Local history from Manly Library

Bombing of Darwin

2012-02-13T20:56:00.000-08:00

This weekend marks the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin. It is thought that more than 240 people lost their lives in the two raids on 19 February 1942, including 68 civilians.
These images, which as far as we can tell have not been published before, come from an album kept by Squadron-Leader Ray Thorold-Smith, one of the Spitfire pilots who fought in the defence of Darwin. He was killed in action on 15 March 1943.

Banks, the Police Station and the Post Office were dive-bombed and machine-gunned.

Ships were sunk in Darwin Harbour.

Graffiti reads "Nuts to Tojo, [Hitler] and Musso", "The Ship Inn" and "No beer served after 4 bombs fell".

Spitfires taking off from a jungle airstrip in defence of Darwin.

The Japanese weren't the only threat.

JMacR

A link to Dickens

2012-02-09T20:33:00.000-08:00

This week marks the bicentenary of Charles Dickens, so here is a very tenuous link from Manly to the great novelist.

In February 1837, the Australian newspaper published the following poem:

Address to North Head

By Epsilon 25 January 1837[1]

Hail! Hail! In awe I gaze on thee,

Stern warder of the wave,

O’erlooking shore, o’erlooking sea,

While round thee tempests rave;

And through thy rocky portals sweep

The solemn voices of the deep,

And Ocean as a slave –

Now like a mirror spreading forth,

Then rising in rebellious wrath.

Thou smil’st on either element

When by thee swiftly borne,

The stout ship flies with canvas rent

And rigging rudely torn;

When viewless gales in tumult keep

High revel o’er the frighted deep

Thou smil’st a smile of scorn;

Opposing to each futile shock

In sullen pride thy sterile rock.

Say, hoary headland, hast not thou

Some wond’rous changes seen

Since by thy weather-beaten brow

First swept the Ocean Queen,

And past thy wall careering went

Britannia’s earliest armament?

While thy majestic mien

Cast o’er the whole a somber gloom,

Fit contrast with surrounding bloom.

How changed from when thy watch thou held

Across the lonely main,

When on the surge that past thee swelled

Came no adventurous train –

None present, save thy bride and thee,

The silent solitary sea;

No sound except the strain

Of some lone tenant of the sky

Who thought of home and hastened by.

But now thy beetling rock around

The busy vessels glide,

From many a distant region bound

They swarm the people tide;

The sturdy mariners who chase

Old Ocean’s mightiest monster race,

Within thy harbours ride,

And in thy hundred coves we meet

By bay and shore a gallant fleet.

Frown on, old barrier, still frown on,

In grandeur aye alone,

And they who stand thy brow upon

Thy majesty must own,

When gazing from thy craggy steep

In wonder o’er the vassal deep,

As from a sea-king’s throne;

And future sovereigns of the sea

Shall send their mandate forth from thee.

It's not exactly Lord Byron, and stanza four is particularly unfortunate, given the long Aboriginal association with North Head, but the first four lines of the last stanza are still apt.

Who was "Epsilon"? Epsilon was one of the pen-names of John Lang (1816-1864), regarded as the first native-born Australian novelist, according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography. He was born at Parramatta, and attended Sydney College. He contributed verse to the Australian from 1834 to 1838, including an unusual poem in praise of swimming, so the verses above are the effort of a teenager. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge, and was called to the Bar at Middle Temple, before returning to New South Wales to practice as a barrister. Later he settled in India, where he ran a newspaper and wrote novels. In the 1850s he was in England, and contributed stories to Charles Dickens' periodical, Household Words.

Lang was apparently a fund of interesting stories about Australia, and I wonder if he ever regaled Dickens with them? Great Expectations appeared in 1860, and it is tempting to speculate that the convict Magwitch had some basis in Lang's stories of Botany Bay.

A collection of Lang's poetry was published in 2000 by the Mulini Press, and the John Lang Project aims to republish his books in time for his bicentenary in 2016.

JMacR

[1] Published in the Australian 7 February 1837, p4.

A Nantucket Sleigh Ride

2012-02-08T19:25:00.000-08:00

The Sydney Gazette carried this story on 25 September 1819 (p3):

“A whale has been for the last several weeks reported to be within the harbour, and the natives have given information that it had got on shore and perished in one of the creeks about North Harbour.

If this report be true, it now appears that there must have been more than one, as on Monday last [20^th], three young men namely, Daniel Cubitt, John Jenkins, and John Abbott, when fishing off the Heads under the safeguard of a killock rope [a rope with a stone attached as a crude anchor], a large whale passed beneath their boat, and running against the rope, forced them to a considerable distance with the rapidity of lightning, but fortunately skimming the surface of the water did not take them down.

The youths had immediate recourse to the only means that was left of saving their lives and preventing themselves from being either carried out to sea or drawn down to the bottom; and this was done by cutting away the rope as quick as possible.”

Whalers off Newfoundland would later refer to this sort of incident as a "Nantucket sleigh ride". A whale could easily reach speeds of 20mph towing a rowboat, so it must have been a hair-raising experience.

JMacR

Kylie Tennant centenary

2012-02-05T22:24:00.000-08:00

Researching Kylie Tennant in preparation for her upcoming centenary, I found this photograph in our collection, showing the pupils of Brighton College in the mid-1920s. From 1924-1927, Brighton College occupied 10 The Crescent, Manly, also known as Dun Aros, now one of the oldest surviving houses in Manly, dating from the late 1870s. In the second row from the front, on the extreme right, is, I think, Kylie Tennant, who would be probably 14 or 15 years old. This may be the first time she has been described as ‘on the extreme right’.

She claimed to have been the first to have the ‘Eton bob’ hairstyle in Manly.

Here, from the pages of the Brighton Chronicle, the school magazine, is a skit written by Tennant at about the age of 15, expressing her feelings about exams.

The Lords Appellant

Scene: Hades. A number of gloomy shades very busy doing nothing. Pluto presiding.

P: Ho! Who’s without? Make way and let him pass.

Why, ‘tis King Richard, second of that name,

Once king of England, now amongst us here

An honoured citizen. What is’t your majesty?

R: I crave a boon, my honoured lord; ‘tis this:

That I may with your help revenge myself

Upon some schoolgirls on the upper earth

Residing now at Brighton College. There,

Lest ye might think I take a mean revenge,

Go, haunt the girls and hear their daily talk.

They insult me, and all, forsooth, because

In sprightly fashion I was wont to utter

Sometimes a speech of extra-special length.

Because my chronicler of later date,

One William Shakespeare, here amongst us now,

Recorded these they never cease complaints

Against my blameless person, Ovid too,

Caesar, and poets other than our band,

All make complaints against the Brighton girls.

Grant me this boon and it shall be the last,

For I’ve a splendid plan!

P: Say on.

R: A thousand thanks, your majesty, my plan

Is simple in itself, ‘tis this my lord,

That Shakespeare’s tragic undiscovered play,

You know how long it is my lord and passing tedious,

(I heard him read it here the other night) –

We’ll find some learned men to dig it up

And set it for the next year’s Intermediate,

By hook or crook. The girls who go this year

From Brighton College, entering the exam,

We’ll mark down, or lose their papers, some mislay,

And see that they gain not a single A.

Then next year they must study twice as hard,

The horror William’s worried over now.

Their groans will be as music to our ears.

Is not the retribution just, my lord?

P: Most excellent indeed! We’ll set to work

And plan the details now. Ye lazy imps,

Haste to gain passes over River Styx [and so on].

I love the wit of that “Say on” in the middle. A pretty good blank verse pastiche.

JMacR

The first Kylie

2012-01-30T21:18:00.000-08:00

March 12^th 2012 is the centenary of the birth of novelist Kylie Tennant, who was born at Clifford Avenue, Manly. On the anniversary I am planning to give an illustrated lecture about Tennant’s childhood, asking, what was Manly like in the 1910s and 1920s? There is a short biography, Kylie Tennant by Jane Grant, which gives illuminating detail on Tennant’s later life, but says comparatively little about her early years, and Tennant’s autobiography, The Missing Heir, is cryptic and not terribly helpful.

I have been looking into the name ‘Kylie’. Where did it come from? A commonly accepted explanation up to now has been that it came from an Aboriginal word for a type of boomerang, and in that sense the word was used in several newspaper reports from the 19^th century. However, ‘Kylie’ was also used to refer to a type of Scottish cattle from the Kyle locality, imported to Australia from the 1870s, and either derivation seems as likely as the other.

The earliest use of ‘Kylie’ as a forename that I have found was for a girl called Kylie Brown, who was a helper on a stall at the bazaar of Manly Cottage Hospital in 1898 (see SMH 17 October 1898). Her mother, Mrs Mary Brown, was on the hospital’s fund-raising committee, and her father was a Mr Alexander Brown; they lived for a time at Crescent Street, Manly. Kylie Brown later married Frank Leonard Row, otherwise known as ‘Banger’ Row, a prominent rugby union player, who represented NSW against Queensland and Great Britain. In fact, her full name was Mary Kyle Brown, so in this case, ‘Kylie’ was more of a nickname than a forename in its own right, and again links to Scotland rather than to boomerangs. However, her local popularity may have prompted other Manly parents to choose the name, because as well as Kylie Tennant, there was also a Kylie Lough, who was a year or two Tennant’s junior.

Only one Kylie was listed in NSW birth records prior to 1912, a Kylie Morgan, born at Bowral in 1907. Was she the first Aussie Kylie?

As it happens, Kylie Tennant was christened Kathleen, and it is not clear when this became Kylie, but she was certainly referred to as Kylie at school at Brighton College, Manly, and she was the first person to be listed in NSW marriage records as ‘Kylie’. She may be somewhere in this photograph of pupils at Brighton College, perhaps in the row of older girls on the upstairs balcony, but I have not been able to identify her. (I feel sympathy for the little boys in the photo, overwhelmed by the girls!)

Her celebrity, even notoriety, in the 1930s and 1940s led to a wave of parents choosing the name for their girls in the 1950s and 60s, and then along came the other Kylie, and global domination was assured.

JMacR

Lighthouse Service Station

2012-01-26T21:04:00.000-08:00

I was contacted by Ann Krasny who provided some helpful information about the Lighthouse Service Station in Sydney Road, Fairlight, which was run by Franz and Paul Krasny in the early 1940s.

This service station was erected in 1930 on the corner of Sydney Road and Woods Parade, designed by architect Frederick Fuller in a vaguely Spanish Mission style. It is shown in the photo in October 1931, located adjacent to the "Heath Buildings", which featured a distinctive painted advert for tea.

In its early years it was known as the Auto Super Service Station, and was run by a Mr Ginsburg and a Mr Hartigan, who were also agents for Chevrolet motor cars. They appear to have gone out of business in early 1940, when wartime restrictions meant fewer cars on the road. Around then, the garage was renamed the Lighthouse Service Station, and at that time it was numbered 113 Sydney Road. In turn this was replaced with the Manly Motors Garage, which was still in business into the 1950s.

If you have any memories of these service stations, I would be pleased to pass them on to Ann.

JMacR

Bright Lights of Manly

2012-01-19T19:27:00.000-08:00

Neon lighting arrived in Australia towards the end of 1929. It had been successfully demonstrated by French scientist Georges Claude as early as 1910, and the Claude Neon Lighting Company held the principal patents for the process. They defended their patents vigorously, but when their principal patent expired in 1932, numerous competitors entered the field, greatly expanding the market.

Businesses in Manly wishing to install external neon lighting for the purpose of advertising had to put in an application to Manly Council’s Health and Building Committee, whose minutes have survived from the late 1920s onwards. The first shops to apply were premises at 8 Corso and 104 Corso in July and August 1930, followed by the Dungowan dance-hall on South Steyne. Their signs were made by Claude Neon Lights NSW Ltd.

Owing to the Depression, there were no applications in 1931, but in 1932 the Rialto Cinema and Balgowlah Theatre, the New Brighton Hotel (see photo), and several cafes on the Corso installed neon lighting. By the end of 1933 all the main hotels and cinemas in Manly and many of the businesses on the Corso had applied to erect neon signs, either from the Claude Neon Company or from Messrs Neon Signs Ltd., or occasionally from the Radiant Signs Co. In the case of the Hotel Manly, what is more, the sign was “animated”. The bright lights had come to Manly.

Manly Amateur Athletic Club

2012-01-10T16:42:00.000-08:00

Manly Amateur Athletic Club began just after World War One, although an earlier Manly Athletic Club had existed at the turn of the century. Early meets of the club were limited by the lack of illumination at Manly Oval, but after 1920, floodlighting was put in and training could be conducted properly. In the 1920s the club was famous for its annual Manly Modified Marathon race, a race of some twelve or thirteen miles from Manly to Narrabeen and back, open to all-comers. Local identities associated with the club included Don D McIntyre and Ozzie Merrett, who managed the Australian Olympic Games team.

This photo shows the committee of Manly Amateur Athletic Club in 1926. It was donated by Mrs Lyneve Hunt, whose father, Stewart Peterson is in the front row, left.

Back row, l to r: Eric Nettheim, Eric Whitehead, n/k.

Middle row: Ben Johnston, A H Smith (Club Treasurer), Don D McIntyre (President), D Middleton and Harold Vaughan (Club Secretary).

Front row: Stewart Peterson, Joe W Morgan, n/k.

Harold Vaughan was well-known in Manly as the host of the Dungowan Cabaret on South Steyne. Club Captain Eric Whitehead was a specialist in field events such as shot putt. Ben Johnston later became a Manly Alderman. Don McIntyre was a life member of Freshwater Surf Life Saving Club, and later was inducted in the SLSA Hall of Fame for his long association with Surf Life Saving.

The photo was probably taken at the back of Manly Oval, and it is interesting to note the carved graffiti from the “Robin Patrol” – evidence of a Boy Scout gathering, perhaps?

JMacR

Flying Officer E H Brown, DFC

2012-01-03T20:42:00.000-08:00

Edwin Hanlon Brown was born on 9 May 1918 at Toowomba. He attended the Grammar School there. Tall and fair-haired, he came to Sydney to work as a bank clerk with the Union Bank at Crows Nest. He lived at 56 Fairlight Street, Manly, and joined the Manly Life Saving Club and Manly Hockey Club. He competed in the Manly LSC team in the Australian surfboat championships.[1]

He enlisted in October 1940 and became a Flying-Officer with the RAAF, seconded to 682 Squadron RAF. He flew more than 60 sorties, including one reconnaissance flight prior to the Dieppe Raid which involved extremely dangerous very low-level flying. Reconnaissance photographs taken by him on this occasion proved to be of great importance to the operation. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1943, with the gazettal referring to his 62 sorties and his successful accomplishment of a reconnaissance flight over Naples in April 1943 in the face of heavy and accurate fire from ground defences. He must have been very brave.

He was flying a Spitfire on a mission on 5^th May 1943, when he called to say that he was about four miles north of Algiers. This message was quickly followed by another saying “May Day, I am baling out”. It is thought that he must have had to bale out at low altitude, as his parachute did not have time to deploy. His body was recovered from the sea off Algiers, and he was buried at the El Alia military cemetery near that city. His mother accepted his DFC at a ceremony in Government House, Brisbane.

A photo of his gravestone has been posted online by volunteers John and Jill Mitchell. I would love to hear from anyone who knows of a photograph of F/O Brown.

JMacR

[1] Brisbane Courier-Mail 27 August 1942, p3.

Bravery at Balgowlah

2011-12-18T16:44:00.000-08:00

At Balgowlah in 1924, a concrete packer, Matthew James Campbell, 39, earned one of the highest awards for bravery, the Edward Medal. The Edward Medal was instituted in 1907 specifically to recognise acts of bravery by miners and quarrymen (and from 1909 all industrial workers) in endangering their lives to rescue their fellow workers. There were two versions of the medal: Mines and Industry. The medal came in two grades: first class (silver), and second class (bronze). Only eight Australians have been awarded the Empire Medal – three silver and four bronze for incidents in Mines, and one bronze in the Industry division.

The King conferred the Edward Medal on Mr Campbell the following year, and it was reported in the London Gazette of 1 September 1925, but newspaper references closer to the incident give a more accurate report.

On 27th October 1924, Campbell, with two workmates, George Lawton and William Lambkin, were preparing to lower themselves into an inspection shaft of the ocean outfall sewer. The shaft at Balgowlah was over 100 metres deep. The men were being lowered by pulley in a large bucket. When they were about 30 metres down, part of the winching mechanism gave way, and fell on the men, badly injuring all three. Lawton and Lambkin fell out of the bucket, but Campbell was able to grab both of them as they dangled in mid-air. Lawton struggled in panic, and Campbell was unable to keep hold of him. The poor man fell to the bottom of the shaft. Campbell hauled Lambkin back into the bucket, and dazed and bleeding, Campbell was able to return to the top of the shaft with Lambkin in his grasp.

By this time, an ambulance had arrived, and ambulance-man Peter Seymour made ready to make the hazardous descent to the bottom of the shaft to retrieve Lawton. Campbell insisted on accompanying him, despite suffering badly from shock. Each with a lighted candle in one hand, and clutching the side of the bucket with the other, they made their way down, and retrieved the body of the dead man. The return to the top was hair-raising. Half-way up, a supporting batten slipped, and the bucket began to sway violently. Jumping on an unsafe ladder attached to the wall, Seymour returned to the top for a spanner to secure the batten. Finally, Seymour and Campbell emerged at the surface with the dead man.

Campbell was directly responsible for saving Lambkin’s life, at great danger to his own. At a ceremony in Sydney Town Hall on 14 September 1925, he was presented with the Empire Medal by the Governor, Sir Dudley de Chair, and praised for his “superhuman strength and will.”

No Edward Medal was awarded to an Australian after 1924. Living recipients were asked in 1971 to return the insignia, in exchange, if they chose, for the insignia of the George Cross, the very highest award for civilian bravery, which they would be deemed to have won in lieu.

I have not found what happened to Matthew James Campbell after 1925, although a man of that name died at Granville in 1943. His bravery deserves to be remembered.

JMacR

History of Sydney's Beaches

2011-12-08T16:46:00.001-08:00

A forthcoming book from UNSW Press is Sydney Beaches: A History, by Caroline Ford, which promises to be an informative read. Dr Ford has recently generously deposited in the Manly Library Local Studies collection a copy of her 2007 doctoral thesis, entitled The First Wave: the making of a beach culture in Sydney, 1810-1920. It is an absorbing piece of research, and contains a good deal of relevant material relating to the northern beaches.

It is interesting to see how the same concerns recur over the years: Ford draws parallels with the protests over merry-go-rounds on Manly Beach a century ago and the protests over the Olympic volleyball stadium on Bondi Beach in 2000. In both cases, locals were concerned with loss of access to the beach, as well as noise pollution and visual pollution - for popular destinations such as Manly, Bondi and Cronulla, beach management has been a testing issue for local councils ever since their inception. I liked Ford's parallel with the crowds flocking to see the Pasha Bulker grounded on Nobby’s Beach in 2007, and the crowds which came to Manly in 1906 to see the stranded barque Vincennes (pictured above). You could buy a hot pie and watch a ship being pounded.

Ford argues in part that in the twentieth century Sydney’s beach culture was significant in the creation of a world beach culture, and that two Sydney beaches, Bondi and Manly, can claim to be internationally accepted archetypes of a certain kind of beach.

JMacR.

Manly West School

2011-12-07T20:27:00.001-08:00

This likely lot are the kindy class at Manly West School, 1947. The photo was supplied by Marlene Hoskin, who was Marlene Wyatt - she is third from the right, in the second row from the back. Class teacher she thinks was a Miss Rochester. If you can come up with any other names of chldren in this photo, we'd love to hear from you.

