Lord and Lady Mountbatten at Manly

On 31 March 1946 Lord and Lady Mountbatten paid an informal visit to Manly Beach. They attended an impromptu surf carnival arranged by Manly Life Saving Club. Lady Mountbatten had an unfortunate mishap and fell in the water up to her knees when disembarking at the wharf from the official launch, but laughed it off. The Mountbattens were on separate missions for much of the period immediately after the war, and their meeting in Sydney was due to a chance alignment in their diaries - they had been apart for many days prior to this. Their programme in Sydney was very busy, and Lord Mountbatten attended many functions in connection with disabled servicemen and prisoners of war. This interlude at Manly Beach must have been welcome relief. The photograph above is not captioned, and as yet we do not know the names of the other members of the party. A couple of girls in rather daring two-piece costumes can be seen, top right.

John MacRitchie.

Freak wave at Manly

New Year's Eve 1947 proved to be memorable for hundreds of bathers on Manly Beach. According to the Sydney Morning Herald of 1 January 1948, a freak wave 20 feet high swept right up the beach as far as the Steyne promenade, and as it receded the clothes and towels of all the bathers on the beach were carried out to sea. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.

North Narrabeen march-past team

This image of the North Narrabeen march-past team of the mid-1950s comes to us from Louise McMorland, daughter of the flag-bearer, Jim McMorland. We need names of the others in the photo - can you help?

Thanks, Louise, for the loan of the photo.

Mark Twain at Manly

I have seen it stated that the author Mark Twain visited Manly, in company with J F Archibald, editor of the Bulletin, and did a spot of rock fishing. An embellishment of the story says that for a joke Archibald arranged for someone hidden on the rocks below to attach a snapper to Twain’s line, unseen by him. A further embellishment suggests that the prankster in question was none other than the author Henry Lawson. I would like to have a printed source of reference for this anecdote, to know if there is a grain of truth in it. Presumably the event took place during one of Twain’s two brief stays in Sydney in September and December 1895, when he was engaged on a long trip around the world, accompanied by his wife and daughter. The Sydney Morning Herald for September 1895 gives good details of the speeches Twain made in Sydney, at the School of Arts and the Protestant Hall, but is not otherwise revealing about his movements while in Sydney. Can anyone throw light on the incident?

The 1890s photograph above, originally published in Rudd's New Views of Sydney and Vicinity, shows rocks at Delwood Beach, with Delwood House and at extreme right, Manly Wharf.

War Kites over Manly

A hundred years ago, if you had been on Manly Beach, you might have seen Mr C Lindsay Campbell conduct an impressive demonstration of the first “war kites” built in Australia. The war kite, supposedly invented by Baden Fletcher Baden-Powell (the brother of the man who founded the Boy Scouts), and first used during the siege of Mafeking, was a box kite large enough to be able to carry a load of up to 200 pounds in weight. Experiments had been conducted which indicated that an observer could sit in a basket slung under the kite - if he had strong enough nerves! Campbell’s Australian Aviation Syndicate put them into manufacture, and on several occasions tested them on beaches around Sydney, hoping for interest from the Australian military authorities.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on the Manly demonstration, held on 2nd December 1911, that “The erection and flying of the kites attracted a large number of onlookers and considerable interest was taken in the proceedings. The kites reached an elevation of over 400 feet. No ascents were made. The kites were of considerable dimensions and afforded a striking view to the people of Manly as they soared over the village.” (SMH 4 December 1911).
No doubt the thought of an unprotected fall from 400 feet over South Steyne would have deterred even the most foolhardy volunteer from going up with the kite.

Shark Tower Dude

It’s a nice day, not too windy, some time in the late 1940s. You’ve been doing your stint in the Shark Tower, scanning the water for any sign of sharks, but it’s a bit boring being stuck up here. It occurs to you that you would get an even better view if you swung yourself out and up onto the roof of the tower. And the pretty girls will be impressed. No sooner said than done - how cool is that?
Manly's Shark Tower was designed by Eric Andrew, who also designed the South Steyne Surf Pavilion, and it was put up in 1938. It inevitably succumbed to concrete cancer and was demolished in 1981.

The view from Cliff Street

This postcard of South Steyne is at first glance like a hundred others. The view looking towards the south end of the ocean beach has always been a popular one. What is of interest to us is the large area of cleared ground at the top of the cliff, since it helps us date the photo fairly neatly. On the site stood Bowercliff, the mansion built for successful boot manufacturer John P Wright. Following the deaths of Mr and Mrs Wright, the building became a popular guest-house. In late 1927 it was demolished, and the site lay vacant throughout 1928. In 1929, construction began on the Borambil building, which was completed in 1930, one of the few large building jobs to take place in Manly in the Depression years. So for a few months in 1928, the residents of a handful of houses in Cliff Street had one of the best views in Australia. Borambil still stands guard over the southern end of the beach.

Thanks to John Morcombe for the loan of the postcard.

