Village champions

From time to time we receive donations of material of use to our collection from other librarians around Sydney, and just received from a colleague at Waverley is this souvenir programme of the inaugural Australian National Games, held in 1928. The programme is of double interest to us because, firstly, it was printed by the local printer, the Manly Daily, and secondly, because the opening ceremony and the bulk of the events were held at Manly. The athletic programme was held at Manly Oval on 7th January 1928, and the swimming and diving at Manly Baths on January 11th and 14th. The cycling component of the Games was held at Sydney Sports Ground, and the Boxing and Wrestling were held at Sydney Stadium. The programme lists all the competing athletes.
The Australian National Games were intended to be held every four years, preceding the Olympiad later that year, acting as an Olympic selection event, and the Honorary Directors were James Taylor, Chairman of the Australian Olympic Federation, James Eve, the Secretary-Treasurer of the Australian Olympic Federation, and Les Duff, the Secretary of the NSW Olympic Council. Manly was a natural choice for the swimming events, and argued a strong case for the athletic events, based on the gold medal-winning performance of Nick Winter in 1924 in the triple jump. A photo in the programme shows Manly’s trio of Olympic champions, Boy Charlton, Dick Eve and Nick Winter, posing together.

Mafficking at Manly

Ivanhoe Park saw an outbreak of ‘mafficking’ on 30th May 1900. To ‘maffick’ is to celebrate uproariously, and the verb is a jokey backformation from ‘Mafeking’, the British garrison in South Africa, which had held out against a Boer siege for many weeks. (Giles Foden’s novel Ladysmith gives a marvellous fictional evocation of the period.) When the garrison was relieved, it was treated throughout the British Empire as a great victory, and the rejoicing led to wild scenes in London.

In Manly, the Fire Brigade led the ‘victory’ parade. The brass bands played, and marched through Manly to the Oval, where Mayor Fletcher (pictured) made a rousing speech from a raised platform. Rev Anderson Gardiner, the blind minister of St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, also spoke to the large crowd, telling them “victory had been achieved, conquest had been made, and gladness and joyousness was all around.” The mafficking continued with a ‘creditable display of fireworks’. The Oval was a sea of coloured lights and ablaze with rockets.

Robert Shute

The Manly Daily (Tuesday 18 August 2009) carried an article by John Morcombe about Robert Shute, after whom the NSW Rugby Union trophy, the Shute Shield was named. Playing in a trial match for The Rest against NSW at Manly Oval on 5 June 1922, Shute suffered a cerebral haemorrhage in a heavy tackle, and died at a Manly private hospital the following day. He had survived service with the Field Artillery in World War One, which must have intensified the loss felt by his family and friends. By coincidence, a photograph has recently been found which shows the Sydney University Engineering students of 1920, with Robert Shute in the front row. Some of his classmates went on to distinguished engineering careers, and there can be little doubt that he would have had similar success but for that fateful incident.

Sweet Nell

Manly has been home to a number of colourful characters over the years. One of the most fondly remembered was ‘Sweet Nell’. Manly Council gave Sweet Nell, (Helen Sullivan) the right to sell sweets and chewing-gum on Manly Beach, throughout the 1920s. She became a familiar figure, in her gaudy costumes, pushing a barrow laden with Jaffas, Mintoes and Wrigley’s chewing gum. Her personal circumstances were hard, but she was always cheerful and loved chatting to the children on the beach. When she died, aged 60, in 1933, her funeral was paid for by a group of local businessmen, and, according to the Manly Daily Pictorial, over 3,000 people lined the Corso to pay their respects.