Marlene's father worked for Dobbs Bros in the Corso back then. She is now living in Yandina, Queensland and would love to hear from old classmates.

JMacR

Fifty years ago

2011-12-05T16:28:00.001-08:00

Sometimes it's the everyday assumptions that make you realise time is passing and society is changing. Recently, searching for an article from an issue of the Manly Daily from 1961, my eye was caught by a short description of the Fashion and Fur Parade held by the Parents' and Friends' Association of Stella Maris School. The highlight of the Parade was the selection of fur coats, "and once again it has been shown that furs are worn all the year round."

That perhaps says something about Manly in 1961, but it was the next sentence that would nowadays be unthinkable: "During the parade, representatives from W D & H O Wills [now part of Imperial Tobacco] conducted a quiz session and donated packets of cigarettes as prizes."

JMacR

The Strange life of Henri L'Estrange

2011-11-30T16:07:00.001-08:00

This photo, from the collection of the State Library of Victoria (H96.160/2603) is Henri L’Estrange, also known as the Australian Blondin, after the greatest of all tightrope walkers. Mr L’Estrange had two connections with the Manly area. As a balloonist, or aeronaut, he made a pioneering balloon ascent in September 1880 from Cook Park, which resulted in his balloon being blown across the harbour and coming down in Manly. And as a tightrope walker, he made several celebrated crossings of Middle Harbour. On one occasion in December 1882, he even attempted the crossing on this very bicycle, specially adapted to grip the tightrope – although on that occasion he fell off, into the waters of Middle Harbour, where he was rescued by a row-boat.

Details of his various hair-raising balloon ascents can be found elsewhere. Perhaps the most alarming was the occasion in March 1881 when he took off from the Domain, and came down onto the roof of a house in Woolloomooloo. L’Estrange rolled down the roof, and the balloon exploded in a fireball on coming into contact with a gas-lit streetlamp. he escaped with cuts and bruises.

But who was Henri L’Estrange? Using the Trove website, I was able to find several early references to him. In early 1873 he was performing a tightrope and acrobatic act in Hobart, and Launceston, together with “Lulu and Julien L’Estrange”, supposedly his siblings, but more likely performers using stage-names.

The Melbourne Argus, 21 April 1875, reported that Henri L’Estrange, alias George Lloyd, broke into a dwelling at Belfast near Warrnambool to recover his nets and ropes, which had been impounded by an assistant who had helped set up his act and had not been paid. L’Estrange was charged with breaking into the premises.

Interestingly, a Trove search for “George Lloyd” produced a story from 1869 about a George Lloyd who lived at Belfast near Warrnambool, with his wife Ann. This man was evidently a brutal wife-beater, and finally Mrs Lloyd snapped, and killed him with an axe. His stepson, Mrs Lloyd’s son, gave evidence in the trial to the effect that his stepfather had used to pull him about the house by his hair. Mrs Lloyd was found guilty and sent to jail. What became of the children and step-children of George Lloyd? Did one of them become "Henri L’Estrange"? Would this background explain his apparent indifference to danger?

An 1870s description called him “a good-looking and well-shaped fellow”. It stated “He seems to sit on a chair and move it about on the rope with the same ease that he would in a drawing room.”

I found a marriage record for him. In 1882, describing himself as Henri L’Estrange, an actor (which he was, in between ballooning and tightrope-walking), aged 31 (which he may or may not have been), he married a Minnie Bryson, 21, in Sydney. However if birth records are to be believed, Miss Bryson may have been only 16.

Later references to him are equally suggestive. In April 1885, a benefit concert was held for him, since he had “lately met with a severe accident” – I have not been able to find a reference to what sort of accident this was. William Beach, the champion oarsman, and one of the most famous men of his day, was in attendance, and would have pulled a crowd in.

L’Estrange seems to have settled down in Fitzroy, Victoria. A reference in the Fitzroy City Press from 28 September 1894 reported that L’Estrange “formerly known as the Australian Blondin” had been knocked down by a horse and buggy while crossing the street, but not fatally injured. The driver was fined 20 shillings.

I suspect "Henri L'Estrange" probably died in Victoria, but web-searches have not as yet disclosed where or when.

John MacRitchie 2011

Gilbert Nobbs, a remarkable life

2011-11-24T19:44:00.001-08:00

Henry Gilbert Nobbs was one of the most remarkable characters to have lived in Manly. He was born in 1880, and first visited Manly for a short time in 1914. During the First World War, he was a Captain in the London Rifle Brigade. During the Somme Offensive, he led his company in a charge on the enemy lines. He was shot through the head, and the bullet exited through his right eye, permanently blinding him. He lay in a shell-hole for two days, as the battle raged round him. He woke up in a German hospital. After his wounds were treated he was sent to a POW camp. His next of kin had already been told that he had died and had received a telegram of condolences from Buckingham Palace, and it was a month before they learned the truth. Captain Nobbs was repatriated to England. He was sent to St Dunstan's Home for blinded servicemen, which he was rather dreading, but to his surprise he found the atmosphere to be cheerful. He told the story in later years of how at one formal dinner there, he had thrown himself on the man seated next to him and began tickling him, crying out "Hullo, who do we have here then?" A voice replied "Derby" - it was Lord Derby, Secretary of State for War.

He came to Australia with his wife and family in 1919, and threw himself into work for the firm of Holbrook's (Australasia) Ltd. He became the managing director of the company, and travelled widely on its behalf. In the 1930s he was fond of saying that his teddy bear, which always accompanied him, had travelled more than half a million miles. Nobbs was granted the Freedom of the City of London, and was presented to the King and Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald. He transformed Holbrook's into one of the largest employers in Australia.

In Manly, he was associated with Manly Amateur Swimming Club for many years, being vice-president in 1922, and President of the Club from 1924 onwards. He was made a life member of the Club in 1935, at which point it was the largest and most successful swimming club in Australia. He was also a vice-president and keen follower of the Manly Rugby Union club. He was chairman of the NSW Blinded Soldiers' Association, and a patron of Sydney Legacy Club. He was awarded the OBE in the New Year's Day Honours of 1951 for his years of service to tehse and other causes.

His publications included Rhymes and Reminiscences (1922); The Right of the British Line (recently reprinted as Englishman, Kamerad), a vivid portrait of his wartime experiences; and Blinded but Unbeaten (1950), inspirational stories of blind achievement.

He and his wife Katherine celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary in 1965 at their home in Oyama Avenue, Manly. He died in 1970, 54 years after his death had first been reported.

Balgowlah Cinema

2011-11-15T17:55:00.001-08:00

Cinema in Balgowlah began in the 1920s, with screenings of silent movies in the Balgowlah Hall, organised by the Balgowlah Progress Association. A musician who played at the Wednesday and Saturday performances recalled how he dreaded the Saturday afternoon matinees: "No self-respecting matinee-goer would turn up without a supply of stinkaway jacks - a type of acacia seed which smelled to high heaven." The musicians would be bombarded with the seeds and had to endure the foul smell throughout the serial.

The Balgowlah Cinema, sometimes referred to as the Classic Cinema, had its heyday in the 1940s, when features such as Northwest Passage, starring Spencer Tracy, drew packed houses, and offered an alternative to traipsing into Manly to the Odeon or Embassy.

In the 1970s, the cinema had a new lease of life and often screened movies not shown elsewhere in the area. By the mid-1980s, however, running costs became too much for the lessees, and the cinema closed its doors on Wednesday 27 March 1985. The final feature was a Clint Eastwood double-feature, City Heat and Tightrope. The building was pulled down in June 1985. The photo above was taken in 1983, when the movie showing was Night Shift, starring Henry Winkler, probably not one of its finer moments.

The New Leader

2011-11-06T15:29:00.000-08:00

In an archive box of material relating to the local council elections of 1941, I came across an issue of a newspaper named New Leader, which was one I hadn't known existed. The issue was from December 1941, and was volume 7, no 48, which, if it was a weekly, would mean that it was published from about 1934 onwards.

The printer's name was given as Henry John Skelton, which I had come across before as the publisher of The Manly-Warringah News, which he produced from his printing works at the Camelot building in Denison Street, Manly. The Manly-Warringah News was in existence at the same time as New Leader, so they would have been in competition for advertising, to say nothing of the Manly Daily.

Unfortunately I don't know how long New Leader stayed afloat, or when Skelton packed it in, but there are one or two points of interest in this issue. Notice above the masthead the plea to "Save this paper for the Salvage Commissioner" - an example of wartime recycling. Elsewhere in the issue, electors are reminded to vote at the upcoming council elections, since not to do so would be a vote for Hitler.

I also like the supporting feature at the Balgowlah Theatre: "Junior G-Men, episode 6." Can you imagine the racket during the Saturday matinee when the junior g-men let loose with their tommy-guns?

The demon drink

2011-11-02T18:02:00.000-07:00

I found this startling advertisement in a brochure detailing the attractions of the Steyne Court amusement park, which operated on South Steyne in the early 1900s. A rather larger advert elsewhere in the brochure, needless to say, mentions the Wine Kiosk, "where a capital glass of wine of any description may be had."

The Eucrasy Co began advertising in Australian newspapers in 1896, and were still advertising as late as 1950. One wonders what the contents of "Eucrasy" were, which could so dramatically counter the effects of alcoholism. Either way, what a melodramatic picture is conveyed by the thought of a wife covertly adulterating her brute's food or drink.

Bombora

2011-10-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

Regular visitors to the Trove website will have noticed that it allows users to search when a word first occurs in the accumulated newspaper database. I have previously searched for, among others, "tango" and "bunyip". Most recently, I wanted to know when "bombora" was first used. The earliest citation given in the Oxford English Dictionary is from a Bulletin article from 1933, and I felt that the word must have been in use much earlier than that.

Using the Trove search, I found a reference from the Sydney Morning Herald of 1st March 1879 to Botany Bombora. This was not quite what I was after, since the word was being used as part of a specific place-name. But an article from SMH on 21st December 1886 was more like it. It referred to a buoy at Dobroyd(e) Head being a danger to vessels, as it might mislead them to sail too close to the "bumbora". So the word was in use as a general noun some fifty years before the OED had it (and, no doubt, even earlier than that). Interestingly, the spelling of the word was more commonly "bumbora" in the 19th century, giving way to "bombora" by the 1910s, and the OED does not note "bumbora" as a variant spelling. Perhaps the later spelling was seen as more genteel?

The bombora at Dobroyd featured in Enid Conley's children's novel of 1968, The Dangerous Bombora. And most recently, of course, Bombora was the excellent ABC series on the history of Australian surfing.

JMacR

Alderman Scarr

2011-10-23T19:49:00.000-07:00

The 19th century aldermen of Manly were a colourful bunch. Alderman John Agar Scarr followed two occupations with great success. He was the shorthand writer for the NSW Assembly for more than 40 years. And he was also a handicapper for the Australian Jockey Club - in fact, for many years he was their sole handicapper, a difficult and responsible undertaking. In addition, he wrote a racing column under the pen-name 'Pundit', and was the compiler of the stud book in the 1870s and 80s.

He was born at Campbelltown in 1830, the son of John Scarr, who was Clerk of the Court at Campbelltown. The family lived at Agar Cottage, Campbelltown. In 1853 John Agar Scarr married Louisa Holdsworth. One of their children, Henry Holdsworth Scarr, also became an alderman of Manly.

On his retirement from Parliamentary duties in 1887, he came to Manly, and was petitioned by nearly a hundred notable local men to stand for alderman. As an alderman he advocated improvements to the Little Manly Baths which were in such a decrepit condition, he said, "that a vigorous shark could enter and devour a bather." He was also involved in the long-running debate over improvements to Manly's sewerage.

He took ill in 1894 following his return from the Melbourne Cup, but was still involved in racehorse handicapping up to a few days of his death from diabetes on 31 March 1895.

The photo of him appeared in the Australian Town and Country Journal on 6 April 1895, and was retrieved from a Trove search.

JMacR

Stomping at Manly in '64

2011-09-22T18:01:00.001-07:00

The exhibition Surf City, which opens at the Museum of Sydney tonight, looks at surf culture in Sydney in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Manly is prominent in the exhibition, notably for its staging of the first World Surfboard Titles on 16/17 May 1964, with sponsorship from Ampol. No effort was spared to make the event a success. A special viewing stand was provided, and the beach was raked and sloped to allow the maximum number of spectators. There were displays of beach fashions, barbecues, and on the Sunday of competition, Radio 2GB arranged a 'gigantic stomp' on the area of beach next to where the contest was being held. Popular artists and bands performed [does anyone remember who?], and the photo above shows the crush on the beach that afternoon. "99.9 per cent of board riders are wonderful young people", stated Manly Mayor Bill Nicholas, which made a change from the adverse publicity surfies had endured from Manly Council over the preceding year or two.

Around 65-70,000 spectators saw Bernard Farrelly take out the men's title.

Elsewhere in Manly that weekend, you could go to Hoyts Cinema to see Surfing Hollowdays, starring Phil Edwards, one of the judges at the World Titles, who made a personal appearance at the cinema. The Balgowlah Theatre was showing Paul Newman in The Long Hot Summer. And Gormly's Record Shop at 74 the Corso advertised its wide range of surf and stomp LPs, including The Surfaris, Jan and Dean, The Chantays, The Ventures and The Beach Boys.

The following weekend saw a different sort of excitement, as 30,000 visitors came to Manly for the annual Corpus Christi procession at St Patrick's College.

John MacRitchie

Style and class

2011-09-12T22:46:00.000-07:00

This photograph has been in our collection for a few years, but we have only just been able to identify the date, place and event. The sharply-dressed gentlemen were members of the Manly Swimming Club. They were in Melbourne to contest the Agar Wynne Cup. This was a trophy competed for by the champion clubs of NSW and Victoria, effectively to determine which was the champion swimming club of Australia. Manly sent a strong team, including Noel Ryan, (centre of photo), a future Empire Games medallist.

The competition took place at the Melbourne City Baths in the first week of 1928. The teams race finished in a dead heat. In water-polo, Melbourne thrashed Manly 9-1, although no doubt the visitors were at a disadvantage. In breaststroke, Melbourne made a 1-2-3, with Manly's Keith, Sheidow and Foster filling the minor placings. in the 440 yards, Noel Ryan and George Sheidow of Manly were first and second. It all came down to the diving, which was held at the St Kilda Baths, in the presence of the Governor-General, Lord Stonehaven. Although George Sheidow and Ken Foster took 2nd and 3rd places, Melbourne did enough to edge out Manly for the trophy, winning by 40 points to 38. A superb effort from Manly, who were handicapped by the unavailability for the week of competition of many of their best swimmers, including Boy Charlton, due to work commitments.

Team members in the photo, which was taken outside Melbourne City Baths, were George Sheidow, George Chidgey, Noel Ryan, Alan Penfold and Snowy Walton. Mr Penfold commented in 1980: "Of course no one wears hats like that now, but we all wore them then. You weren't dressed otherwise."

Balgowlah Boys' site

2011-09-11T22:24:00.000-07:00

This 1939 photograph shows the land where Balgowlah Boys' High School was later to be built. The photo, taken for Manly Council's Engineering Department, shows road construction in Maretimo Street, looking north to the junction with Sydney Road. Beyond Sydney Road can be seen Balgowlah Golf Course and Oval. The street running off to the right, just beyond the parked car, is Violet Street. The flats on the corner of Violet and Maretimo are the present day 24 Violet Street. It is of interest to compare this scene with the present-day view looking north on Maretimo Street in Google Streetview, to see how leafy the bare streetscape has become.

Although the land to the left had been earmarked for the building of the school, it did not officially open until after the war. The earliest classrooms on the site were prefabricated huts, giving rise to the school's early nickname of 'Shacktown'.

John MacRitchie

Clontarf Pool

2011-09-04T23:15:00.000-07:00

Following repeated requests from local residents dating back to before WW2, Manly Council constructed a shark-proof bathing enclosure at Clontarf Reserve in 1949. It was completed by 15 June 1949, and formally opened by the Mayor of Manly, Bob Scharkie, on 1 October 1949. The contractor was J Jamieson of Haberfield. The enclosure cost 1245 pounds to construct.

Council had the pool extended in 1959. The work was carried out by a Carlton company, F Jenkins and Son Pty Ltd, and approximately 2300 pounds was spent in materials.

In 2009 swimmers at the pool asked that Clontarf Pool be dredged or extended, since it had sitled up to such an extent that at low tide the water was often only 20 or 30 centimetres deep. Manly Council examined reports on the environmental effects of either option, and dredging was undertaken. Around 1600 cubic metres of sand was dredged, at a cost of $100,000. The sand removed was used elsewhere for 'beach nourishment'. The work was completed by September 2010.

Traffic-free day

2011-08-18T22:32:00.000-07:00

This postcard view of Manly Wharf was probably taken from the top floor of the Montreaux flats in Commonwealth Parade. It gives a slightly different angle on the Wharf than other postcard views I've seen, and is of interest for the view it gives of Osborne Road, Darley Road and Cliff Street.

It has been a puzzle to try to put a date to the image. It certainly pre-dates 1930, because the Cargo Wharf has yet to be converted into the Manly Fun Pier. Could it be earlier than 1920? There are very few apartment blocks to be seen, such as the well-known Beaumaris Flats, the Waterhouse and Lake block at 30 Cliff Street, constructed c1918. One block which can be seen is 'Alton', in East Esplanade, with its distinctive pyramidal tower, which was built c1916. The grand houses of Osborne Road, 'Hirondelle' and 'Stancombe' show no signs of having verandahs infilled or other conversion.

Another indicator is the lack of vehicular traffic - there is a car parked outside 'Elsmere' on the corner of East Esplanade and Wentworth Street, probably the car of Dr David Thomas, whose consulting rooms were in Elsmere. Otherwise, apart from the horse and cart on the cargo wharf - no, there are two - not much is stirring. Yet it's mid-afternoon, if the wharf clock is to be trusted. A lone fisherman perches at the very end of the ferry wharf. Lazy days.

Thanks to John Morcombe for allowing us to scan this image.

John MacRitchie

St Aubin's Hospital

2011-08-14T23:32:00.001-07:00

A Manly doctor, Dr Harold Graves Bennetts, started St Aubin's Private Hospital in early 1909 to cater for the growing market of those prescribed sea air and convalescent care. Under the matron, Mrs Geraldine Downing, St Aubin's ran for about twenty years as a convalescent hospital, but to begin with also took some maternity cases.

It was a two-storey building, with Bangor slate roof. It stood at (then) 75 North Steyne, on the northern corner with Steinton Street. The hospital conatined an operating theatre and seven rooms for convalescents. It ran as a hospital until circa 1926, when Matron Downing died, and was still owned by the Downing family thereafter. The building was demolished to make way for the landmark Trident high-rise apartments in the late 1960s.

In 1911 the hospital featured in a sensational case. During a quarrel with his wife Ellen on North Steyne beach, a labourer named Matthew Dunning, 32, produced a revolver and shot her at point-blank range. He was standing over her, poised to take a second shot, when a passer-by, Charles Thompson from Young, NSW, threw himself on Dunning and grappled with him, causing him to drop the weapon. Dunning broke free, produced a small bottle of poison, and drank the contents, expiring on the spot.

Mrs Dunning was taken to the nearest hospital, which happened to be St Aubin's. Dr Graves Bennetts operated to remove the bullet. Incredibly, Ellen Dunning, who was described as a quiet, hard-working housemaid, survived the murderous attack. Unfortunately Charles Thompson does not appear to have been recognised for his gallantry in preventing her certain murder.

