interested in science. They became important scientists in Queensland. Joseph is known as a founder of medical research in Australia. A research center, the Bancroft Centre, is named after him.
Joseph was the head of many early science and medical groups in Queensland. He helped discover the Wucheria Bancrofti worm, which causes a disease called elephantiasis. His son, Thomas, later found out that mosquitoes spread this worm. Their research was often done at their property in Deception Bay.
By the early 1880s, Joseph owned a large area of land at Deception Bay. He used the property as a research station for his studies of plants and animals. He also raised cattle and even tried growing rice and creating pearls there.
After Joseph died in 1894, his son Thomas took over the property. Thomas continued his scientific research there. It was at Deception Bay that he made his important discovery about how mosquitoes spread the Wucheria bancrofti worm.
The Bancroft family believes that Joseph built the baths. They say that Joseph's wife, Ann, had a long-term illness. Joseph shaped the Boardwalk Bath from natural tidal pools for her. She found that bathing in the sea helped her feel better. This bath is quite small, which supports this idea.
The Bancrofts might have used the larger Fisheries Bath for fun. At low tide, Deception Bay has a lot of mud, making it hard to reach the water. Family stories suggest Joseph dug this bath so he could swim even when the tide was out. An old photo from the late 1800s shows a woman, thought to be Joseph's half-sister, next to the Fisheries Bath. This suggests the bath was there when the Bancrofts lived at the bay.
Using sea baths for health and fun was common in the 1800s. People started to see the seaside as a place for holidays and to improve their health. Building enclosed pools or tidal baths was a way to create safe swimming areas. The Deception Bay tidal baths are thought to be the only ones of their kind from the 1800s still existing in Queensland.
The baths have been dug out many times over the years. Because they are in the tidal zone, they often fill up with mud. In 2004, a detailed study of the baths was done.
What They Look Like: Description of the Baths
Boardwalk Bath
This bath is located within a sandstone rock area that is about 10 meters long and 5 meters wide. This rock area rises about 1 meter above the sand. On one side is a wooden boardwalk, and on the other side are many mangrove trees.
The bath itself is a rectangle cut into the sandstone. It is 3 meters long and 1.8 meters wide. The bottom of the bath has a thin layer of cement. You can still see marks from the hand tools used to dig it out.
The northern end of the bath has natural sandstone and a small brick wall. This wall is about 36.5 centimeters high. At the bottom of the brick wall, there is a small drainpipe. The inside of the brick wall forms three steps.
Fisheries Bath
This bath is a rectangle, 4.3 meters long and 2.7 meters wide. It has a triangular shape sticking out on its eastern side. This part leads to a small, curved ledge inside the bath. The sides of the bath are mostly straight down, about 1 meter deep. The deepest part is 1.3 meters, off-center at the southern end.
Bricks surround parts of the bath on the south, east, and north sides. These bricks are set into a shallow trench in the sandstone using a special mortar. They are worn down to about 4 centimeters high.
There are also holes cut into the sandstone for posts, marking the edges of the bath area. On the western side, there is a sandstone platform that is 10 centimeters higher than the surrounding area.
On the southern side of the bath, there is a shallow trough. It is 7 centimeters deep, 2.9 meters long, and 25 centimeters wide.
Notches for wooden steps are on the northern edge. After a survey in 2004, the remains of these steps were left in the bath.
Why They Are Important: Heritage Listing
The Deception Bay Sea Baths were added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 4 July 2006. This means they are protected because they are important to Queensland's history and culture.
The baths show how people used the seaside in Queensland for fun and health in the late 1800s. Stories from the Bancroft family and local people say that the Bancroft family built and used these baths in the 1880s and 1890s. They used them for swimming and to help Ann Bancroft, Joseph's wife, with her illness.
These baths are rare examples of 19th-century sea baths. They are likely the only ones of their kind still existing in Queensland. They were dug out of the sandstone in the tidal zone and filled by the ocean's tide. The Boardwalk Bath even had a pipe to drain the water.
The baths also show the main features of sea baths. Like other tidal baths in Australia, they were made by improving natural rock formations. The Boardwalk Bath uses a man-made wall to enclose one end of the pool. Both pools fill naturally with the tide.
Finally, the baths are special because of their connection to Joseph Bancroft and his son Thomas. These two were very important scientists in Queensland in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Joseph is known as a founder of medical research in Australia. Both men made big contributions to the study of plants, animals, and medicine. They became famous worldwide for Joseph's discovery of the Wucheria Bancrofti worm and Thomas's discovery that mosquitoes spread it. Many things, like a special lecture and medal, are named after Joseph Bancroft.
