The summer beach season might be over but City of Newcastle lifeguards are on duty all year round delivering water safety messages.
Firstly, they are still patrolling selected beaches and ocean pools. If the cooler weather doesn’t bother you, you can still go for a swim at local beaches and ocean baths. Nobbys Beach, Bar Beach, Merewether Beach, Newcastle Ocean Baths and Merewether Ocean Baths are patrolled all year round. Just note the patrol times. From 28 April to 26 September 2025, the above beaches and ocean baths are patrolled 8am to 4.30pm.
You can also head for a dip at Newcastle Ocean Baths and Merewether Ocean Baths. Just ensure you don’t go there on a day when the pool is closed for cleaning. Newcastle Ocean Baths will be closed for cleaning every second Wednesday while Merewether Ocean Baths are cleaned every second Thursday.
We have to give a shoutout to City of Newcastle’s Beach Lifeguards after a busy summer season. With beaches that attract over one million swimmers and sunseekers each year, the lifeguards provide an essential service to the community and ensure the safety and well-being of all beach users.
Not only do they actively supervise the beach and bath areas, they also enforce safe beach practices and provide assistance in the instance of emergencies. If it’s a quiet day at the beach they are still out there working hard conducting rescue training or at local schools running water safety education programs.
When you’re next at the beach, you might bump into longtime City of Newcastle Lifeguard Mel Thurlow, now Beach Lifeguard Coordinator who has been keeping us safe for over 25 years.
“Keeping people safe at our beaches and baths is our priority, and City of Newcastle’s professional lifeguard team are proudly part of the community we serve. We’re here to look after you – we’ve got this.”
If you’re wondering how many lifeguards in addition to Mel are employed by City of Newcastle, the answer varies depending on the season. City of Newcastle has 10 permanent Lifeguards,12 fixed-term Lifeguards (Summer season) and 26 casual Lifeguards.
There’s also the Trainee Lifeguard Program which will be running again in 2025 later this year. For the fifth year running, City of Newcastle is investing in upskilling Hunter Surf Lifesavers under its Trainee Lifeguard program. This program calls for high-school aged trainee lifeguards to patrol our coastline alongside our professional lifeguards.
The six-week program involves weekday shifts of up to 24 hours per week throughout the summer school holidays and offers invaluable mentorship from our professional lifeguards.
Since City of Newcastle launched the program in 2021, the traineeship has helped kickstart the careers of 13 lifeguards, who are now regularly patrolling our beaches during the summer months.
In another effort to promote beach safety, City of Newcastle is now providing multilingual safety information to inform people from different backgrounds about the dangers of swimming at our beaches and ocean baths.
A rise in beach rescues among non-English speaking residents and visitors prompted City of Newcastle to provide translations of vital water safety information in nine different languages.
Beachgoers can scan QR codes that have been installed on every City of Newcastle water safety sign from Merewether to Stockton Beach and at Merewether and Newcastle Ocean Baths.
The code takes users to a webpage to view beach safety advice such as swim between the flags, as well as interpretations of signs including high surf and strong currents, which have been translated into Japanese, traditional and simplified Chinese, Arabic, Vietnamese, Spanish, Punjabi, Dari and Swahili. City of Newcastle is hoping to add even more languages in the future.
As well as beach and ocean bath locations, you might also notice a poster with a QR code in local libraries and the Visitor Information Centre promoting multilingual water safety information. This is another part of the campaign to educate and grow awareness of water safety messages and also build recognition of the pictogram featured on our beach ordinance signs.
City of Newcastle’s Aquatic Operations and Education Specialist Chris Griffin said a range of factors led to the roll out of the multilingual safety information.
“Our lifeguards noticed an increase in rescues involving people who didn’t speak English and weren’t familiar with the risks of going to the beach,” Mr Griffin said.
“During our annual Water Safety Education Program, which reaches more than 13,000 children across Newcastle, we also received feedback from migrant families who said they’d like the information to be available in their first language. We’ve had similar feedback from international students at the University of Newcastle regarding beach safety signs.”
The Water Safety Education Program is a vital water safety program presented by City of Newcastle lifeguards and aquatics staff in the winter and spring months. The program has been running since 1966 and empowers children and adults with the knowledge they need to stay safe at our local beaches, ocean baths and pools.
The free Water Safety Education Program is delivered to over 45 primary schools across Newcastle each year and educates more than 13,000 students about dangerous water conditions, how to swim safely and what to do if they get into difficult situations.
The free water safety education presentations will run from Monday 28 July to Friday 19 September 2025. The program is available to primary schools in the Newcastle local government area. Schools can contact the City of Newcastle Aquatic Services team for more information and bookings.Schools will need to complete the booking form before Friday 6 June 2025.
The school visits form one of City of Newcastle’s most significant youth engagement programs and are a key component of the overall approach to water safety. The program is delivered during winter and spring each year, with City of Newcastle’s lifeguards committing more than 700 hours during an eight-week period to promote the crucial water safety and drowning prevention messages across the city.
With these great water safety initiatives in place, locals and visitors can enjoy our beaches and ocean pools, ahead of what promises to be another busy summer season.
FYI, the summer swimming season will recommence 27 September 2025 and lifeguard patrols will commence at all beaches and ocean baths, including Stockton and Dixon Park Beaches.