John MacRitchie

The Boanerges, 1857

2011-08-08T23:28:00.001-07:00

This is one of the inscriptions cut into the rock at the Quarantine Station, North Head. It commemorates the period of quarantine undergone by passengers from the ship Boanerges, in 1857.

The Boanerges left from Liverpool on 15th July 1857 for Sydney, under Captain William Skeene. On board were 475 Government immigrants: 70 married couples, 109 married men, 121 single women, 48 boys and 58 girls. Most of the immigrants were from Cambridgeshire and the English Midlands. There was also cargo on board worth more than seven thousand pounds.

On the voyage, three children died - of 'coup de soleil' (heatstroke), diarrhoea and bronchitis. Six babies were born. One of the children born was given the distinctive name William Boanerges Muggleton; he died at Carcoar in 1941.

The passage took 99 days, and, as noted on the inscription, the Boanerges entered Sydney Harbour on 21 October 1857. Because there was scarlet fever on board, she was obliged to enter quarantine. The passengers and crew were landed at the Quarantine Station while the ship and their belongings were disinfected and washed. Their period of quarantine, only six days, was relatively short, but was filled with drama, because on 23 October, the Catherine Adamson was wrecked on North Head, with the loss of 21 lives. One body came ashore at the Quarantine Station, and was buried by the crew of the Boanerges.

At a subsequent inquiry into the wreck, it was suggested that if one of the pilot boats had come to Spring Cove and raised the alarm, the Boanerges could have put out to sea and would have been on hand to rescue the passengers from the Catherine Adamson, but alas, this was not done. When the women from the Boanerges were taken out of quarantine into Sydney, the vessel which took them down the harbour was also carrying the bodies of those who had perished in the wreck. The emotions of the women can only be guessed at. With this background, the inscription above can be read as a poignant expression of thanksgiving at having survived the perils of the long sea voyage.

The immigrants were in demand, particularly with the harvest season approaching. Married couples, it was stated, could earn 60 shillings a week. There was great need of agricultural workers and mechanics, and the single women found ready employment as domestic servants.

Boanerges left Sydney on 2 December 1857, bound for Callao. She left behind several deserters, who, when apprehended, were each sentenced to ten or twelve weeks' hard labour.

2011-08-03T17:09:00.000-07:00

"You go first."

"No, you."

"No, both together."

"All right then. One... two... threeeeee!"

Seeing this late 1930s postcard view of the diving tower at Manly's Harbour Pool, I'm struck by the crowds on the beach. You could probably dive all day without drawing attention, but as soon as a dive went horribly wrong hundreds of spectators would hear! Belly-flop!

I wonder if any of these young daredevils went on to fly Spitfires in World War Two?

Fashion 75 years ago

2011-07-28T16:58:00.001-07:00

If you attended the mannequin parade held at William Cooper and Sons in February 1936, this is one of the glorious frocks you would have seen. It comprised a three-piece cocktail suit, featuring the latest monk cape and hood. The skirt and hood cape (lined with pink) were composed of black panne velvet, and the blouse was of pink net. Also modelled at this mannequin parade were some rather risque Berlei corsets. Cutting edge for 1936.

Spit Bridge beginnings

2011-07-27T18:20:00.000-07:00

What is going on here? Why are the men hanging over the water so precariously? The date is 5th May 1924, and Alderman Samuels of Manly has just driven the first pile for the first Spit Bridge.

North Steyne life-savers

2011-07-19T21:13:00.001-07:00

This postcard, taken at the Exchange Studios, Sydney shows the members of the North Steyne Surf Life Saving Club Rescue and Resuscitation team. This group of life-savers won the NSW R&R championships in 1909-1910 and 1910-11, in those days virtually the Australian championships. Over those two seasons this group won many trophies - the one they are posing with here is the "West's Pictures Shield". It is not known at which surf carnival this prize was on offer, but West's Castle Pictures cinema was located at North Steyne, Manly, not far from the Steyne Hotel. It was in business under this name between 1910-1912, suggesting that the photograph was taken in the 1910 or 1911 season.

Each of the men in this photo was in the group from the North Steyne club who were awarded the first ever twenty Bronze Medallions of the Surf Life Saving Association on 3rd April 1910. Several of them fought in World War One, and J Vernon was killed in 1917. Ozzie Merrett, in the centre of the photo, went on to become the team manager of the successful Australian Olympic Games team in 1924.

John MacRitchie

Fairlight House

2011-07-13T18:25:00.001-07:00

This postcard view shows Fairlight House circa 1912-13, and indicates what a superb view its various owners would have had looking from its central tower out to the Heads. Unusually it shows the house from the rear, giving an idea of its various outbuildings. The house originally stood on some 37 acres of land when it was built in 1859-60, but this had begun to be encroached upon by the time the photo was taken. The owners from 1910 onwards were the MacIntyre family of graziers, who had large property interests in Queensland. Fairlight House was demolished in 1939 and the land subdivided.

Roll Up, roll up!

2011-07-05T21:51:00.000-07:00

The circus came to Manly on a regular basis in the 1920s and 1930s. There were several recognised locations where they could pitche their tents. This photo shows the Big Top of Ivan Brothers' "Top of the World" International Circus, which visited Manly in February 1936. The location is in the vicinity of present day Cove Avenue, which at that time was still undeveloped land. The photo appeared in the Manly Daily Pictorial, a weekly put out by the Manly Daily newspaper, price one penny.

The Ivan Brothers' Circus featured bareback riders, acrobats, "daring aerialists" and clowns, and ran twice a day, matinee and evening. The acts included The Peerless Duttons, a family act; Charlie Mitchell the clown; Maida and Ernesto Perez, equilibrists; and The Seven Damnati Arabs, an acrobatic troupe.

There appears to be an old gypsy caravan parked in front of the tent, to add to the general glamour.

Rare photo of the Brighton

2011-06-28T22:28:00.000-07:00

The ferry Brighton had a chequered career. Launched on the Clyde in 1883, she took up service on the Sydney to Manly run. On 7th August 1900, she collided with the collier S S Brunner near the Sow and Pigs reef, on the ferry's last trip of the day to Manly. As a result of a navigation error later ascribed to the ferry's master, the Brunner struck the Brighton just forward of the paddle box, causing water to flood into the torn hull. The ferry's master immediately ran for nearby Chowder Bay and managed to ground her. The photo shows the result of the incident.

Luckily, no one was injured and after repairs the ferry was soon back in service. Our thanks to Lynne Westbury for donating this photo to our collection, and to Bill Allen for help in identification.

John MacRitchie 2011.

Mayor Fletcher

2011-06-20T21:26:00.000-07:00

As research progresses, more is becoming known about some of the early Mayors and Aldermen of Manly - Mayor William Fletcher, for example.

William Horner Fletcher was born in 1851 in Auckland, New Zealand, where his father, Rev Joseph Horner Fletcher was the headmaster of Wesley College. They were descendants of a close associate of John Wesley, William Horner.

The family moved to Brisbane, where William went to Ipswich Grammar School, and then to Sydney, where his father was Principal of Newington College. Joseph Fletcher was a pioneering devotee of rugby, and arranged for the first inter-school game of rugby in Australia, between Newington College and the King's School. William too was a keen sportsman, and played as 'quarter back' for the Waratah rugby club in the 1870s. He became the first secretary of the Southern Rugby Football Union in 1874. He was also secretary of the Sydney Amateur Athletic Club for a time. As a young man he was capable of strenuous feats - on one occasion he canoed alone from Penrith to Broken Bay, taking six days for the trip.

William became an accountant, and was admitted as a partner in the firm of David Fell and Co. In 1887 he married Miss Louise Moore, whose father Lewis Moore owned the large house Tramore in Darley Road, Manly. They set up home in the same street at Erlsdon, very near to Tramore.

He was elected to Manly Council and became Mayor in 1899 and 1900. His main concern while in office was to apply himself to the Council's accounts, to ensure that Manly Council did not require any form of Government subsidy over the period. He was also a founder and treasurer of Manly Cottage Hospital, and a considerable fund-raiser for the hospital.

On leaving Manly in 1919 he was presented with an illuminated testimonial from Manly Methodist Church. In retirement he lived at Neutral Bay, and served on the council of Newington College, Stanmore. He appears to have been one of the most likeable of Manly's Mayors. He died in 1931, aged 79, and a prize in his name was instituted at Newington College.

John MacRitchie

Crossing dry-shod

2011-06-13T22:59:00.000-07:00

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.

Reeling along

2011-06-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

This lovely image comes from Mr C W Byrnes of Tuggerah, who found it in a box of glass negatives dating from the 1910s. It appears to be located at Narrabeen, prior to a surf life-saving carnival. The carrier has half a dozen surf reels loaded on his cart - the names of the Manly and Dee Why Life Saving Clubs can be seen. They would have been pretty heavy, and it would have taken a good strong horse to haul them. The carter, we think, is Mr Peter Seymour, whose yard was in Golf Parade, Manly.

Everybody inhale

2011-05-25T16:33:00.000-07:00

I remember standing behind one of these vehicles as a boy and taking a deep breath as the freshly laid tarmac was compressed. These shots were taken in Sydney Road, Manly, in circa 1960. I don't know what the correct name for the vehicle is - is it a road-roller? - or who the manufacturer was. But I bet you could hear it from a hundred yards away.

Ashburner Street flats

2011-05-16T17:36:00.000-07:00

Surveying the pasing scene, a boy perches on the gatepost outside Valentia Flats in Ashburner Street, Manly, in June 1936.

The photograph also shows The Checkers and The Astor flats. The verandahs of The Checkers are not closed-in, but heavy canvas blinds can be seen, which would have allowed for the verandah area to be used as a sleep-out.

Disruption to traffic and damage to the road surface caused by the Norfolk Island pine trees in the street was a problem for the Manly Council Engineer at this period. The photo was taken to indicate if there was a need to remove any of the trees.

John MacRitchie.

A Vision for the Corso

2011-05-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

The National Library's Trove database now includes issues of the Illustrated Sydney News, which are an excellent source of contemporary pictures. The drawing above comes from its issue of 15 March 1886, p20, and shows shops in course of erection for the Anglo-Australian M L & F Company at Manly. The development was on the west side of the Corso. The architects were a young Melbourne pair, Richard Loweish and Frederick Moorhouse. This would have been a significant commission for them, and an important development in the streetscape of the Corso. It is good to know when the scheme was completed and who the architects were.

With the exception of the two shops to the right of the group, the facades of the others and four of the original stone chimneys have survived, 125 years on. The shops have had a multitude of uses over the years. At time of writing, the surviving shops are occupied by clothing and surf stores: All, Diva, Cotton On, Platypus, Sportsgirl and Big Swim. The two shops to the left of the group were for many years occupied by the well-known estate agents, Robey, Hanson and Strong.

Waratah Street

2011-05-09T21:10:00.001-07:00

Waratah Street in Fairlight was first subdivided in the 1920 Golden Dawn Estate subdivision. Property owners in the street asked Manly Council for assistance with beautifying the street's nature strip in the late 1940s, and the result was the display of palms seen in this 1949 photograph.

No buts

2011-05-02T18:29:00.000-07:00

In 1943, the world was in flames. Police in Manly had their hands full, too. The Sydney Morning Herald reported (10 July 1943): "A goat the Manly police took into custody has been released on a 'good behaviour' bond."

For some days the goat had been Manly's greatest nuisance. It wandered about the streets, climbed into buses, went into shops, and stole food. Finally an exasperated shop-owner dragged it off to the police station. The goat was tied up in the police yard until the owner claimed it.

"Manly police believe they made history by taking a goat into custody for the first time in NSW," concluded the Herald. Was it taught a lesson by its time behind baaaas?

Lord and Lady Mountbatten at Manly

2011-04-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

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.

Beware the giant soccer ball

2011-04-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

Mr Tom Miles has forwarded this clever photo of the cylindrical gasometer at Balgowlah Road, taken in 1978. In 1964 the gasometer was painted to resemble a giant golf ball, and the paint job lasted into the 1970s, but by the time this photo was taken, it had reverted to an unpainted condition. Disconcertingly, it now resembled a giant soccer ball. You can imagine the keeper facing into the glare when a corner came over from his right. Perhaps that's why he is wearing the bunnet. Mona Vale United is one of the teams playing here in a Premier League game at the L M Graham Reserve.

Ena Gregory of Manly

2011-04-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

Strikingly beautiful Ena Gregory was one of the first Australian actresses to make a career in Hollywood. She was the daughter of Arthur and Jessie Gregory, who married in 1901. Ena's birth was registered at St Leonards, Sydney in 1907. Internet sources invariably give her date of birth as 18 April 1906, which is curious.

By 1915 the Gregory family were living at 'Sans Souci', 48 Sydney Road, Manly, on the block between Birkley and Parkview Roads. Ena may well have attended Manly Village School. her father journeyed overseas on business, including to California. Ena, a precocious child talent, followed in his footsteps. She made an impression on Hal Roach, who cast her in numerous two-reel features, including a very early Stan Laurel movie, The Soilers, in 1923, when she can only have been 15 or 16. Success came with The Calgary Stampede (1926), which was advertised in Australia as featuring "Ena Gregory of Manly". She then appeared in The Bushranger (1929), the first "all-Australian" movie to be made in Hollywood, which also involved the brothers Frank and Snowy Baker. However this film was widely panned.

She was advised to change her name, and became 'Marion Douglas', the name a blend of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, two of the most powerful figures in Hollywood. Movies in which she appeared as Marion Douglas included Shepherd of the Hills (1928) and Aloha (1931).

She featured in a diminishing number of movies in the early 1930s. In a turbulent personal life she married and divorced twice. She quit the business, and became a real estate agent instead.

She died at Laguna Beach, California, on 13 June 1993.

Turn Back Time

2011-04-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

If you have been watching the entertaining series Turn Back Time: The High Street on ABC, you may be hankering for some of the old-fashioned customer service which shops used to provide - weighing out the goods, bagging them up, and delivering them to your home. These two photos, taken around 1965, show Mr Eric Jones and his grocery store at 26 Darley Road, Manly. Mr Jones began his store in the mid 1920s, and it was still going strong into the early 1980s. The shop is vividly remembered by many of his former customers. Pictuerd outside the shop are Ken Jones, Eric Jones and Rodney Nicholson.

John MacRitchie

A place of healing

2011-03-31T15:56:00.000-07:00

Several private hospitals and nursing homes have been located in Manly over the years. The proximity to sea-bathing facilities and fresh air made Manly a popular choice among convalescing patients, particularly in the period following World War One. One of the best-known of these private hospitals was St Ronan's Private Hospital, which started up in about 1903, on Ocean Beach (North Steyne). In its early days it was owned by the Misses Le Mesurier, who offered maternity and convalescent care. Records in the State Archives show that by the 1910s St Ronan's was permitted to conduct medical, surgical and midwifery treatment, and could accommodate 14 patients. Miss Ada Black was resident masseuse. The hospital probably took its name from the British spa destination, St Ronan's Well, popularised by Sir Walter Scott's novel of that name.

One baby born at St Ronan's, on 24th May 1916, was Arthur Roden Cutler, who was later to become Sir Roden Cutler, Governor of New South Wales, winner of the Victoria Cross. Among those whose last days were spent at St Ronan's were the politician Ernest H Farrar, MLC, and the cricketer Reginald Wood. Wood was an Englishman who played cricket for Victoria, and was capped by England in their touring Test team of 1886/87. He died of alcoholic poisoning at St Ronan's in 1915, and was buried in Manly Cemetery. A finely-researched biography of him, Finally a Face, was published by sporting historian Philip Paine.

The hospital moved from its North Steyne position in circa 1934, to a new location in the house formerly known as Stancombe, on the corner of Osborne and Addison Road, Manly. It closed its doors in 1963.

Thanks to John Morcombe for the loan of the rare postcard showing St Ronan's in its heyday.

John MacRitchie, 31 March 2011.

2011-03-23T19:21:00.000-07:00

Researcher Dawn Coleman has been in touch to ask what information we have about water skiing in Manly. As Dawn Bancroft, she was one of Australia's top female water skiers in the 1950s, and was Australian champion in 1952. She enclosed this lovely photo taken in January 1952. It shows Marie Higgs, Lyris McIntosh and Dawn Bancroft performing a stunt at the Manly Mardi Gras Festival, where they were one of the star attractions. Marie Higgs was Australian champion in 1953. Manly was also the home base of Betty Leighton, several times Australian champion in the 1950s, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Australian Water skiing and Wakeboarding Foundation earlier this year.

Both Manly Cove and Manly Dam were popular venues for water-skiers. We would love to hear from anyone who has memories of water skiing at either venue, from any era.

Marine Parade, Manly

2011-03-13T16:53:00.001-07:00

It has always been a favourite activity for visitors to Manly to make their way around from South Steyne to the secluded Shelly Beach. Prior to the 1890s this involved much clambering over rocks. However when the sewerage system was nearing completion, the Council took advantage of the works to construct a broad promenade along the route. At a meeting of Manly Council on 8 January 1891 it was decided that "The extension of South Steyne towards Fairy Bower be named the Marine Parade." The Mayor arranged for seating and a two-rail fence along the seawall.

Struck by the number of visitors who made the promenade to Shelly Beach, the Council decided at its meeting of 25 April 1899 to seek permission "to erect a toll bar on the Marine Parade to Fairy Bower and Shell Beach," the proposed charge to be one penny per head. This brainwave was never going to work, and was quietly abandoned.

Various attractions have operated at Fairy Bower over the years to capitalise on the passing pedestrians. One such was Manly Winter Gardens. This limited company was registered in November 1930 with capital of a thousand pounds. It was intended to provide a miniature golf course, dance hall, amusements and catering. The venue would feature "tropical gardens". However the timing was wrong, coming as it did during the Depression. The venture only operated for a few months, before being voluntarily wound-up in May 1931.

Later, a "refined tea room" named The Tapestry Inn operated at 8 Marine Parade in the late 1940s. It was the venue for the charter meeting of the Manly Soroptimist Club in November 1949. Manly Soroptimist Club was only the third such club to be formed in Australia, and did a lot of good work in the following years.

The photo shows Marine Parade in circa early 1920s. The Marine Cafe is visible, and Fairy Bower Beach has a good expanse of sand.

Freak wave at Manly

2011-02-23T20:37:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-02-16T18:37:00.000-08:00

This 1935 Masters Chevrolet sedan delivery van was the proud possession of Leslie Harold Shaw, whose dairy served the people of Balgowlah and Seaforth in the 1930s and 40s with butter, cheese, milk, ice and other groceries. The Shaw family lived in Myrtle Street (now in North Balgowlah), and several of Leslie's children went to Balgowlah Public School - bush tracks in those days, and not too much traffic to worry about.

Balgowlah Public School changed its name to Seaforth Primary School in 1963. The only part of the original school still standing is the building now used as Balgowlah-Seaforth Library.

Thanks to John Shaw, Leslie's grandson, for the use of this photograph.

A visit from the Japanese Navy

2011-02-13T20:33:00.000-08:00

In 1906, at a concert held in the Victoria Hall in the Corso, Manly, there were some exotic guests - officers and men from the Imperial Japanese Navy, who were visiting Sydney. The Japanese visitors were greeted at Manly Wharf as they arrived by ferry, by a volley of blanks fired by the local company of volunteers. They were escorted to the Victoria Hall, where they were welcomed to Manly by Mayor E W Quirk (pictured). Their leader, Commander Ishikawa, responded, and his remarks were translated by a young Lieutenant, Seizo Kobayashi.

