This photograph of the Steyne Hotel and the Corso in Manly has just come to light. The Steyne Hotel depicted here is the first hotel of that name, which was totally burned down in June 1863, so the photograph predates that. The first letters of the licensee's name are visible, "R Ch..", and the licensee of the hotel in 1861-62 was a Mr Russell Chalk, which gives us a likely date for the photo of 1861-2. This makes it just about the oldest photo of the Corso that we know of. The costumes repay a second look. I wonder if the gent with the top hat is Mr Chalk, posing in front of his hotel? We would like to know more about the two-storey stone building in the middle of the photo, on the approximate site of the present-day New Brighton Hotel.
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