ABSTRACT
Coastal pools are a unique part of the cultural heritage of New South Wales. Through The Wild Edge project, Nicole Larkin has documented NSW’s 60 ocean pools and advocates the conservation and revival of these much-valued community assets. The Wild Edge project started in 2014 and has grown into a free online database equipping the community to advocate for our ocean pools. Through this lens, ocean pools can be understood as platforms at the verge between the land and the sea and their unique abundance in NSW is telling of our communities’ profound affinity with the water’s edge. If our surroundings speak of who we are, ocean pools tell of our love affair with the coast.
This chapter examines this further by dissecting NSW’s ocean pools to understand the different ways these structures collectively facilitate a connection with the coastal landscape and intertidal environment. This is described by a series of diagrams analysing similarities and patterns in the way ocean pools have formed and been built over time to craft distinct spatial experiences and intimate access to the water’s edge.