Lieutenant Kobayashi (1877-1962) had an extraordinary career. He visited Australia several times. In 1912, he served on the Royal Navy ship HMS Collingwood as an attache. During WWI, he was awarded the US Navy Cross, for his actions in support of the Allied fleet. After WWI he represented Japan on the committee for disposal of enemy vessels, and no doubt saw to it that Japan received her share of Germany's naval fleet.

He returned to Sydney in 1928 commanding the Idzumo, and hosted the NSW Premier, T R Bavin, to a dinner on board. He inspected the guard of honour at Government House. Clearly, he would have spoken English fluently, and the succession of diplomatic postings he undertook may well have had a deeper espionage role.

Kobayashi rose to become an Admiral in the First Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and was a Rear-Admiral during the Japanese campaign in Manchuria. From September 1936 to November 1940, he was the Governor-General of Formosa (now Taiwan), where it is reported that he carried out a policy of 'Japanization'. He must have had blood on his hands.

It must have been rare indeed for a Japanese combatant facing the US forces in WWII to have been decorated by them in WWI.

Kobayashi resigned his post of Admiral in early 1945, and attempted to lead a group of officers of uncompromising bent, the Imperial Rule Assistance Political Society, hoping to persuade the Emperor not to surrender. The defeat of Japan put an end to his political hopes.

Spit tram centenary

2011-02-06T16:45:00.000-08:00

This month marks a significant anniversary in the story of transport in Sydney, the centenary of the first tram service from Manly to the Spit and Sydney.

Several deputations to the Minister for Works from Manly Council and Manly Tramway League took place between 1901 and 1907, and finally Parliament passed The Spit to Manly Electric Tramway Act in December 1908. Work began on 12 January 1910.

The line ran from the Spit to the high ground of Balgowlah through heavy cuttings, along the ridge of Sydney Road, descending via Ivanhoe Park to level ground in Raglan Street, a journey of just over three miles. Regular services began on 9 January 1911. The track was single line, with three crossing loops (Parsley Loop, Condamine Loop and Ivanhoe Loop). Trams ran at half-hourly intervals, and it took 25 minutes to cover the distance fom the Spit to Manly.

A specially-decorated J class tramcar bedecked in greenery, with the slogan 'Advance Manly' painted on its prow, departed from the Spit terminus for Manly on the afternoon of 9th January carrying the offical party. Among the dignitaries were Dr Richard Arthur, MLA, Mr R T Ball, MLA and Dr Nash, MLC. They were met at Raglan Street, at Ivanhoe Park, by Mrs Griffiths, the wife of the Minister for Works, who cut the ceremonial ribbon with the assistance of Mayor of Manly, James Bonner. It was now possible to travel to Sydney and back by tram for 7d.

Shooting 150 years ago

2011-01-31T19:08:00.000-08:00

150 years ago, a popular reason for gentlemen to visit Manly was to take part in shooting contests. In March 1861 there was held a grand rifle match with a silver cup valued at 12 guineas the prize for the best shot. The trophy was presented by Mr Spencer H Wilson, one of the owners of the Phantom steamer.

There was a practice-ground set up under the lesseeship of a Mr Taylor, and great care was taken to prevent any possibility of an accident. Members of shooting clubs from all over Sydney came to the inaugural contest, on 30 March 1861, including members of the Newtown Company of Volunteers and the Sydney Rifle Club.

Each man took a total of nine shots, at targets at distances of 200, 300 and 400 yards, with a bull's eye counting as three points, an inner as two points, and an outer as one point. The peace of the Saturday afternoon was regularly shattered as competitors peppered the targets. The standard was not high, however. Until late in the day the scores were tied between a Mr Rodwell from Newtown, and Mr William Bagnall from Manly (pictured), each with eight points. However some late arrivals on the afternoon ferry were eager to take part, and one of them, a Mr Bishop, carried off the cup.

The enthusiasm for the contest led to regular competitions at Taylor's Rifle Butts, with prizes such as pipes and tobacco, an Enfield rifle, and silver medals on offer. Ferry advertisements began to mention the shooting contests as one of the attractions of Manly Beach.

William Bagnall was later the licensee of the Square and Compass Hotel on the Corso, between 1877 and 1885. He was an early developer in the Brookvale district.

North Narrabeen march-past team

2011-01-17T20:24:00.000-08:00

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.

Sidewalk surfing

2011-01-13T19:00:00.000-08:00

Police and civic leaders lined up to condemn “roller skate boards” in 1964. The boards, used in the brand new craze of “sidewalk surfing” were slammed as illegal, dangerous, and a menace to public safety. The Pacific Times carried an article on 10th December 1964 referring to a string of minor accidents treated at Mona Vale Hospital. At Warringah Mall, skate board riders had crashed through plate glass windows and had knocked down shoppers, and a ban had been placed on them by Mall management.
There was stated to be a “bonehead” element among the older types of rider, some of them as old as 17 or 18. Manly Council was to debate imposing a ban on skate boards at its next meeting. However, Aldermen discovered that they were powerless to cope with the situation, having only two rangers, who did not have the power to impound boards. “When the schools break up, motorists will be driving in a nightmare,” stated one Alderman, who conceded that some of the children were very clever at what they could do on a skateboard. The Council moved to ask the Department of Local Government to regulate skateboarding.

Mark Twain at Manly

2011-01-10T19:45:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-04T19:52:00.000-08:00

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.

Changes of 50 years

2010-12-29T15:52:00.000-08:00

How many changes have occurred in Manly since this photo looking over Sydney Road was taken in 1958! The boardwalk enclosing Manly Cove pool is the most lamented loss, smashed by storms in 1974. From the middle of the shot, the Hotel Manly has gone, and the bus terminus nearby. The Fun Pier carousel and amusements have gone. Further over, the Olympic Baths have gone, and at Little Manly, the Gasworks and Gasometer. The Coles site on the Corso has undergone more than one change over the period. And you may be able to spot numerous other changes.

Snake crossing

2010-12-23T17:10:00.000-08:00

The Sydney Morning Herald reported an alarming traffic hazard on 18 December 1911: “Just as a tram from the Spit had reached Balgowlah Heights on Saturday afternoon, the passengers on the front seat saw a huge brown snake bearing down the track towards them. Its quarry was a large lizard, and so preoccupied was it with the prospect of the prospective meal, that it left the tram out of its calculations. The lizard passed under the tram, and the snake, but a couple of feet behind, followed. The tram-driver, anxious to be in at the kill, pulled up short, and with some passengers, rushed back along the track. But the kill was over. The lizard escaped, so far as the tram was concerned, but the snake, 5 feet long at least, had been cut in three pieces by the wheels.”

Manly Cemetery's Man from Snowy River

2010-12-14T20:55:00.000-08:00

On 31 July 1912, 79 year-old George Henry Hedger died at his home, Langllan, Sydney Road, Manly. He was buried in plot B.608 of Manly Cemetery. Newspaper obituaries of the day stated that Mr Hedger was regarded as the model for Banjo Paterson’s poem, The Man from Snowy River. The Sun’s obituary stated “He it was who was the original upon which Mr A B Paterson penned the version which did much to make his reputation.” The Sun went on to state: “Over mountain range, down precipice, and into deep recess of ravine, over rugged acclivity and ground encumbered by rock and felled tree he rode his horse, hunted the wild mob, and by cooee, with crack of stock-whip and bark of dog, rounded in the clean-skins and unbranded beasts in a manner that astounded the new chum and puzzled all.”

George Hedger was born in Hobart, Tasmania in May 1833, and moved to the Monaro district when he was nine years old, accompanying the Crisp family. In his adulthood he made his name as a stock-rider and bushman. He settled at Matong, on the Snowy River. He sold that station and settled at Woods’ Point, Bombala. Latterly, he came to Manly, where he lived at Sydney Road from about 1908 onwards. Langllan was on the north side of Sydney Road, between West Street and Dudley Street, not far from present-day Balgowlah Park.
At the age of 70 he married Amelia Payne at Wellington, NSW, in 1903. They had children George H Hedger, born Coonabarabran, 1904; and Eva M Hedger, born Coonabarabran, 1906. It is not clear whether George had children (or indeed a wife) surviving from an earlier marriage.
At his funeral, which was taken by Rev A G Stoddart of St Matthew’s Church, Manly, it was noted that Mr Hedger had lamented the choice of Canberra as the nation’s capital - he had been of the belief that “Dalgety, or better still, Bombala was just the place for it”.
George Hedger was not the sole candidate for the honour of inspiring Paterson’s poem, and Paterson himself did not state that any one bushman was the model for his heroic horseman.

Shark Tower Dude

2010-12-05T21:59:00.000-08:00

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.

Ferry Binngarra

2010-11-29T17:21:00.000-08:00

The Manly ferry Binngarra was designed by Captain Christie of Mort’s Dock.[1] She was launched by Mrs A Howie, wife of the chairman of directors of the Port Jackson Co-operative Steamship Company in 1905. The ferry’s average speed in trials was 14 knots. She made her first trip to Manly on 29 October 1905. Her hull was fitted with five watertight bulkheads; the upper deck was open and downstairs was enclosed. She was insured for £23,000. At the time of launch, the Binngarra was the largest steamer built in NSW.
It was calculated that Binngarra ran an estimated 78,279 trips to Manly and carried 30 million passengers over 639,124 miles.
On 1 November 1905, she crashed into the stone sea wall at Circular Quay, dislodging great blocks of masonry.[2] It took the combined efforts of tugs Leveret and Hero, towing for over an hour to dislodge her. In December 1906, the Binngarra collided with the 163-ton Wallaby.
She was sold out of service in May 1933 as a store-ship, and she was towed to Port Stephens with her engines removed. She was requisitioned by the US Navy in WW2 as a cargo-carrying hull in the New Guinea region, and remarkably at this point she came under the command of a Manly man, Mr I MacGillivray-Elder of Fairlight.
He described his emotions at coming across the Binngarra at Dreger Harbour. Her superstructure had been removed, and two tall masts and derricks had been installed. Both propellers had been removed. The vessel now had considerable cargo capacity, and when properly loaded assumed an even keep and rode surprisingly well.[3] She had no anchor windlass. Her armament consisted of four ancient Browning machine-guns. “It was amazing how fond one can become of such an extraordinary ship”, he commented.
The hull was sunk at sea 18 miles off the Heads on 11 December 1946.[4]

[1] Manly Daily 19 August 1971.
[2] Manly Daily 19 August 1971.
[3] Manly Daily 7 February 1974.
[4] Manly Daily 28 October 1981, p22.

Manly 16 Foot Skiff Club

2010-11-22T22:12:00.000-08:00

Manly’s 16-foot Skiff Club has been active since the early 1920s, and its clubhouse is a familiar feature of Manly Cove. An excellent history of the Club, The Sailos, by David Hooley, came out in 1997, which tells that in season 1954-55, a works programme saw the Clubhouse fully refurbished, and a timber jetty constructed. This photograph, which Mr Don Douglas recently allowed me to copy, shows a group of members of the club enjoying the new sundeck in the summer of 1955. The Club President that season, Mr A A Marshall, was honoured with Life Membership at the AGM in August 1954.

What became of Mr Vivian

2010-11-16T19:50:00.000-08:00

In April 2009 I posted on the blog some details about Manly Alderman Walter Hussey Vivian. At that point I did not know what had happened to him after about 1902, although the State Parliament website suggested that he might have gone to South Africa. Now, thanks to the digitised Sydney Morning Herald, I have found that he died in South Africa in 1928, aged 76; a death notice appeared on 5 December 1929. After spells at Johannesburg and Durban, he had settled at Pine Town, Natal, South Africa, where he became Chairman of the Pinetown Health Board, and there is a Vivian Road in Pinetown, which I assume is named after him. His wife Ishie died in 1931. You can view their cemetery headstone on a website (eGGSA) giving details of people buried in Pinetown Cemetery. We still lack a good photograph of him, though.

Buses in Manly

2010-11-11T16:41:00.000-08:00

This photo from our collection was taken by the Manly Council engineer in May 1940. To me, it simply showed a bus in Lauderdale Avenue. However the experts at Australian Bus magazine, where the photo was reprinted in September 2006, were able to tell me that the bus was a Leyland TD-3 in the Syd Wood group, 1182-1185. It was on the 143 route to Manly District Park. The bus had just had an overhaul, and had been given red and cream livery. Its English-style headlights had been moved to the transverse bar; this was a unique feature of Sydney’s back platform double-deckers.

Enthusiasts see so much more in a photograph, don't they?
The other interesting feature of the photo is how much width of the road the bus took up – good job the traffic was light.

We would love to have more photos of Manly buses for our collection - drop us a line if you have any you would like to share.

Alderman Samuel Bennett Bailey, a 19th century hero

2010-11-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

There are several Aldermen of Manly for whom we do not have photographs. One of these mystery men is Alderman Samuel Bennett Bailey (1845-1896), who was a member of Manly Council in the late 1880s.
He was born in Cornwall, UK, the son of a builder and architect named William Bailey, who came to Sydney in 1848. William built the Catherine Hayes Hospital at Randwick and St Mary’s Church, and became Mayor of Newtown.
Samuel married Emma Green of Tamworth in 1870, at the Newtown Wesleyan Church. In April of that year, he found himself at Ulladulla at the time the ship Walter Hood was wrecked near Berrara. The wreck of the Walter Hood was a dramatic affair. In bad weather, Bailey and another man swam out in repeated unsuccessful efforts to get a line to men stranded on the wreckage of the ship. Several passengers and crew drowned before conditions abated and the rest were brought to safety. For his bravery, Bailey was awarded the silver medal of the Royal Humane Society in January 1872.
For a few years, he kept the Commercial Stores at Merriwa, NSW, before moving to the North Shore in the early 1880s. He came to Manly circa 1887, where he lived at ‘Restormel’, 4 East Promenade, built by his father (Restormel is a place in Cornwall), and practised as a land agent. He was elected to Manly Council in February 1886, with 329 votes. Shortly after, Alderman Charles Hayes was ousted from office by a decision of the Supreme Court, and Bailey was one of four Aldermen who resigned in consequence. Fresh elections were held, and he topped the poll with 381 votes. He resigned again in June 1887, perhaps because he was about to be declared insolvent.
The following year he registered a patent for “an improved medium to be used for advertising purposes” – it is not clear what this was, but it had something to do with theatrical advertisements. By 1890 he had become a journalist. He died on 15 October 1896, and is buried at Rookwood cemetery (Old Wesleyan section).
Samuel and Emma had at least seven children. One of them, Mrs Bernice Druce, wrote to the Sydney Morning Herald in 1925 to retell the story of her father’s heroism in the wreck of the Walter Hood.

The view from Cliff Street

2010-10-28T15:14:00.000-07:00

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.

Sneak thieves

2010-10-25T21:12:00.000-07:00

This postcard of Manly's Ocean Beach, taken from the vicinity of the present-day Borambil building, is of particular interest for the view over the men's dressing sheds. The dressing sheds ran for 200 yards along the southern end of the beach, and, as can be seen, were initially open to the sky. The sheds were divided into areas with lattice partitions, and pegs were provided for hanging up clothing. There were also troughs provided for washing feet after a bathe. Male sun-bathers were encouraged to sunbake inside the sheds, but this was often ignored.

Not surprisingly, the design of the dressing sheds gave ample encouragement to sneak thieves. in 1912, one of the attendants estimated that on average, one suit a day would be stolen. One thief, apprehended in the act, was told by the magistrate that his actions were contemptible, and he was given six months' imprisonment, but the thefts continued unabated. One technique favoured by the thieves was to roll up someone else's belongings in a towel, and if caught, to try to brazen it out.

It is rather surprising that the dressing sheds were quite so visible, given the prudery of the times. This photo dates from circa 1910, and by 1912, the sheds were covered over, which also kept the belongings dry in the event of a sudden shower.

The dressing sheds were not well located, and a storm over 14/15 May 1913 damaged them so comprehensively that they were demolished, and new, purpose-built accommodation was erected, opened in December of that year.

The trials of Mrs Sergeant

2010-10-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

Mrs Charlotte Sergeant, daughter of the well-known Sydney identity John Cadman, was embroiled in more than one sensational court case in her life-time. In 1862 her husband, Henry Sergeant, a master mariner, sued ferry owner Spencer Hart Wilson, for alienating his wife's affections, and claimed damages of a thousand pounds. The court case, in which Mrs Sergeant was not called to give evidence, was very fully reported in the columns of the Sydney Morning Herald. An account is given below.