First Australian surfboards

I’ve been enjoying searching the National Library’s collection of digitised Australian newspapers. The Sydney Morning Herald now appears to be digitised up to about 1940. I did a search for the first mention of the word ‘surfboard’. Apart from a couple of mentions in the 1880s, referring to the expertise of the natives of the Sandwich Islands on their surfboards, the first use of the word in an Australian context appears to be a mention in the SMH of 24 January 1913. In a report on the recent meeting of Manly Council, it stated that Aldermen were unanimous that the ordinance relating to the practice of "surfboard shooting" at Manly was in future to be enforced. “Alderman Neale stated that he had seen no fewer than ten surfboards among the thick of the bathers.” This is well before the much-publicised visit and demonstrations of surfing by Duke Kahanamoku in 1914, and it gives considerable support to the assertion that there was a strong local surfing culture at Manly before the Duke dropped in.

Here is the Sand-man

Manly's famous sand-modeller, the Ukrainian immigrant John Suchomlin, is commemorated in the pavilion on the South Steyne beachfront. Mr Brian Liley, a reader of this blog from Peterborough in England has just sent us a copy of a photograph he took of Mr Suchomlin in 1970, in retirement in Queensland. It is interesting to compare the photo with the earlier photo from our collection of Mr Suchomlin in circa 1931, at the height of his fame.

Bringing home the bacon

Thanks to Terry Metherell for drawing my attention to an article which appeared in the Brisbane Courier, Tuesday 1 January 1878. Titled “A Queenslander in Sydney”, it is a long piece about the writer’s impressions of Sydney. It includes a description of Manly’s Fairy Bower, then still relatively unspoiled, and there is also this account of the entertainment on offer at Manly on Boxing Day, 1877:
“But, if Christmas Day was calm, Boxing Day was not. Once more the scene shifts to Manly Beach, and we are on the verandah of the Pier Hotel, and the steamers, and the barrel organs, and the German band, and the holiday folks, are coming in: Emu, and Breadalbane, Goolwa, Phantom, and Royal Alfred, ‘one down, 'tither come on,’ come looming round the Middle Head, disgorge cargo and are off again for more in a merry follow-my-leader style. Buckets of ‘prog’ [food], guns, fishing tackle, and babies form the chief impedimenta of the ‘camp followers,’ and a nervous invalid accustomed to the quietude of Cleveland or (say) of Bowen, would be startled out of seven years' growth by the bustling noise and scene... One melancholy death occurred on Boxing Day, at Manly Beach. There is rigged out from the pier, like the boom from the Wolverine, a spar, well-greased; and at the end of it is slung a four-dozen case containing a pig, to be the prize of him who first walks the pole and gets him. After about a couple of dozen spills off the greased spar and into the water, one daring cornstalk [youth] hugged the boom and got the pig out, and it fell into the water, in the clutches of the swimmers, who, in disputing the prize, six at each leg and two at each ear soon drowned it; and, this we believe was the only life lost at Manly Beach during Boxing Day.”

A Nice Wedding Anniversary Gift

A beautiful gift for the folks.... what do you think? I don't think that they would complain!!







They always say don't work with kids and animals... but how can you deny this!

Manly Council's surf-boat

The Manly Daily printed this account of the launching of the first Council-purchased surf boat on 25 March 1907. The account was reprinted on 15 September 1931, and 28 July 1966 (p19). The surfboat was constructed by J Hubbard of Leichhardt Street, Glebe, and was, as far as we know, the first municipally-funded surf rescue boat in the world.
“The launching of the Manly surf boat on Saturday afternoon [23 March 1907] was a magnificent success, perhaps one of the greatest successes the Manly Council has to its credit.
This was mainly due to the efforts and activity of Mayor Learmonth, ex-Mayor Quirk and Mr D Hogan (Council Clerk) who were ably assisted by many other willing and energetic workers.
The Mayor of Manly presided and on the specially erected platforms there were also: Mr C G Wade, KC, Attorney-General; Mr C W Oakes, MLA for Paddington; Dr Richard Arthur, MLA for Middle Harbour; ex-Mayor Quirk, Alderman Walker, Alderman King, Mr D Hogan (Council Clerk), Commander M Roberts, Mr A von Tossau, Mr W Tonge, and Captain Webber (Royal Shipwreck Society).
The Manly surf carnival was a new departure in the 'pastime natatorial' and was organised for the purpose of celebrating the launching of the recently built surf boat, which, under the control of Messrs Sly brothers will patrol the water fronting ocean beach during the bathing season.
Between 40,000 and 50,000 people were present.
The Attorney-General referred to the widespread popularity of surf-bathing. It was essential, he said, that bathers should be well catered for and every effort should be made to contend against the possibility of loss of life through drowning.
Mr Wade, with a pair of silver scissors, presented to him by Mayor Learmonth (on behalf of the Council) severed the red silk ribbon and performed the ceremony of launching the surf boat.
During the afternoon ‘Appy Eyre, beach custodian, and Mr A von Tossau, gave a display of life-saving, Eyre entering the water and effecting a rescue after which the usual methods of resuscitation were adopted.
The Seagull Club (Messrs Chambers, Lane, Rosenthal, Wickham and Triglone) contributed a diving display from a pedestal erected in the sea.
The Manly Borough Band played selections during the afternoon.
After the ceremony and whilst the surf carnival was proceeding Mayor Learmonth invited Mr Wade, KC, and a few others to join him in a few toasts at the New Brighton Hotel, where host P J Byrne had placed a tempting and pleasing little spread.”
Identified in the photograph from right to left are: Dr Arthur, ex-Mayor Quirk, and addressing the crowd, Attorney-General Wade.