Cyclopedia

Manly Library subscribes to the Ancestry.com database, which can be viewed on terminals in the library. Among the items in the database are frequently consulted resources such as the NSW Electoral Roll for 1930; Sands’ Directories of Sydney; and Who’s Who in Australia from the 1920s and 30s. Recently, the database has added the Cyclopedia of Australasia (1907), which can be searched by keyword. A search under ‘Manly’ brings up potted biographies and photographic illustrations of several influential citizens of the day, including Charles Hayes, Fred Trenchard Smith and Owen Carroll (pictured), who were all Aldermen of Manly at one time or another – Hayes, in fact, was Manly’s first Mayor. Also featured are the architects Charles Harding, who was responsible for the design of the Aquarium building on the Corso, of which only a fragment survives of the façade; and Messrs Sheerin and Hennessy, who were the architects of St Patrick’s Seminary.