Serjeant versus Wilson

A scandalous court case, of great interest to Manly residents, filled the columns of the Sydney Morning Herald in 1862. It involved master mariner Henry Sergeant and his wife Charlotte, who was the daughter of John Cadman, and ferry owner Spencer Hart Wilson. The Sydney Morning Herald of Thursday 29 May 1862, p5, reported on the first day of the case of Serjeant v Wilson, held at the Banco Court before Mr Justice Wise and a jury of four:
“The trial of this case, which commenced on Tuesday, was resumed, and the evidence on both sides closed, although the addresses of counsel and the summing up of his Honor are still to come.
It was an action by Henry Case Sergeant against Spencer Hart Wilson, for criminal conversation by defendant with plaintiff’s wife, by reason of which criminal intercourse plaintiff lost the society and assistance of his said wife, as well as the advantage of certain separate property which she had become possessed of. Damages were laid at £1000. To this declaration the defendant had pleaded not guilty.
The trial of this case has excited a great deal of interest, and the Court has been crowded to excess from first to last.
Mr Isaacs and Mr Milford appeared for the plaintiff, and Sir William Manning QC, and Mr Holroyd for the defendant.
The plaintiff in this case [Sergeant] was a master mariner, engaged in the whaling trade; the defendant [Wilson] was formerly the master, and now the proprietor of the steamer Phantom, running from Sydney to Manly Beach. The lady in question was, before marriage, Miss Charlotte Phoebe Mortimer.[1] The case opened by counsel was substantially this: that soon after his marriage with Miss Mortimer the plaintiff was obliged, in the ordinary course of his profession, to go to sea, leaving his wife behind him. On his return, he was not able for some time to find her whereabouts. Ultimately, however, he did so. After that, suspecting that there had been adulterous intercourse between her and the defendant, he made enquiries to satisfy himself of this fact and to collect evidence for the purpose of obtaining redress in a court of justice. Latterly, Mrs Serjeant had been living openly, it was asserted, as the defendant’s mistress; she had of late, under the will of her mother, had certain property settled upon defendant in trust for her separate use. This, it was submitted, was an aggravation of plaintiff’s injury, as the proceeds of such property would, as it came in the shape of cash into the wife’s hands, become the property of the husband, and would be applicable to the purposes of his household. At a later stage of the trial this branch of the argument in support of plaintiff’s claim was so far withdrawn as to amount to an admission that it ought not to form a subject of additional damages. It was suggested that defendant might rely upon some early misconduct of defendant to his wife as an extenuation of her conduct, and of his (defendant’s) own; but it was contended that this would only make the matter worse, inasmuch as, but for the interposition of the defendant, these misunderstandings might have been healed. The case, it was contended, was one in which exemplary damages ought to be awarded.
Mr Henry Kerrison James produced a registry of marriages at St Philip’s church in the year 1845, from which it appeared that the plaintiff was married to Miss Mortimer on the 25th of January in that year.[2]
John Bramwell, Custom-house agent, one of the witnesses of the marriage, stated he was acquainted with Charlotte Phoebe Mortimer, the daughter of Mrs Cadman; saw her married to Captain Serjeant; met her a few days since on the Circular Quay; had heard she lived at Manly Beach; saw her there when on duty last Queen’s birthday.
Cross-examined: Miss Mortimer was the daughter of Mrs Cadman, the wife of Mr Cadman, formerly superintendent of Government boats; Mrs Cadman kept the Steam Packet Inn, Parramatta;[3] her daughter, Mrs Serjeant, lived with her there; Captain Serjeant was at that time away whaling; believed Mrs Serjeant lived with her mother until the latter died, less than a year ago;[4] could not speak personally as to Captain Serjeant having lived with his wife. It was very soon after the marriage that Mrs Serjeant went to live with her mother; the Steam Packet Hotel was very well known and easily found, and Mrs Cadman was well known; Captain Serjeant spoke to witness about a fortnight ago about this action; he came to witness’s room at the Police Office, and asked if he (witness), knew where his (plaintiff’s) wife was living. Witness replied, “Yes, at Manly Beach.” Serjeant then inquired, if witness knew anything against his wife; witness replied, that he did not; plaintiff spoke of a case which had occurred between his wife and Mrs Isaacs at the Police Court, in which the decision was against Mrs Isaacs; he asked witness about his wife bringing Mrs Isaacs to the court; he said, that he was going to bring an action against Wilson; plaintiff said he was stopping with Mrs Isaacs.[5]
Eliza Young knew a Mrs Sergeant, living at Manly Beach, was in her service about twelve months ago. She then lived at the [Ladies’] baths; lived a servant there four and a half months; knew the defendant, Captain Wilson; had seen him at the baths; had seen him in bed with Mrs Serjeant; saw this twice, on two consecutive nights; the first occasion was about seven weeks after she went there; this was between ten and eleven pm; could not be mistaken as to the identity of either, having seen them both distinctly; this was not in the room ordinarily occupied by Mrs Serjeant, but in that known as Captain Wilson’s room; Mrs Serjeant ordinarily occupied her mother’s room; there was a light burning on the drawers in the room; Captain Wilson was almost always there; Wilson and Mrs Serjeant had their meals together, and lived all the same as man and wife; saw them in bed both nights; had heard a rumour about Mrs Serjeant, and looked in order to satisfy herself.
Cross-examined: was peeping through a window; there were no window shutters; her fellow-servant, who remained but a fortnight, was peeping with her; that servant’s name was Mary; a shawl was pinned up at the window, but no curtains; had often seen Wilson in his night-dress through the door of his room, which faced that of Mrs Cadman; witness had been known by her present name for the last seven years; her maiden name was Kilpatrick (or Kirkpatrick); told her mistress this when asked, but never passed by that name; stood upon a chair to peep through the window; left the place because Mrs Serjeant was always quarreling with her; there was nothing said about witness going out at night; had been charged with stealing; did not steal, nor confess her guilt, and ask forgiveness; declared at the time that the charge was false, which it was; the charge was made by Mrs Serjeant because witness would not go to court for her; she said she would put witness in prison if she did not bring back a written character, which she (Mrs Serjeant) had previously given her; did not confess her guilt of stealing in the presence of Captain Hutton and others; had seen some respectable persons stopping at the Manly Beach Baths; witness spoke of what she had seen, and hence the charge of stealing; witness had seen an advertisement in the papers about herself, but had not attended to it, because she would not give back the written character; did not ask Mrs Serjeant to put her (witness’s) maiden name in her character. Had never, since being charged with theft by Mr[s] Serjeant, declared that she would have revenge; did not reside at Manly Beach after leaving Mrs Serjeant’s service; it was when witness went for her box at Woolloomooloo (to which place they had removed) that the charge of theft was made against witness; Mrs Serjeant had opened her box and had taken away the mourning which she had given witness at Mrs Cadman’s death; saw Mrs Scott lately; did not tell her about the 4th of May that “she had told Mrs Serjeant on leaving she would be revenged upon her, and now the day was come.” Did not say that she was going to swear against Mrs Serjeant in the case of her husband against Captain Wilson; had been living lately at Mr Gerard Phillips’ in service; had been found out by a fellow-servant, Kate Kean, who took her to Captain Serjeant; it was quite close to Mrs Isaacs’ place that she saw him, but did not see Captain Serjeant come from thence; her fellow-servant had introduced Mrs Isaacs to her; was with Mrs Isaacs on Easter Monday, and stayed some time; Kate Kean had been fellow-servant with witness at Mrs Cadman’s, but had left before the time that witness peeped in at the window.
Re-examined: It was before Mrs Cadman died that they went to live at Woolloomooloo; Captain Wilson went to live there also, and his name was on the door on a brass plate; Mrs Serjeant told witness that Mrs Scott, who was the wife of a fireman on board the Phantom, was a bad character, and that witness was not to go near her; knew Hannah Pond, she lived with Mrs Serjeant as a servant; only told Mrs Scott that if she, witness, went into Court she would speak the truth; Mrs Serjeant never summoned witness to the Police Office for stealing; the charge was a false one; only saw Mrs Serjeant and Captain Wilson in bed together on these two occasions.
Kate Kean knew Mrs Serjeant and Captain Wilson; lived with Mrs Serjeant for about three months and a half, at the end of 1860; they were then living at the Manly Beach baths; Captain Wilson lived there; he and Mrs Serjeant behaved towards each other as man and wife; witness had slept in the room adjoining Wilson’s, and during the night had heard Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant speaking together; could not be at all mistaken as to their voices; when living with Mrs Serjeant this last time (she had lived there twice) Mrs Serjeant asked witness to make a mustard poultice for her, as she had a sore throat; next day found part of the mustard in Captain Wilson’s bed, and saw other proofs of two persons having slept there; had seen Mrs Serjeant open Captain Wilson’s letters; also had seen Mrs Serjeant get a bandbox from Madame Ponder addressed to her as Mrs Wilson; had seen her enter Wilson’s room in her night dress as Wilson was bathing, and he had been in the room while she was bathing; had seen her repeatedly enter or leave Wilson’s room in the mornings in her night dress; Mrs Serjeant’s bed often appeared as if it had not been slept in; witness had a face-ache on the night she heard the voices, and could not sleep; she told Mrs Serjeant this (that she had been awake all night) and Mrs Serjeant removed her to another room, assigning as a reason for this removal that Captain Wilson objected to eat in a room where any person slept; heard Mrs Serjeant call Wilson ‘dear’ but once; they were in the habit of walking about and going to church together.
Cross-examined: was there three months and a fortnight on the first occasion, and three months the second; it was on the first occasion, towards the latter end of 1860, that witness then heard the talking; heard this but once; there was only a lath and plaster partition between the room where witness slept and that of Captain Wilson; they were talking in an ordinary tone of voice, not particularly loud; suspected it was all wrong with Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant when she heard the voices; went back to Mrs Serjeant’s service after having been away ten months; this was in 1861; Mrs Serjeant wrote to witness and witness went back, being in bad health, and thinking it would do her good to go there; Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant appeared to be living together as man and wife when witness first resided there, yet she went back; did not go back, however, for the sake of Mrs Serjeant; the letter produced was in her handwriting; remained about two and a half months with Mrs Serjeant after the time of hearing the voices; could not distinguish any of the words uttered; mentioned her suspicions to a Miss Newton, who was staying at the house, and Miss Newton said she was well aware of it; Mrs Serjeant took the mustard poultice from witness’ hand in her (Mrs Serjeant’s) own bedroom; she appeared to be in pain, but not suffering very severely; no fault had been found with witness about stopping out at night, or drinking; was charged with stealing by Captain Mullen, of the Pier Hotel[6], but the charge was false; left the hotel in consequence and of her own accord; this was before witness went to live with Mrs Serjeant; left Mrs Serjeant’s because the latter had falsely accused her to a third person of being out at night; charged Mrs Serjeant with this, when the latter denied it; had never said she would be revenged upon Mrs Serjeant; was in the employment of Mr and Mrs Isaacs, and had been so for three months; did not tell Captain Hutton that she wished to be revenged on Mrs Serjeant; Captain Serjeant was not living at Mr Isaacs’.
Re-examined: Did not know whether Mr Isaacs was Captain Serjeant’s agent; Captain Serjeant lived at lodgings in Sydney; Isaacs had formerly resided at Manly Beach, next door but one to Mrs Serjeant; could not say whether Serjeant had met his wife there walking with Wilson; Mrs Serjeant and Wilson still resided in the same house together.
Mary Ann Mileswater:[7] Knew Mrs Sergeant; had been in her service for two months, about fifteen months ago; Mrs Serjeant’s mother was alive at that time, and they were living at the Baths house, Manly Beach; Captain Wilson also resided there; Captain Wilson slept in a room adjoining Mrs Serjeant’s; witness made both beds; Mrs Serjeant’s bed used to appear as if it had been slept in; it always appeared so; never saw anything peculiar between Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant; witness was now living with Mrs Sawkins at Manly Beach;[8] had never seen Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant go out together; saw Mrs Serjeant last Friday, but had not conversation with her; witness had now told everything she knew or had seen about Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant.
Cross-examined: Eliza Kilpatrick (who had already been examined) was hiring servant at Mrs Serjeant’s when witness was there; was not present when Kilpatrick was charged with stealing.
The will of Mrs Cadman was produced, as also an affidavit by defender as executor, for the purpose of showing that under this will Captain Wilson was made trustee for Mrs Serjeant. At the same time, all allusion to the probable fact of this property passing through the hands of defendant and being of some advantage to him was withdrawn, so far as such allusion might be treated as a reason for enhancing damages.
The goods of deceased were sworn to be under the value of £150, and the affidavit contained the usual undertaking to account, &c.
This closed the case for the plaintiff.
A paper was read bearing the mark of the witness Young or Kilpatrick, in which the letter named was used. In this she acknowledged that she therewith returned a black dress and bonnet, and promised to return a character which she had “surreptitiously obtained” from Mrs Serjeant; there was also a letter produced from the witness Kean stating her desire to go back and live with Mrs Serjeant; this was in answer to one which Mrs Serjeant had written.
Margaret O’Reilly lived with Mrs Cadman at the Steam Packet Inn, Parramatta, in 1847;[9] Mrs Serjeant was living there; had known Serjeant to live there for short periods when he came back from sea; he last lived there about twelve years ago, and since then he and Mrs Serjeant had never, witness believed, lived together. (A question as to whether plaintiff had said anything to witness about the causes of his separation was objected to, and after argument was allowed as going to the question of damages.) Captain Serjeant told witness he was not in a fit state to live with his wife; they had quarreled very much. (Evidence was gone into to show that Serjeant was afflicted with a certain loathsome disease, and raising the inference that he had imparted it to his wife.) Mrs Serjeant slept with her mother in the same room with witness, and Sergeant in another room; he used to call Mrs Serjeant bad names, and say that he would kill her if she did not live with him; she refused; she was compelled to have him up at Court; Serjeant went away, and after about three weeks’ absence came back, saying that he was quite well; Mrs Serjeant still refused to live with him, owing to something which had happened between him and her mother; heard the old lady scream once; Mrs Serjeant said she would never live with him again; heard Serjeant say he “would strip her (his wife) and take her into the street with a fig leaf before her”; also “that he had done no more than other men had done, and that she, who was no better than other women, must put up with it.” (The witness detailed a great deal of vile abuse which, as she swore, she had heard Serjeant use in reference to his wife.) Mrs Serjeant told Serjeant she would never live with him again on account of his having forgotten himself towards her mother; he only laughed; he told witness that he was a sailor, and must have a wife in every port; Mrs Cadman accused him of having attempted improper freedom with her, and said that he was a villain, and she wished her daughter had never seen him; was at the Police Office when a charge was preferred against Captain Serjeant, who was bound to the peace. (It was ruled that this could only be legally proved by the production of the proceedings.) Plaintiff was at Parramatta after that; Mrs Serjeant had him at the Police Court as well as her mother; Mrs Serjeant had to be locked up out of his reach when he came there; Mrs Cadman, after leaving the hotel at Parramatta, went to live at Balmain, where she had lodgers, respectable gentlemen; Captain Wilson boarded there; knew Mrs Cadman about a year before she died; was but once at the Manly Beach baths; Mrs Cadman took in lodgers there also; before this she was living at Waverley.
Cross-examined: Left Mrs Cadman three years before her death; only knew that Mrs Serjeant lived with her mother because Mrs Serjeant wrote to her from thence; Mrs Serjeant had lived at Manly Beach since her mother’s death, and still took in lodgers; saw several parties there, including Captain Wilson; witness was there ten days; would swear there were more than four; it was a weatherboard cottage, one of three on what was called the Corso, near the Steyne Hotel; the nearest to the hotel; Captain Wilson slept there; witness and her step-father were staying there at the same time; both slept there; there was a family there from Town’s Wharf; there were there sitting rooms in the house; Mrs Serjeant slept in the same room with witness; saw Mrs Serjeant today in town; witness lived in Singleton; arrived by the steamer on Sunday; saw Mrs Serjeant yesterday, but did not go to Manly Beach with her; they were at a house in George-street, and had tea together; witness slept there, and bid Mrs Serjeant good night about nine o’clock; saw Captain Wilson this morning about half-past eight, but did not know whether he slept there; saw Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant there; witness saw Mrs Serjeant at Mr Dawson’s (plaintiff’s attorney’s) office when going there to look for Captain Wilson, and see what she was wanted for; she had been subpoenaed; Mrs Serjeant questioned her as to her recollection; made no notes of what took place from twelve to fifteen years ago; was now nearly thirty; Mrs Cadman had a good temper; there was one gentleman who remained lodging there for about three years; with this exception the parties living there mostly came for short periods for change of air; Captain Serjeant’s mother was also living there, but only stopped, as witness believed, for a few months; she was not exactly a lodger, as she paid nothing, yet was not living there as one of the family; she (Serjeant’s mother) was away from Mrs Cadman’s when Serjeant came back; she was not turned out of Cadman’s; heard Serjeant say that she ought not to have been brought there as she could not agree with himself, and would not, therefore, agree with his wife; had not been told that Captain Serjeant could not give evidence; Serjeant often shouted out, in the presence of witness and others, as to his being ill of a certain complaint. (Witness named several such parties, but could not say whether any of them was at present to be found – among others, she named Mr Joseph Neatby, a brother of Captain Neatby of the Duncan Dunbar.) Mrs Serjeant had not told witness anything about any letters from Serjeant, or any other letters having anything to do with this case; she had merely told witness that there was some letter Mr Plunkett had which she wished she had, but did not say what the contents of this letter were; had heard many people speak well of Serjeant; had nothing herself to say against him; had never heard him complain to Mrs Cadman and Mrs Serjeant about the treatment his mother had received from them.
Re-examined: Mrs Serjeant told witness that the letter alluded to was written by her husband, and was addressed to “Mrs Cadman’s, w[hore]houses, Parramatta.”
[It was at this stage of the case that the Court adjourned until Wednesday.]
Mary Ann Bayley swore that she remembered the time when Mrs Serjeant was ill with a sore throat; witness on that occasion having been sent for; she had applied the mustard poultice, and had slept with Mrs Serjeant that night in Captain Wilson’s room, which, being a large one, he had given up to them; had known the parties many years, and had never seen anything wrong between Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant.
Cross-examined: Would never swear positively she had seen no impropriety between Captain Wilson and Mrs Wilson, either at the baths or anywhere else; was staying at Mr Cook’s, in George-street, Sydney; could not say whether Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant were there the night before last; saw him there yesterday but not before seeing him in King-street; did not see him there before ten o’clock yesterday; was not aware that Mrs Serjeant and Wilson were in the habit of residing at Mr Cook’s occasionally; had resided with Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant in the same house at Manly Beach for more than two months; there were eight or nine rooms in this house; witness could positively say that Mrs Serjeant slept with her (witness) every night, and all night long, for that period; was still, when at home, residing with Mrs Serjeant; they all came up together; Mrs Serjeant and witness went to the house of Mr Cook together; Captain Wilson did not go with them; was at tea with Mrs Serjeant at Cook’s the evening before last; Wilson was not there to tea; did not remember seeing him; this was the truth, no matter what other people might have sworn; had known Mrs Cadman since 1839, and visited her as a friend up to the time of her death. (Witness named several parties who had lodged with Mrs Serjeant at Manly Beach.) Mrs Serjeant and witness occupied a back bedroom, and Captain Wilson a front room; could most positively swear that she had never seen any impropriety of conduct between Captain Wison and Mrs Serjeant up to the present hour.
Re-examined: if there had been any such impropriety witness must have observed.
By the Judge: Could not remember who was present at tea at Mr Cook’s, the night before last; slept with Mrs Cook; saw Mrs Serjeant in the street with her servant, but did not remember seeing her before this, in the morning, at Cook’s; did not see her there; did not think Mrs Serjeant was at tea, only remembered seeing two gentlemen; breakfasted this morning with Mr and Mrs Cook and a gentleman; did not remember that there was anybody else there; did not mean to say that she could not remember what had passed an hour or two ago; Mrs Serjeant was there; did not know the name of the gentleman whom she saw there; Captain Wilson breakfasted there this morning; witness did not remember that he took tea with her last night. (This witness gave her evidence in a peculiar manner, pausing at some of the questions, answering others much too quick, and evidently trying to evade giving any answer at all to others. His Honor told her that her conduct as a witness had been disgraceful, and that he had been seriously considering whether it was not his duty to commit her.)
Hannah Pond: Had been in the service of Mrs Serjeant; entered her service about five years since; was there first two years; after an absence of two months went back again; after nine months left, and again after a short absence went there again, and had remained there for the last five years, all but a few months; knew Kilpatrick, went to take her place and was there when she left; she was accused of stealing a petticoat, which witness saw taken off her; witness also found a purse in the fire, and Kilpatrick acknowledged having stolen £2 and burnt the purse; Kilpatrick fell on her knees before Mrs Serjeant, and begged “for God’s sake” that she might not be given in charge to the police, as she had paid her passage to Melbourne; and would lose it if taken into custody; Mr[s] Serjeant yielded to these entreaties, and did not give her in charge; Kilpatrick always spoke highly of Mrs Serjeant; said that she could live with Mrs Serjeant for ever for nothing, but that she knew the Captain (Wilson) “did not like her on account of her nose”; Captain Wilson came to lodge there about five weeks after witness; they always occupied separate bedrooms, and witness had free access to Mrs Serjeant’s room; had never any reason to believe that they lived together as man and wife; knew Kate Kean; she was lately living at Mrs Isaac’s place; plaintiff was living there also.
Cross-examined: Did not know where Mrs Isaacs was living now, as she moved from Manly Beach last week; when there they lived next door but one to Mrs Serjeant; witness left Mrs Serjeant for the first time because her mother was ill, not because she was ill herself, or in a condition to render working inconvenient to her[10]; there was no peculiar reason for her leaving again at the end of nine months; Ms Serjeant and witness were present when the petticoat was taken off Kilpatrick (witness related in detail how this occurred); Kilpatrick did not go down on her knees of this occasion, but when Mrs Serjeant was about to give her in charge; believed there were two policemen present, one an inspector; it occurred early in June last at Woolloomooloo, in Dowling-street; did not know whether Mrs Cadman’s name or that of Captain Wilson was on the door; often went out on messages, but generally by the back door, sometimes by the front door; must have seen the brass plate on these occasions; used to clean it occasionally, yet could not say whether the name of Captain Wilson or that of Mrs Cadman was on the door; the investigation about the stealing took place in the evening, about seen or eight o’clock; Wilson was there on this occasion; witness did not mention that fact before, because she had not been allowed time to do so. Captain Hutton, of the Phantom was present, also Scott, her engineer, and Begar, the pumpman; likewise Rose O’Reilly, a visitor (sister to the witness O’Reilly examined yesterday); the house at Manly Beach contained six rooms, besides a pantry, a bath-room, kitchen, witness’s room, and a scullery; knew Margaret O’Reilly; she had been up as a visitor many times; when last there she slept with Mrs Serjeant; Wilson was there then; believed there were no families stopping there at that time; could not say precisely when this was; it was not possible that there could have been two families there at that time without witness remembering it; knew Margaret O’Reilly’s father; he had been stopping at the house three months ago; only remembered Margaret O’Reilly being at Manly Beach once.
Re-examined: Did not leave Mrs Serjeant’s because she was ill, nor was she ill while she was away; has never been in the family way.
Re-cross-examined: The house in Dowling-street contained five rooms and a kitchen.
By the Judge: Was at Manly Beach last night – not at Mr Cook’s.
James Hutton, master of the steamer Phantom: Had been master for eighteen months, and mate of her for a similar period before this; knew Captain Wilson and Mrs Sergeant well; saw them often, having a good deal of business to transact with both parties; never saw the slightest impropriety between them; had seen Eliza Kilpatrick; she never said anything to witness about Mrs Serjeant; Kate Kean told witness, “she would have her revenge on Mrs Serjeant”; was present on one occasion when Mrs Serjeant accused Kilpatrick of theft; two pounds had been stolen. (The further pursuit of this line of examination was objected to and ruled by the Judge to be inadmissible, as affecting only a collateral issue, the guilt or innocence of Kilpatrick.) Believed the witness Pond was present on that occasion, but was not sure of it, as there were several persons present; remembered Kean being a servant at the Baths; knew where Captain Wilson slept there; had often been in his bedroom when he was in his bed, and even asleep; their business relations rendered this necessary. (Witness pointed out on a plan of the Baths the two rooms which Wilson had occupied.) Had occasion to enter Wilson’s bedroom at all hours, late at night and early in the morning; never found any one there with him; used to enter the building by the hall, knock at Wilson’s bedroom door, and at once enter; believed the wall dividing Wilson’s bedroom from the next to be of stone; it was a stone building, and witness believed all the dividing walls to be stone, but was not a mason, and could not be sure.
By the Judge: In the winter, after Kean had left, saw Wilson in another room, but could not quite remember which.
Cross-examined: Had known Captain Wilson three years; first knew him at Waverley; Mrs Cadman and her daughter were living there also; the same at the Baths and in Forbes-street; in these places Mrs Cadman’s name was on the door; they next lived in the same house in Dowling-street, and Wilson’s name was on the door; he next lived on the Corso, Manly Beach; Mrs Serjeant lived there also; knew the house on the Corso; it contained four bedrooms and two sitting-rooms, with kitchen and out-offices, &c; some lady visitors stopped there; never knew the witness Kilpatrick by any other name; this was the one she went by; Mrs Serjeant had never asked witness to take any article of dress from Kilpatrick.
Re-examined: Did not know of lodgers at Waverley; at the Baths and in the house on the Corso there were lodgers; the house in Forbes-street was not exactly a lodging-house, although friends might have stopped there; Mrs Cadman died there.
By the Court: Witness used to act as providore for the establishment at the Manly Beach baths, and was paid by Mrs Serjeant.
By Mr Holroyd: Had seen Captain Wilson draw a cheque and give it to Mrs Serjeant.
By Mr Isaacs: Brought these things for the Baths in the Phantom; charged no freight; would charge freight to any one else; the Phantom belonged to Captain Wilson.
Charles Cook: Was shipping reporter to the Sydney Morning Herald, and had been so for many years; had been a frequent visitor at the house of Mrs Cadman, and, since her death, at that of Mrs Serjeant; had observed noting in the intercourse between Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant but ordinary friendliness – such as he might see between friends and visitors at his own house – the ordinary courtesies of social intercourse; was a married man, but had no family; believed there were other lodgers in the house with Captain Wilson, but could not swear it.
Cross-examined: Mrs Cook was residing with witness, at 9, Lower George-street.
By the Judge: Captain Wilson was at witness’s house, and slept there the night before last; not having been at home last night, could not say whether Wilson slept there then or not; Mrs Sergeant was stopping there also.
John Scott, fireman of the Phantom steamer: Knew Eliza Kilpatrick, and had had conversations with her on two or three occasions (a question as to something which Kilpatrick had said to this witness was objected to and overruled, no ground having been laid for it in Kilpatrick’s cross-examination.)
Cross-examined: Remembered last year an alteration in the stopping place for the Phantom for the night; at the end of the summer she was kept for the night at Woolloomooloo; she had previously been kept all night at Manly; it was then that Captain Wilson came to reside in Sydney; she had since been kept at Manly, and Captain Wilson resided there, but had been away for a time at Waverley; knew Mrs Serjeant; she had no office in connection with the Phantom, as stewardess or otherwise.
Emma Scott, wife of the last witness: Knew Captain Wilson and Captain Sergeant; had a conversation with Captain Serjeant on the 28th March; saw him at Mrs Isaacs; he told witness that he did not intend to live with his wife any more, and that he had sent a letter to her twelve years ago, addressed “to Mrs Phoebe Serjeant, care of Mrs Cadman, w[hore]shop, Parramatta”; could not swear that he said any more on that day; he said on this or some other occasion that he should never have troubled his wife any more but that Mrs Isaacs wrote to him at Twofold Bay, to tell him that his wife had a case against her, and asking him to come up and stop it; he said that he wanted to get a divorce, and that he would sue Captain Wilson, in order to get one; he wanted to make Wilson pay the expenses, he said, as they would be very great; he told witness that when he came home thirteen years ago, Mrs Serjeant came to him and asked him to go to bed with her; he replied, no; that “Anderson had given her enough without him”, and that “he had been told by a person whom he believed, that he had seen Mrs Serjeant and Anderson together on a sofa”; also that Mrs Serjeant “had sued him and that she had robbed him of every penny he was possessed of, and had him bound to the peace”; knew Eliza Kilpatrick; saw her last Sunday three weeks in Woolloomooloo-street; she said, speaking of Mrs Serjeant, that “she would have revenge on the wretch for the way she had served her”; that “she would swear that she had seen her and Wilson in bed together”; that she “did not care what she swore, as she had been told that the names of the witnesses would not appear in the papers”; had been twice to Mrs Isaacs’ house at Manly, where Captain Serjeant was; both he and Mrs Isaacs asked her to be a witness; she refused, saying she did not wish to appear in the cause. Mrs Isaacs said she did not care, as they had enough of witnesses; before this they had asked her to stop in the house, saying she should be at no expense; Kate Kean was present when Captain Serjeant told witness about the letter; he said he had got Kean as a witness, and Kean said she was going as one; had had several conversations with Serjeant; he told witness he had never kept a woman, but had been with women; went to Mrs Isaacs on 20th March because Kate Kean came for her.
Cross-examined: The conversation about keeping women arose from Kate Kean saying it had been said he had kept a woman and had children by her; Captain Serjeant was a perfect stranger to witness till she saw him at Isaacs’ house; witness had no reason to suppose that Serjeant knew anything about her; upon this slight acquaintance it was that Serjeant was thus communicative; was certain that Kate Kean was present part of the time; Kate Kean was only a servant, and had to go in and out; listened to what the man said, but said little – just yes or no, as the case required; did not join in the conversation; was the wife of the last witness, John Scott; was at present living at Woolloomooloo; Scott was living in the same house; went back three weeks ago; had before that been walking with a man; he did not name the man or accuse her of anything else; her husband struck a man, but this man had not been walking with her; came up from Manly Beach on Easter Monday night; did not sleep at Mrs Isaacs’ that night, or go there at a late hour; had been married four years to Scott; her maiden name was Emma Evans; had never been known by any other name; would swear it; did not know Mr Cook, who was examined last; Kean was present at two conversations with Captain Serjeant; she was present when Serjeant spoke about the letter, as also when he said he was going to enter an action against Wilson, and make him pay the expenses; Mrs Isaacs was also present; this was about the 6th of April.
Sir William Manning tendered the evidence of John Scott to discredit the testimony of Kate Kean, by showing that she had spoken of an intention to have revenge on Mrs Serjeant. His Honor rejected this evidence after argument, because no ground had been laid by questioning Kean as to time, place and circumstances.
Charles St Julian stated that he had known Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant both before and since Mrs Cadman’s death; during Mrs Cadman’s lifetime they lived in the next house to witness at Waverley for more than a year; they had lodgers there; this was somewhere about two years ago; was not sure as to dates; had visited their house. (A question as to whether this witness had observed any impropriety in the conduct towards each other of Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant was objected to and over-ruled, upon the grounds of any evidence of this class being too general and remote to have a material bearing on the issue. It was quite consistent, it was held, with these parties being criminal in the manner spoken of by plaintiff’s witnesses that they might have been so careful in their ordinary demeanour towards each other as to create no suspicion of impropriety upon visitors or neighbours.)
William Teale, solicitor: Had resided in March last at Mrs Serjeant’s house at Manly Beach, with his wife, family and servant; the house contained five or six rooms on a ground floor with out-offices at the back. (Witness described the internal arrangements of the house. A question as to witness’s observation of Mrs Serjeant and Captain Wilson’s conduct was objected to on the ground of its being of the same general character as that already rejected, and because this witness being a lodger the parties – keeping a lodging house – would naturally be cautious before himself and family, even if guilty. His Honor having consulted with the Chief Justice rejected this evidence for the reasons already stated, and of its being quite consistent with the truth of the plaintiff’s case. His Honor stated that the Chief Justice was of a different opinion, but decided on his own opinion wholly, holding that the parties were entitled to his decision at nisi prius according to that opinion.)
Mary Wheeland:[11] Was at Mrs Cadman’s house for a month, last year, as servant to a lodger; the witness Eliza Young, or Kilpatrick – witness did not know her surname – was there at that time; witness’ name was Mary; never peeped through a window with Eliza, nor was ever told anything by Eliza about Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant; had heard Eliza say how kind Mrs Serjeant had been to her; Captain Wilson was there at the time; he and Mrs Serjeant had separate rooms; Mrs Serjeant’s was the same room as Mrs Cadman’s (witness described the situation of the two rooms); was there as nurse to Mrs Fitzgerald; had very little conversation with Eliza; only occasionally, in the yard; Kate Kean was not there at the same time as witness; there was no other servant there but Eliza all the while witness was there; at the window in Captain Wilson’s bedroom, there were curtains of white calico, thick muslin and green chintz; the windows of this room were not near the ground; the bed was in a corner of the room over one of the baths, and near the window; the head of the bed was close under the window; the bed was about three feet wide; did not remember anything about a chest of drawers being there.
Cross-examined: Went to Mrs Cadman’s on the 1st of May; witness had no doubt about the date, or about the time; was sure of this; was frequently in Captain Wilsons’ bedroom; went there to seep it up; the children were about the house; there was no other nurse; there were seven of these children, three small, aged about five, seven, and ten; the next in age was sixteen; had swept out Captain Wilson’s room at the request of Mrs Serjeant; could not say how often; had never measured the bed or laid down upon it; would swear Kate Kean was not there at this time; had seen Kate at Manly Beach; when there went to different places; had been to Mrs Serjeant’s; not recently; Mrs Serjeant brought witness the subpoena at home – her mother’s house at North Harbour; witness left Mrs Fitzgerald about August and had never since left her mother’s house; Mrs Serjeant knew where witness was, because her mother used to take vegetables, &c, to Manly; witness did not know Mrs Serjeant before going to live at the baths; Mrs Serjeant did not speak to witness about this case until the week before last; she said nothing to witness when she came with the subpoena; had told no one what evidence she could give; had seen plaintiff’s attorney outside the court today; had never been to his office; was positive she had never told any one what evidence she could give; saw Kate Kean about three months ago; she was stopping with Mrs Isaacs; dusted the blinds of Captain Wilson’s room; had been a housemaid; dusted the curtains every morning; when witness was doing this, at Mrs Serjeant’s request, Eliza was cooking; Mrs Fitzgerald knew that witness did these things; was sure there was no other servant there; did these services when she had time, and not at any particular hours; witness had one child, now a month old; was not a married woman; was never in Mrs Serjeant’s employment.
Re-examined: Was a native of Sydney, and had been about North Harbour a long time; swept out other rooms besides Captain Wilson’s; Mrs Serjeant had but one servant, who was chiefly engaged in cooking, and witness helped about the house, with Mrs Fitzgerald’s consent; had known Mary Anne Mileswater from a child; knew she was living once with Mrs Serjeant, before witness went there.
John Scott was again called to speak as to the witness Young, or Kilpatrick, having begged pardon for stealing, &c. The evidence, however, was again rejected.
The case for the defence was then closed, and evidence was gone into in reply.
Mr Dawson, defendant’s attorney: Did not know when Mrs Cadman died; believed it was about twelve months ago.
Kate Kean recalled: Knew Mrs Emma Scott; had never been present at any conversation at Mr Isaacs’ between her and Captain Serjeant when Mrs Isaacs was also present; only remembered one occasion when Mrs Scott came and proferred herself as a witness for Captain Serjeant; did not hear Captain Serjeant say to Mrs Scott “That he would never live with his wife, &c”. (This witness specifically denied having been present when any of the language said by Mrs Scott to have been used, in witness’ presence, by Serjeant, had been, in fact so used.) Witness never said to Serjeant, in Mrs Scott’s presence, that she had heard of his keeping a woman, and having children by her; no such conversation ever passed; witness never went to ask Mrs Scott to become a witness for Captain Serjeant.
On reference to defendant’s affidavit it was found that Mrs Cadman’s death was stated by him to have taken place on the 22nd May.[12] This was relied upon as contradicting the evidence of the witness Wheeling [sic, Wheeland].
Eliza Young was recalled, and contradicted the account given by Hannah Pond, of the taking from her (witness) of a stolen petticoat. She also denied having ever been accused by Mrs Serjeant, in the presence of two constables, of stealing. She further denied having vowed revenge against Mrs Serjeant.
Cross-examined: The chest of drawers in Captain Wilson’s room was by the side of the bed, and the ladder near the window over a bath; the bed and the bath under it were next a doorway which was closed; could not say whether it was a fixed or a movable bath; did not know how the baths were placed; witness was seldom in the house; they would not allow her there; witness was cook; there was another servant there as housemaid; did not know anything as to how the baths were supplied with water; could not give the surname of her fellow servant Mary, whom she had before named; she remained but a few days; there were so many servants there while witness was in the house. Mrs Serjeant used to quarrel with her servants, and used to refuse to allow them to go to Sydney in the Phantom.
Re-examined: Knew Mary Wheeling, who was there with Mrs Fitzgerald; remembered Mrs Cadman’s death; it was probably about a month after Mrs Fitzgerald was at Manly Beach and Mary Wheeling with her; Mrs Cadman was buried on the Queen’s Birthday.
Further cross-examined: Mr Fitzgerald was there just before Mrs Cadman’s death; Mary Wheeling was there at the same time when Mr[s] Cadman was there; Mrs Cadman and Mrs Serjeant came to Sydney in about a fortnight, and left Mrs Fitzgerald behind.
Part of a written character, given by Mrs Serjeant to this witness, after her mother’s death, and dated “June” was placed in evidence.
Joseph Neatby, brother of Captain Neatby, of the Duncan Dunbar: Was acquainted with Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant; was on friendly terms with them; knew Captain and Mrs Serjeant at Parramatta; Captain Serjeant never, as witness believed, said in the presence of witness that he was diseased and unfit to cohabit with his wife, or anything else of this kind; never heard him say that he had sent a letter to his wife addressed in the manner mentioned by the witness O’Reilly; knew Margaret O’Reilly; when witness was there, and heard them having any words, he always went away.
Cross-examined: Was present one occasion at a quarrel; it was on a Sunday morning, at breakfast, Serjeant and Mrs Serjeant quarreled; he threw a piece of meat at her, and witness seeing this went away; had heard some slight quarrels besides this, but no other serious one; had lost sight of Serjeant since he went to sea about twelve years; witness had also been absent about eight years.
Re-examined: Neither Mr nor Mrs Serjeant were of a peculiarly amiable temper; there was “just a pair of them”, in witness’s opinion.
This closed the case in reply. All that remains to be done is for counsel to address the jury, and for his Honor to sum up. The trial will be resumed at ten o’clock this (Thursday) morning.

