You Can Now Swim at Sydney Harbour’s Marrinawi Cove as a New Area of Barangaroo Reserve Opens

New Sydney swimming spots keep on coming, with the announcement today that Marrinawi Cove at the north-east corner of Barangaroo Reserve is now open for dips. To accommodate swimmers at the sandstone-edged ocean spot, a shark net has been installed, along with signage and a shower. The NSW state government says at the end of the summer it will consider adding ladders and decking to Marrinawi Cove in the future.

This follows the news late last year that Pirrama Park in Pyrmont is about to get the all clear for swimming, after a water-quality monitor was installed to check in real-time if the harbour water is clean for swimming. There’s no date on when this pool is likely to open, but the City of Sydney says it’s confident Sydneysiders will soon be able to take the plunge. In November, a historic inner-west swimming spot reopened in Bayview Park, Concord, on the Parramatta River for the first time since 1969. It was used by swimmers in the 1930s, but swimming became off limits in the ’60s due to pollution.

The state government says swimming at Marrinawi Cove is only possible because the once neglected industrial western side of the harbour has been cleaned up. The government is looking at other places to introduce swimming, such Blackwattle Bay and Bays West.

Cities minister Rob Stokes and the member for Sydney, Alex Greenwich, officially opened the harbour beach today. Stokes and Greenwich even took a dip fully clothed.

They also acknowledged the Millers Point Resident Action Group, in particular vice president Yasmina Bonnet, for campaigning to open the area to swimming. “The Millers Point Community Resident Action Group loved working with you on this campaign, @AlexGreenwich. We did it! So much fun,” she wrote on Twitter.