Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus./N.Z.) to sunbathe; thus sunbaking n. and adj., sunbathing; sunbaked adj., suntanned.

1910		Truth (Sydney) 9 Oct. 2/8: If those sun baking barrackers really desire to get sun baked in ‘the altogether’, why do they not repair to Tamarama Bay [AND].
1918		Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Jan. 24/4: She was at Many when she last wrote—sun-baking.
1927		‘Steele Rudd’ Romance of Runnibede 130: There was a lot of hard work and hard knocks, and sun-baking attached to it [AND].
1929		N.Z. Truth 14 Nov. 19/3: There is a veritable art in sun-baking, the ideal being a smooth skin tanned to the darkest shade.
1931		Argus (Melbourne) 28 Sept. 6/5: [headline] Sunbaking in the Nude Prohibited on Sydney Beach.
1948		Mercury (Hobart, Tas.) 5 Jan. n.p.: An 18-year-old youth [...] was shot through the right foot today while sunbaking.
1953		T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 105: ‘Hullo, chaps,’ he said easily, ‘sunning off?’ ‘Yeah,’ Paramore said. ‘Takin’ it easy.’.
1965		Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) Dec. 3/4: Found sun-baking in a small shed near Bandywhallop [AND].
1977		W.G. Howcroft Black with White Cockatoos 84: A young country lass was sunbaking naked and face down on the roof of a motel in Surfers’ Paradise [AND].
1985		J. Clanchy Lie of Land 106: Maureen and Sarah had got bored and were lying sunbaking.
1996		Oxfam Horizons July 🌐 French women and tourists sunbake topless on the beach: you have to pinch yourself to remember you are in Melanesia and not on the French Riviera!
2002		Cruise Fiji brochure 🌐 Sunbake on the net slung from the bowsprit or relax with a drink from the bar.