SMH 30 May 1862 reported on the second day’s (Thursday’s) proceedings.
“The trial of this case (the details of which were reported in yesterday’s Herald) having been resumed,
Sir William Manning, QC stated that it would be very conducive to the ends of justice if the jury, or some of them, were to go to Manly Beach and view the baths, so as to see the position of the bedroom spoke of by the witness Young, and to judge whether it was possible that she could have looked through the window, and seen the bed, &c, as she had sworn.
His Honor enquired whether any formal application for such a view was to be made.
Sir William Manning then made such an application, and intimated in reply to a question from His Honor, that the defendant would bear any expense which might be occasioned by this view.
Mr Isaacs offered no application on the part of the plaintiff, but suggested as amicus curiae that there was no precedent for such an application being made and complied with, after the evidence on both sides had been closed.
His Honor was of opinion that this application ought to have been made on the first day of the trial, as it was on that day that the evidence as to looking into the window had been given, and defendant must have known how far, if at all, this could be rebutted by an actual view of the premises.
Sir William Manning stated that such a view had only been rendered necessary by the evidence of Young [Kilpatrick] on the previous evening as to the position of the bed, and the uncertainty of her testimony as to whether or not the bath over which it stood was a fixture.
After some further discussion:
His Honor left the matter wholly to the jury. Under ordinary circumstances, he said he should not have allowed a view at this stage of a case, but in this kind of action there was one circumstance which ought, perhaps, to weigh strongly with a jury, and to induce them to use every effort in order to arrive at the truth. It was this. They were in this, as in all actions of like nature, trying a question which vitally affected the character of a woman who could not be examined as a witness, and who had no opportunity whatever of defending herself. In England, the action for criminal conversation had been abolished, and in the proceedings which had been substituted both the accused woman and the man with whom she was charged with having committed adultery could be examined.
The jury, after further consultation, intimated their opinion that it would be better for them to see the premises.
A view was therefore ordered, and the case was further adjourned until ten o’clock on Friday morning.
The third and final day of the case (Friday) was reported in SMH 31 May 1862, p5-6:
The trial of this case was resumed and concluded. It was an action for criminal conversation, commenced on Tuesday. The evidence was closed on Wednesday, and was reported in Thursday’s Herald. On Thursday, the Judge, jury and counsel went to view the premises at Manly Beach, as to which a good deal of evidence had been given. Sir Wiliam Manning now addressed the jury for the defence, Mr Isaacs replied, and His Honor summed up. The addresses of both counsel were very able and eloquent. That of Sir William Manning occupied about three hours, and that of Mr Isaacs about four, while the summing up of the Judge took up about forty minutes. The following is an outline of these addresses:-
Sir W Manning QC said that, although twenty-five years in the profession, he had never before been concerned in or present at a trial of this nature, and it was fortunate for the community that they were thus uncommon. He contended that the whole course of the plaintiff’s conduct went to confirm the story told by the witnesses O’Reilly and Scott. According to his own showing he had never been near his wife – who was easily found – nor had he sought in any way to assert his right as a husband for over eleven years. For nearly ten years of this time, as was clearly proved on the one side and not denied on the other, she had been decently living with her mother. Had he any of the affection of a husband, he would during this period have offered her the protection which as a wife she had a right to expect and to claim from him. It was clear, therefore, that there must have been some irreparable breach occasioned by the husband’s own misconduct as was proved by the evidence of these two witnesses. To a man who had been guilty of conduct so gross, and who had been brutal enough to attempt an act of indecency with her own mother, it was impossible that even a wife could again extend the right hand of friendship. He had obviously felt this from the first, and had abandoned all thought of her until by the death of her mother she had come into the possession of some property. All he sought, therefore, was, not to secure her companionship, but to blast her character, in order that he might put money into his own pocket. The fact of a husband being able to bring an action by placing a money-value upon the loss of his wife’s honour had been felt in England to be so monstrous that this species of action had been wholly abolished. A husband who believed that his wife had committed adultery must there sue for a divorce, when both the woman and the man with whom she was charged with having had criminal intercourse could be examined. Here neither of them could be heard. It might doubtless be that the admission of this evidence would lead to perjury, still a jury could judge of this by the demeanour of the witnesses, and it was most fair and honest that the truth should be thoroughly sifted by every possible means. A man against whom such a charge as this was brought would suffer, perhaps, but little in the estimation of the world at large. Offences of this kind on the part of men were but too lightly thought of. But it was the reverse with the woman. Her character was blasted for ever; and yet a woman so situated was unable to take any step or to say one word in her own defence. She could not retain counsel. She could not speak to one of her own sex as to the evidence about to be given, or even serve a subpoena without being charged with taking the part of a paramour against her husband. It was a circumstance peculiarly suspicious that the plaintiff had not taken any steps to obtain compensation for his injured honour until after Mrs Cadman’s death. It was probably not until then that – perhaps excited by Mrs Isaacs – he had apparently thought of bringing any action at all. Not only had the wife then acquired some property which he hoped to reach, but the wife’s mother, whose evidence must have driven him from the Court in the deepest disgrace, ws gone to her eternal home. The conduct of the witness Young – as she now called herself, or Kilpatrick as she called herself when in Mrs Serjeant’s service – was, at the best, grossly indelicate. Even admitting her story to be true, it was plain that she had peeped through the window in the hope of seeing something no female of the slightest delicacy would seek to behold. She was sure, at all events, that a man – Captain Wilson – was in the room, and might be in the act of undressing. Had she simply desired from any love of virtue or justice to ascertain whether Mrs Serjeant entered Captain Wilson’s bedroom, she might have done this be watching within the house. She made no complaint of what she had seen, nor did she leave the house until long afterwards. Again, there was no such shrinking from her position as a witness in such a case, which would be certain to be shown by any decent female. She was a filthy girl, even according to her own account, and cared nothing for the notoriety which the giving of such evidence must earn for her. Again, it was in accordance with what they all knew of human nature that any servant, knowing such things of her mistress, would seek to turn that knowledge to her own advantage. Yet, there had been no attempt of this kind. A mistress, too, who knew herself to be thus guilty, would be disposed by every possible means to conciliate her servant, and to prevent exposure. Yet they found that Mrs Serjeant had not hesitated to charge this woman with theft and to threaten prosecution. They found, too, that this discarded servant, when she so earnestly prayed for pardon, made no attempt whatever to retaliate, and to secure her own immunity by hinting at what she could say about her mistress. She would certainly have done this in such a strait if that mistress had been in her power. The inspection of the room, and particularly of the position of the fixed bath over which Captain Wilson’s bed was placed, must have convinced the jury that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to see and recognize people lying in that bed, even if the window was without a blind. But this was a lodging house, and the windows of this particular room faced the beach. The character of such a house would suffer if any of the windows were left so exposed that any one looking in from that side could see a man undressing. Still more improbable would this be if people were in the habit of carrying on criminal intercourse in that room. They must have felt that any discovery of this kind would totally destroy the character of the house. They would certainly, therefore, not neglect so simple and necessary a precaution as to place blinds at the windows. For the same reason, in a house where the means of observation were so ample, it would be in the highest degree improbable that a light would be kept burning while illicit intercourse was being carried on. The witness Kate Kean might be actuated by motives of which there was no evidence; but, even assuming that she had heard voices in the manner she described, it was in the highest degree probable that she might be mistaken as to where the voices came from. Or it might be that there had been some inquiry through the door about keys or something else. As to the traces of the mustard poultice, it was sufficiently explained by the evidence of Mrs Bayley, who had slept with Mrs Serjeant for that night in Captain Wilson’s room – given up for the occasion on account of its superior convenience. The traces of two persons having slept in the bed was accounted for in the same way. Had two persons had criminal intercourse in that bed, they would – as they easily could – remove the impression left by two bodies. It was most grossly improbable that two persons who had continued opportunities for criminal intercourse would indulge in such intercourse at the time when the woman was suffering under extreme illness. The whole of the specific evidence against the defendant lay in the evidence of these two girls. That of Young, the jury must feel to be such as not to warrant a verdict pregnant with such fearful consequences to Mrs Serjeant. That of Kean was capable of being, as already shown, explained away; even assuming that it was wholly true. And if there had been any truth in this charge of continued illicit intercourse, some lodger or neighbour or the servant would have been found who had seen some impropriety. Not only, however, was there no such evidence, but evidence of a directly contrary character had been excluded on technical objections by the plaintiff’s counsel. Mr Neatby’s evidence did not really conflict with that of Margaret O’Reilly. She was speaking of things which had occurred years ago, and only meant to speak of Neatby as one who, being a friend of the family, and constantly present, must, in all probability, have heard some of the indecent language which plaintiff was in the habit of using; and Neatby had, in fact, been present at violent quarrels. A man who had conducted himself as this plaintiff had (it was contended) lost all marital rights, and among them that of bringing this action; but assuming the law to be the other way, evidence of such character was clearly admissible in reduction of damages. If, therefore, the jury should unfortunately come to a conclusion that the adultery had been proved, this was clearly no case in which the husband should be allowed to make money in the shape of heavy damages. The learned gentleman concluded by an earnest appeal to the jury to bear in mind that the issue was one which, if decided in favour of the plaintiff, would blast the character of Mrs Serjeant for ever. That the parties most concerned had not been, and could not be heard in their own defence, and that it was most dangerous to place such reliance upon the evidence of discarded servants, as to involve such awful consequences as would follow a verdict for the plaintiff in such a case as this.
His Honor stated (as to the question of law) that he should have no hesitation in ruling that in this case the plaintiff would be entitled to a verdict if the jury thought that adultery had been proved.
Mr Isaacs, in replying for the plaintiff, remarked that a great mistake had been made on the other side in setting up a twofold answer to the action – an attempt to show that no adultery had been committed, coupled with an attempt to show that even if there had been adultery the plaintiff had by his own conduct become disentitled to material damages. The fact of adultery having been committed had been proved beyond the slightest doubt. There, perhaps never was a case – and in the nature of things there could scarcely ever be a case in which direct and positive evidence of actual adultery could be adduced. The jury were generally compelled to draw a conclusion of guilt or innocence from circumstantial details. The inference of guilt was clearly deducible in this case from the evidence which the jury had before them. The abuse of the present state of the law on the other side was founded upon a state of facts which did not exist. It was true that this particular form of action had been abolished in England, but by the very Act which did this a petitioning husband could ask for damages from an adulterer, and the enquiry was conducted in precisely the same manner as an action for criminal conversation. The only difference was, that the damages were differently appropriated – going among the children. A husband might be the most abandoned man in the world, and yet feel most keenly the seduction and prostitution of his wife; and it was to compensate for wounded feelings that juries were called upon to award damages. The jury had had a view of the premises, and must thereby have seen that there was every probability of the girl Young’s story being a true one. They must have seen that it was quite easy for her, standing upon a chair outside, to see into the room – if a light was burning, and if there was a chink to peep through – and that, place the bed how you might, any person peeping in at the window could see the persons lying in it. The girl had told them frankly why she did this. She had heard rumours about Mrs Serjeant, and she went to the window to satisfy herself. If she saw but the feet of two persons, one being a female, there could be very little doubt, looking at all the other circumstances deposed to, that Mrs Serjeant was one of these two persons. The character of the witness Young had been attacked by Sir William Manning in language much stronger than he ordinarily used – an attack which there was nothing in the evidence to sustain. There had been a charge of robbery against her, but she denied it. And circumstanced as the girl was when she was thus accused, surrounded by the retainers of Mrs Serjeant and the defendant, it would be no wonder if she should tremble and fear if charged with theft, whether than charge was true or false. Thus circumstanced too, it would be most unlikely that she should provoke further hostility by retorting with a charge of criminality against her mistress. The girl had sworn too, that the charge of theft was the consequence of her having previously spoken of what she had seen. The paper relied upon as proof that Young had gone by the names of Kilpatrick bore her mark only. She was unable to write and could not fully know its contents. It had, too, been extorted from her – and needlessly, unless it was intended to be used against the girl in the event of her giving evidence of Mrs Serjeant’s criminality. If Mrs Serjeant’s case was true, that this girl was a thief, the fact was that, knowing this, she had sent her forth with a good character. A lie written upon paper, on which there was a broad black border of mourning for her mother. It was only when it was found that the girl had not gone to Melbourne, where she would be out of the way, that she was constrained into signing a paper wherein the character was alluded to as one “surreptitiously obtained”. The demeanour of this girl in the witness box was wholly free from any pertness of manner, or any shrinking, although the nature of the cross-examination to which she had been subjected was such as naturally to cause the strongest irritation. Mrs Serjeant’s entry into Wilson’s bedroom could not have been watched within the house, because this could not be done without risk of the watchers being detected. And besides, there could be no idea of the time at which she would pass in. Detection by looking in at the window would be the plan naturally resorted to. It had been admitted by Sir William Manning that Kate Kean’s evidence was to be believed. It was only contended that her evidence was to be explained away by that of Mrs Bayley, and by the possibility of her having been mistaken as to the voices. But Kate Kean, who was thus admitted to be a truthful witness, had sworn to other things. She had sworn that the whole manner and course of living of defendant and Mrs Serjeant was that of a man and wife. From this alone it would be no violent presumption to assume that matters had gone farther in private. The truthfulness of the evidence of Mrs Bayley might even be admitted, without impeaching that of Kate Kean as they might be speaking of different nights. Mrs Serjeant might have sent for Mrs Bayley when she became worse. Kate Kean had also mentioned many other things which were not contradicted – the fact of frequently seeing Mrs Serjeant enter and leave Wilson’s bedroom in her night-dress, and of their bathing in the same water. Also the receipt by Mrs Serjeant of a band-box from Madame Ponder addressed to her as Mrs Wilson. The article it contained must have been ordered by Mrs Serjeant or Captain Wilson in that way, or having been ordered without any direction, the position of Mrs Serjeant must have been so notorious as to cause that address to be used. It was a remarkable fact that all the witnesses relied upon for the defence, with the exceptions of Mr St Julien and Mr Teale, were friends or retainers of Captain Wilson or of Mrs Serjeant. Yet, according even to this evidence they always lived together in the same house – at Balmain, at Waverley, at the baths, in Forbes-street, in Dowling-street, and on the Corso. It was for the jury to say whether they could believe that this intercourse had, from first to last, been purely platonic. The defendant’s case was that Wilson was a lodger. But this was inconsistent with the fact of Wilson’s name being put on the door on a brass plate in the house he and Mrs Serjeant occupied after Mrs Cadman’s death. Equally so was the fact of Mrs Serjeant’s moving from Manly Beach to Sydney, or vice versa, when the halting place of the Phantom for the night was changed; and a change of residence became necessary to Captain Wilson. Setting wholly aside, therefore, the evidence of the two girls, it would be impossible for any jury, as men of common sense, to avoid coming to the conclusion that there had been an adulterous intercourse between these two people. Apart, then, from the direct evidence of those two witnesses, a stronger case to raise an inference of adultery had never been made out. Coming next to the other branch of the defence – the accusation of misconduct against the plaintiff. The claim for money compensation for actual loss of the wife’s society and aid was but the shadow in this species of action. It was for the shock to the husband’s feelings by the wife’s infidelity that the jury in such cases had really to award damages. Thus in a case where a woman had but confessed adultery on her death-bed, and the act had entailed upon the husband no loss of his wife’s society, it had been held that the husband, who sued the adulterer after her death, was entitled to damages for the shock which her adultery must have occasioned him. Could the plaintiff have been put into the box it might perhaps have been shewn that overtures for reconciliation had been made, or that he had been ready and willing to make such overtures. It was only through the entire seduction of the wife’s affections by the defendant hat reconciliation became impossible. Even if the husband were as bad as they had represented him his sincere repentance might have procured his wife’s forgiveness, and they might still have lived happily together had not her criminal intercourse with this defendant created a gulf between them which no intercession of friends could bridge over. It was necessary then, by the award of heavy damages, to shew to others who might be disposed to act as the defendant had done, that they could not be guilty of this grossly criminal and immoral conduct without being punished in their pockets. He called upon the jury, as they valued the sanctity of their wives and the purity of their daughters and sisters to visit the immorality of this defendant with the imposition of exemplary damages. There was evidence tha the defendant was a man of good circumstances – and circumstances were an ingredient in assessing damages in cases of this nature. Were it not so, a rich man might become a privileged public tormentor. There was one case reported in the books, where the husband had actually left his bed for the adulterer to go into, where the jury awarded £5000 damages, and a majority of the judges refused to disturb the verdict. But it was utterly impossible to suppose that Captain Serjeant could have been guilty of the conduct imputed to him. The absurdity of his talking in the way he was said to have done, &c, about his condition, was self-evident, even if it had not been contradicted. But there was direct contradiction by the only procurable witness of all the persons named by Margaret O’Reilly. It was clear from the evidence of this witness (Mr Neatby) that there had been quarrels, and that Captain Serjeant had been guilty of the unmanly act of raising his hand against a woman. For this there was no excuse. But the violent temper of Mrs Serjeant might have afforded some palliation. As to the allegation of twelve years’ neglect, they had it in evidence that plaintiff was the master of a whaling vessel – an occupation which would take him away for several years at a time. It was for the jury to say whether they did not believe, looking at the nature of the evidence adduced for the defence, that there had been a foul conspiracy to swear Captain Wilson clear of this action, and, perhaps, by the same process to clear the character of the lady. As to his having interposed to prevent evidence being given by casual observers of no improprieties having taken place in their presence, he had done this to save time, and because no such evidence could be really relevant. It was quite consistent with the guilt of these parties that they might so have conducted themselves as to excite no suspicion in the minds of such casual observers, and a great space of time might have been taken up by the examination of a body of witnesses, whose evidence ought not to affect the verdict in any way. The learned gentlemen concluded by a further analysis of the evidence, and a comparison of the probable truthfulness of the different witnesses.
His Honor, in summing up, told the jury that this kind of case was, happily for the community and for public morals, rare. Those who had heard the evidence in this case must have heard enough to convince them of this. There was much in the evidence adduced which was unutterably disgusting. If this evidence was true, it was unutterably disgusting that such a state of things should have existed. If false, it was equally disgusting that any person could be found capable of inventing such details. The present state of the law had been a good deal discussed. They had nothing to do with this, however, but simply to administer the law as it existed. Many moralists had argued that under no circumstances should a husband be permitted to bring an action of this nature; others maintained that adultery ought to be dealt with criminally. In some countries, this was the case. In England, during the time of the Commonwealth, this crime had been punishable by death, but that law was shortly removed from the Statute Book, and there was no record of its ever having been carried out. As the law now stood a husband whose wife had been debauched could bring an action of this nature for damages, and if the adultery was made out it was for the jury to award such damages as they might think him entitled to. In dealing with this, as with other cases of like nature, the jury must look at the case as a whole. It was not because they might come to a conclusion that witnesses on one side or on the other had been perjured that they must necessarily find a verdict against that side. It might be that they might think there had been perjury on both sides, and yet by a consideration of the whole facts and circumstances of the case they could readily come to a correct conclusion. The evidence which the jury had before them placed the case in a twofold position. There were two witnesses, whose evidence, if believed, must lead to conviction that adultery had been committed. There was other evidence as to the mode in which these parties had lived from which the jury were asked to draw an inference that there had been adulterous intercourse. In determining the question as to whether or not there had been adultery it was not necessary that there should be actual proof of any adulterous act. It would suffice if there was evidence of such a set of circumstances as would lead the guarded discretion of a reasonable and just man to a conclusion that there had been criminal intercourse between these parties. The jury might, therefore, come to this conclusion even if they wholly disbelieved the evidence of the witnesses Young and Kean. There was no evidence of defendants having lived in the same houses with each other for a longer period than three years back, and during a considerable portion of this time the mother was alive. If any criminal intercourse took place during the mother’s life time, it must either have been with her cognizance or have been carried on with great secrecy. There was no evidence of where Captain Serjeant had been for the last seven years or more, or of his having made any advances towards reconciliation. The evidence as to what he had said and done at Parramatta disclosed, if true, a state of things which might have rendered reconciliation impossible. But it was strange that any man should use such language as was imputed to Captain Serjeant, in the presence not only of his wife, and of another young female, but of several men. The natural conclusion would have been that they would at once have kicked him out, and ducked him in the nearest horse-pond. If adultery had been committed, the plaintiff was clearly entitled to some damages, and the consideration of his conduct was a most important ingredient in the settlement of their amount. In this class of cases evidence was usually given of the terms on which a husband and wife had lived before the adultery of the latter, as the feelings of the man who lived happily with his wife must sustain greater injury than those of the man who did not live with his wife at all, or who lived a cat and dog life with her from morning until night. In considering the question of damages – if they came to that question – the jury must look at all the circumstances of the case and award, not vindictive damages, but such fair compensation for the wound to the plaintiff’s feelings as the features of this particular case would warrant.
The jury retired at twenty minutes past six. At seven they returned to Court, with a question as to whether it would be competent to them to award exemplary damages.
His Honor told them that they were not permitted to award damages by way of deterring others from criminality, but must measure their amount by the peculiar circumstances of this case, and a careful consideration of the conduct and circumstances of the parties.
Five minutes afterwards the jury enquired what amount of damages would carry costs.
His Honor stated that he was unable at once to answer this question, as the amount which would carry costs was different in different cases. In some cases £5 would do it; in others 40s. The law here differed from that in England, and he had no occasion to consider the question.
It was finally agreed that the jury, who had again retired, should be asked whether or not they intended to give costs, that, in the event of this question being answered in the negative, a verdict should be entered for a farthing, and if in the affirmative for the lowest amount that would carry costs.
On the jury being question, they stated that it was their intention to give a verdict for the plaintiff with such an amount as would carry costs, but that they were not quite agreed as to whether they would not award more than the bare amount necessary for this purpose.
After a few minutes’ further consideration they found a verdict for the plaintiff, damages £10.[13]
It was half-past seven when the case closed, and the Court was crowded to excess from first to last.”

