Crossing dry-shod

This happy family group are posing inside a six-foot wide pipe at Clontarf in 1925. The pipes were used in the Middle Harbour syphon scheme, a massive engineering project for the period. Two parallel rows of concrete pipes, ten-inches thick, were laid under the waters of Middle Harbour from Clontarf to Mosman. Tremendous feats of diving endurance were undertaken by the workmen on the project, with spells underwater of up to seven hours, thought to be a world record at the time. In places the pipes were seventy feet below the surface. The job took close to two years to complete, and over the course of construction strange coralline growths sprang up and adhered to the inside of the pipes.

When the job was complete, an open day was held in December 1925, when, for sixpence, you could walk along inside the pipeline across from one side of Middle Harbour to the other - without getting your feet wet. That's a trivia quiz question waiting to be asked. Aptly, the money raised went to the benevolent fund of the workmen who had performed the feat of laying the pipes.

Icarus at Clontarf

A century ago, the biggest daredevil in Sydney was Vincent Patrick Taylor (1874-1930). Taylor, who went by the name ‘Captain Penfold’ was a balloonist, parachutist and all-round stuntman who astounded crowds across Sydney with his hair-raising feats over a 20 year period. His daredevil feats included scaling city buildings, jumping from bridges and riding the rapids in an inflatable rubber suit of his own design. He also thrilled audiences abroad; in London on one occasion he jumped from his balloon wearing a Santa Claus suit. The Sydney Morning Herald (12 July 1909) described one balloon ascent he made near Clontarf, in 1909:
“Captain Penfold, who has made many balloon ascents and parachute descents in Sydney had an exciting experience at Clontarf yesterday, when instead of landing on solid earth he dropped into Middle Harbour.
The aeronaut’s ascent was satisfactory, and he hung by his legs from his trapeze, at a height of several thousand feet, calmly snapshotting the city and harbour. He then cut away the parachute, and dropped steadily towards the ground, intending to land near the Spit Point. As he neared the ground however, he saw that he was dropping straight for the waters of Middle Harbour, and he immediately started manipulating his cords in an endeavour to work the parachute over to dry earth. He missed the shore by a few yards, and leaving the parachute, swam to a boat, and was soon on the launch which was waiting to pick him up in case matters should turn out as they did. The balloon also dropped into the water close by, and both this and the parachute were afterwards recovered.”
Captain Penfold also made a number of balloon ascents from Manly Oval in 1911.

War canoes at Clontarf

A ‘Maori village’ was erected as a temporary tourist attraction at Clontarf in 1910. The Sydney Morning Herald (4 January 1910) advertised:
“The Village, which is peopled by 70 Maoris, including the famous guides, Maggie and Ella Papakura, has been erected with material specially brought from the Lake District of New Zealand and is a faithful representation of a Maori pah. See Maori carvings and curios, and historic war canoes 60 feet long.
There are novel entertainments daily at 3pm and 8.30pm. The village is well lighted by electric light and can be viewed as well by day as by night. The unique character of the performance, the beautiful open-air surroundings, the quaint village in the background, all afford a specially tempting form of entertainment for a summer evening.
Return fare including admission, 1/6, steamers from Fort Macquarie."
The Maori were from the Rotorua area of New Zealand, and their touring show later went on to visit London.

The image is from the collection of the Manly Warringah Pittwater Historical Society.