Sensationally, the Herald reported on further developments on 10 December 1862:
“Serjeant v Wilson. Sir William Manning, QC for the defendant, moved for a rule nisi for new trial of the above case. The action was one for criminal conversation, tried in May last, and terminating in a verdict for plaintiff, with £10 damages. The case has been so far finally closed, as that damages and costs had been paid without any actual issue of execution; but it had been since ascertained, as was now averred, that the principal evidence attaining this verdict had been perjured. The present application was, therefore, made, as was stated, for the purpose of clearing up the character of the parties concerned. One of the witnesses for the plaintiff was a female named Kate Kean[e], who had sworn at the trial to certain facts tending to sustain the suspicion of criminal intercourse between Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant. She had since made a confession, when, apparently, on the point of death from disease of the lungs. From this confession it appeared that the whole of this evidence, so far as it tended to create presumptions of improper intercourse between these parties, was false. The Herald’s report of the evidence of this witness had been read to her at the time of making this confession. She stated that she had been induced to give this false evidence by a promise that she should be remunerated, and (being then in weak health) should be well taken care of. Another witness Eliza Young swore positively to having, in company with a fellow servant, called Mary, peeped through a window and seen Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant in bed together. The servant called Mary had since been discovered and denied the truth of this. But on account of the state of Kate Keane’s health it had been found impossible to wait for the affidavit of “Mary”. From the affidavits of Dr McFarlane, of Mr Dawson, and of Mr Richard Johnson, attorneys (the latter of whom had, as a Commissioner of the Court, received Kate Keane’s declaration), it appeared that Kate Kean had made this statement with a full knowledge of what she was about, and of the peril to which she exposed herself. She acted, she said, under the advice of her father confessor in order that before her death, which she believed to be near at hand, she might do justice to those where she had injured. The inducements and promises which prevailed upon her to commit this perjury came, she said, from Mrs Isaacs acting, or assuming to act as a friend and agent of [Captain] Serjeant. Kate Keane, who was still alive, although apparently quite beyond recovery, was resident near Moruya. She had recently supplemented her declaration by a formal affidavit. Bridget Conte, the girl who had been called “Mary” had made only a declaration, and as she lived beyond Twofold Bay an affidavit could not be got in time for this application. Her declaration, however, went directly to contradict the evidence of the witness Young. There were also affidavits from Captain Wilson and Mrs Serjeant, directly and emphatically denying that there had been the slightest impropriety between them. Captain Wilson swore that there had been a distant relationship between himself and Mrs Serjeant through some intermarriage between a member of his family and that of her mother, Mrs Cadman, and he had lived as lodger, first with Mrs Cadman, and afterwards with Mrs Serjeant.
The decision of the Court was reserved. It was, however remarked by the Chief Justice that he saw great danger and difficulty in upsetting a judgment after a lapse of time, because some of the evidence in support of it might have been perjured. Such a course would of itself hold out a great inducement to perjury. But now that the parties concerned had had an opportunity not only of stating facts from which the perjury of one witness was almost certain, but of giving their own statements on oath, many would, no doubt, look upon the case with a very different aspect.

[1] Her mother, Elizabeth Mortimer, married John Cadman in 1830. John Cadman died in 1848.
[2] See NSW BDM V184554 30B/1845, Henry Sarjeant [sic] m Charlotte P Mortimer. SMH 27 January 1845 carried a marriage notice, Henry Sargeant and Charlotte Phoebe Cadman, youngest daughter of John Cadman.
[3] John Cadman converted a rundown building at Parramatta into the Steam Packet Inn, and was the licensee there until his death in 1848, when his widow took over the license.
[4] NSW BDM V18619494 122B/1861, death certificate of Elizabeth Cadman.
[5] Several Isaacs are listed in Sands’ Directory for 1861, including a John Isaacs on the Corso, Manly, who may be the person indicated here.
[6] Captain Mullen does not appear to have been a licensee of the Pier Hotel. He may have been a guest there.
[7] Or Mildwater.
[8] Sands Directory 1863 has T G Sawkins, Corso, Manly.
[9] Margaret O’Reilly was a witness at another court case in 1850, when one of Mrs Cadman’s servants was tried for assaulting Mrs Sargeant at Parramatta. See SMH 7 January 1850. General servant Henry Brown was accused of attempting to throttle Mrs Sargeant; “the witness [Mrs Sargeant], who was evidently a weak and delicate person, was quite overcome with the ruffianly conduct of the fellow.” Brown was found guilty.
[10] That is, pregnant?
[11] Whelan or Whalen.
[12] This is confirmed by the death notice in SMH 23 May 1861 which states that she died “on the 22nd instant”.
[13] Although the verdict was in favour of Captain Serjeant, the amount of damages awarded was minimal, far less than the amount he had sought, reflecting the jury’s opinion of his conduct.

Who was the Poster King?

2010-10-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

Arthur von Tossau was a talented “lightning sketch” artist who knocked about Australia in the years before WWI. In 1897 there is a glimpse of him, self-styled as ‘Baron von Tossau, the aquatic king and world’s premier natator’ performing at the Coogee Aquarium. His act included 37 underwater tricks, including eating and drinking underwater, playing cards, and ‘the Monte Cristo change trick’. His act concluded with a piece of escapology when he was tied up in a bag which was set on fire and thrown into the water. He was something of a pioneer in the art of window-dressing – the idea that artistic decoration could be used in stores was still comparatively novel. He decorated stores in Perth and Adelaide, on one occasion being arrested for causing an obstruction, so many spectators had gathered to see him work. He decorated Perth Town Hall for the 1902 Coronation festivities.
He is mentioned in various press reports of the 1900s, making claims such as that he had studied art at the Berlin Royal Academy, that he was English by birth, that he had performed at the Crystal Palace, London. It is not known how much of this is embroidered.

In 1906, he performed on Manly Beach in front of 3000 people, painting with great speed posters for well-known companies such as Schweppes, Lipton Teas, Reckitt’s Blue and Lasseters’ Wares. He could paint blindfolded on a subject called out from the audience. Some of his posters can be seen on Picture Australia, in the collection of the State Library of Victoria.
He helped organise the first carnival of the Freshwater Surf Life Saving Club in 1909, and designed the club’s badge.
It is not known how he spent the war years, but he reappeared in the Manly area in the 1920s, now spelling his surname “von Tosseau”, perhaps to lessen its German look. He was a Vice-President of the Queenscliff SLSC in the 1920s. Something of an extrovert, he was in great demand for vaudeville concerts. In the 1920s he leased the new Concert Pavilion on West Esplanade, Manly (adjacent to the Manly Art Gallery). The annual lease was £108, and it proved difficult to make the venue pay, but on the opening night of the Concert Pavilion, 10,000 spectators turned up. The late Bert Owen recalled in the 1970s: “The Poster King ran a variety show for two or three seasons. He had three big easels on the stage and he would do lightning sketches, like Rolf Harris - White Wings Flour and all this sort of thing, and of course he was paid for that and then after the interval he’d do another three there, he had some good artistes there and of course why I know all these was, I worked at the Serenaders as a boy. I worked at the Poster King’s, and he used to pay me 7/6d a week, which was a lot of money, you know, in those days.”
Mr von Tossau and his wife travelled widely, and drove by car around Australia in the early 1920s, which must have been demanding on both car and travellers. He died in 1927, aged 54, in a traffic accident in Wellington, NSW. His widow, known to friends as ‘Tossy’, died in the 1960s.

2010-09-22T21:33:00.000-07:00

Visitors to the current exhibition at the Manly Art Gallery on the history of the Royal Far West Hospital may have seen that Prime Minister Robert Menzies visited Manly on 14th March 1964 to open the George Moncrieff Barron building at the Far West Hospital. It rained heavily on the day, and he made his speech from under an umbrella held over him by Norman Drummond, whose brother, Reverend Stanley Drummond, had founded the Far West scheme. Sir Robert gave a quick speech, saying “I don’t want to miss my bus – I declare this building open.” Afterwards he was given a civic reception, and it was stated at the time that this was the first time a Prime Minister had visited Manly.
However, it wasn't. PM Joseph Lyons had visited the Far West Hospital in September 1933. And Earle Page, later to be the caretaker Prime Minister in 1939, visited Manly in 1923 with a delegation of MPs in response to concerns about the Quarantine Station. In 1908, before he became PM, William Hughes came to Manly, with a group of MPs looking at how best to develop North Head; and Edmund Barton lived in Manly for a year or two before becoming Australia’s first Prime Minister. So Manly has had its share of Prime Ministerial notice.

Lottie Fevyer, a Manly champion

2010-09-13T19:50:00.000-07:00

Historians of swimming in NSW may be interested in a recent donation to our collection of material relating to Miss Lottie Fevyer.
Charlotte Elizabeth Fevyer (Lottie), born 1898[1], was a talented young swimmer who was the schoolgirl champion of NSW over 50 yards in 1914-15. She was an early female recipient of the Bronze Medallion of the Royal Life Saving Society in 1914. She was good enough to be mentioned in the same breath as Mina Wylie and Fanny Durack (pictured above), and frequently swam against them. She swam for NSW in matches against Queensland, and visited Queensland with the NSW team. Lottie was a member of the champion ladies team, Metropolitan, in the NSW championships, which beat off the challenge of Mina Wylie’s team (Sydney) and Fanny Durack’s (Eastern Suburbs).

Sadly, she was too young to attend the 1912 Olympics, and by the time of the 1920 Olympics, she had lost her edge, although she was still good enough to race against the then-world champion, America’s Ethelda Bleibtrey. She switched her interest to diving, and in February 1918 she came second in the Australian diving championships, behind Miss Lily Beaurepaire, (sister of Frank), at Brunswick Baths, Melbourne. In 1920 she went one better and became diving champion of Australia.[2] Her speciality was the ‘neat dive’, as in the photograph here, taken at Manly Baths. From time to time she took part in diving exhibitions as one of a troupe of talented divers coached by Len McCarthy.
She married Mr Arthur Wigney in 1922[3], whose family had a well-known jeweller’s business on the Corso, but she died suddenly in February 1926. She is buried in Manly Cemetery plot H.398, close to her parents’ plot.[4] Her funeral was attended by many notable local sporting figures.
Two stained glass windows in St Matthew’s Church, Manly, dedicated in 1942, commemorate her father, Edward Fevyer.
Lottie’s brother, Edward William Fevyer was a keen amateur film-maker, and his home movies of life on Sydney Harbour have been deposited with the National Museum of Australia and the Maritime Museum.

[1] NSW BDM 13500/1898
[2] SMH 11 February 1918; 12 February 1920.
[3] NSW BDM 7853/1922
[4] Buried 18 February 1926, aged 27. There is a headstone.

First woman surfer

2010-09-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

Who was the first Australian woman surfer? Credit is generally given to Freshwater's Isabel Letham, who was introduced to the sport by Duke Kahanamoku, when the great Hawaiian visited Australia in the summer of 1914-15, and who persisted with the sport for many years after. But Kahanamoku showed other local girls the trick on the same tour, among them a young Manly girl named Isma Amor. Not only that, it appears Miss Amor had been surfing well before the Duke’s visit.
Isma Amor was born in 1898. Her father owned a thriving business engraving medals, and the family lived at well-to-do Addison Road, Manly. From a young age she was a keen swimmer.
Reg Harris, in his 1959 history of Manly Surf Life Saving Club, Heroes of the Surf states: “In the 1912-13 season a number of Manly L S club members decided to persevere and master the art [of surfing]. They included Jack Reynolds and Norman Roberts, Geoff Wyld, Tom Walker, a 13-year old boy named Claude West... and an outstanding woman surfer, Miss Esma [sic] Amor”[1] (at which time she would have been 14 or 15 years old). The evidence is that surfing was established at Manly by 1912, and it would have been surprising if some of the bolder girls had not given it a try.
A press article from 1918 states: “When Duke Kahanamoku visited Australia two years ago [sic] he introduced the exciting sport of surfing on a plank, and among those he initiated into this trick was Miss Amor. The young swimmer represented NSW in a carnival in Brisbane several years ago, and was schools champion of NSW two years in succession.”[2] The article notes that Miss Amor was in Melbourne accompanying the NSW Ladies’ team to compete in the National Ladies Swimming Championships.
In 1920, she married Angus MacPhillamy, who had been a Flight-Lieutenant in WWI, and had been severely injured in a crash in 1917. Their son Owen was born in 1922. The family later moved to Forbes, NSW, where Mr MacPhillamy was able to fly his own plane over the family property. Isma’s swimming and surfing career came to an end after her marriage.
She died in 1985.

The photograph shown here is from the Herald (Melbourne), 9 February 1918.

[1] Harris, Reg S, Heroes of the Surf, p53-54.
[2] Herald (Melbourne) 9 February 1918.

Little Manly again

2010-09-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

This photo makes an interesting comparison with the one posted a few days ago. It shows Little Manly in April 1965, from the same vantage point as the 1920 photograph. How much change has taken place. Subdivision has resulted in blocks of units being built, and the Eastern Hill is now a mass of housing. The boatshed at Little Manly is approaching 50 years old here. Still visible are the roof-line of Elim in Addison Road, and the large house on the right hand side, with its verandahs enclosed.

WWI verse

2010-09-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

Recently we were given a copy of a leather-bound edition of the poems of Longfellow. The book was inscribed “Jack Hardie, Manly, 9th April 1919”. Inside the volume there was a slip of paper with a drawing of violets and a poem, which runs as follows:

Scottish Australians

What are ye daein’, ma buirdly Scotch callants
Say what are ye daein’ sae far frae the front
Why are ye no getting’ honour an’ glory
Amang the brave lads wha are bearin’ the brunt.

Why should they fecht, while you’re playin’ fitba’
An’ hangin’ on trams like toads to a tree
I ken yer feet’s cauld; yer herts maun be frozen
Ye ca’ yersels Scots, but I doot me ye lee.

Scotland, I ween, ne’er gaed birth tae a coward
Her ladies were aye ‘mang the first in a fray
Het feet or cauld feet be sure never fashed them
Naethin’ but death ever kept them away.

Why are ye shrinkin’ this danger sae deadly?
Why are ye shamin’ the land ye ca’ Hame?
Oh! Could I rouse in yer bosom some manhood
Would that my pen could awake ye tae shame.

Dinna ye prize what yer forefathers focht for?
Are ye no Britons, the sons o’ the free?
Why dae ye dally? Yer country is callin’
“Come tae my help, boys, I’m waitin’ for ye.

Gang up tae the Barracks, nor wait tae be driven
We’ll send you away wi’ a gallant hurrah.
Yer name be inscribed on the roll call o’ honour
Belov’d if ye live, and bewail’d if ye fa’.

It’s likely that the poem was addressed to Jack Hardie. Australian War Memorial records reveal that a Jack William Hardy of 28 Sydney Road, Manly, enlisted on 9 May 1915. He was a carpenter, aged 21, and he entered the 19th Battalion AIF. He was wounded at Gallipoli, and subsequently lost his left leg, but survived the war.
The bad verse is typical of many of the patriotic poems published in the press in the early years of the War. It’s the work of someone for whom Scots was not the natural idiom. “Buirdly Scotch callants” smacks of the worst of the 19th century poetess. It’s lamentable to think that doggerel such as this in any way could have persuaded someone to join up.

Village champions

2010-08-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

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.

Little Manly and the Eastern Hill

2010-08-29T22:34:00.000-07:00

This view of Little Manly and the Eastern Hill dates from, we think, circa 1920. It was taken from no 63 Stuart Street. Little Manly boatshed, built in 1916, is still in new-looking condition. Bruce Avenue has not yet been formed on the Eastern Hill, following the subdivision of the Manly Point Estate in 1928. It's easy to picture Manly's little penguins finding burrows along the rocky foreshore at this date. The Little Manly Wharf was controlled by the Port Jackson Steam Ship Company, but was only intermittently used, eventually being demolished and the land subdivided. Not many of the grand houses on the Eastern Hill survive, but one which is still in situ is Elim, at 44 Addison Road, with its distinctive central chimney.

Thanks to Mrs Ingram for the donation of this fascinating photo.

Hi Ho, away we go

2010-08-24T19:58:00.001-07:00

Here's a lovely shot of the speedboat Hi Ho coming in beside the Manly Fun Pier. No date, but looks circa 1960. The girls are patiently waiting their turn. Let's hope no-one falls in.

There were several speedboats plying the waters of Manly Cove in the 1950s and 60s. Names such as Let's Go, Let's Go Too, Kalowa and Hi Ho are still well remembered. Kookaburra, one of the Manly speedboats from the 1930s, is now in the Australian Heritage Fleet at the Australian Maritime Museum. Does anyone recognise which school the girls are from?

This is also quite a good view of the old Fun Pier.

The renowned Smith

2010-08-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

In late 1919, police arrested Joseph Alfred Schmidt, aged 28. He was found in a well-hidden cave at Seaforth, near the Spit, so covered with vines and creepers that it was almost impossible to discern even when very close by. The cave had been fitted out as a dwelling, including a bed, and Schmidt’s wife was also found on the premises, disguised in man’s clothing. In the cave were found apparatus and chemicals used in photography, zinc plates and a number of negatives, one of which was of a £1 Commonwealth note. There was also printing ink in 3 colours, and 2000 pieces of linen paper cut to the size of a bank note. “It was concluded that the accused was engaged in counterfeiting”. Two Winchester rifles were also found. Schmidt, who also went by the name Fritz Yackles, pretended at his trial to have no English, but this was not believed.[1]
Schmidt hit the headlines again in 1921. Mr Brimbecomb, the owner of a well-known dairy at Balgowlah, woke to find a man standing over him, pressing a cloth to his face which smelt strongly of chloroform. Brimbecomb, dazed, fought off the intruder, who fled, leaving behind a knife and a pry bar. The safe in the bedroom, however, was undamaged. The assailant was discovered hiding in a cave in the vicinity, and was captured by the police, but managed to escape into the bush, and evaded re-capture for several weeks. Again, he seems to have been living in an elaborately fitted-out cave at North Harbour.[2] It was Schmidt, who was also wanted on charges of motor car theft, stealing and receiving. He was sentenced to hard labour at Bathurst jail.[3]
Schmidt’s wife Daisy sued for divorce, and obtained a decree nisi in 1925. The couple had originally married at Manly in 1919.[4]
While at Bathurst Schmidt attempted to escape, and on his release, he soon re-offended. This time, he was charged with breaking and entry, and receiving. He had committed multiple thefts in the Manly area. Judge Scholes on sentencing stated: “You are the renowned Smith, who had an apparatus at Manly for the purpose of printing Commonwealth notes and whom the police chased all over the country. You are a clever man but you are a confirmed criminal. You are sentenced to four years’ penal servitude and I declare you an habitual criminal.” Earlier offences for horse and cattle stealing at Newcastle and malicious damage at Goulburn were disclosed, as well as firearms offences.[5]
On 14 November 1930, Schmidt and another prisoner escaped from police custody by removing a plank from the floor of the police van in which they were being transported between Burwood Police Station and the Central Police Court, and dropping though onto the road. Passers-by on Parramatta Road watched them melt into the crowd.[6] He was recaptured on 1 December 1930.
On the outbreak of WWII, Schmidt was interned as an alien with a long police record. His internment records give his nationality as Dutch[?], born in 1895, arriving in Australia in 1911. On 10 February 1940, possibly with the help of confederates who had put the local sub-station out of action a month earlier, he escaped from Liverpool internment camp, by hiding under a sanitary wagon. The bloodhound “Disraeli” and two Alsatians brought in to track him were unable to find a scent! This was the first escape from any internment camp in Australia in WWII, and sparked Australia’s biggest man-hunt for many years.
He was recaptured at the Balmain lodgings of his second wife (one Marie Smith) and child, after a dramatic scuffle and another attempted escape across the rooftops. He was granted bail, despite a forged banknote being found in his possession, and he and his wife were later acquitted on a charge of having a forged banknote.[7]
Scmidt was returned to internment, and after two unsuccessful appearances before the Appeals Tribunal, he was released from internment on 11 September 1944.
What happened to him thereafter is unknown.

[1] SMH 10 October 1919, 18 November 1919
[2] The Sun, 11 February 1940.
[3] SMH 27 September 1921, 2 November 1921, 12 November 1921
[4] SMH 9 August 1923; 18 March 1925
[5] SMH 10 May 1923; 10 April 1923.
[6] SMH 2 December 1930.
[7] SMH 12 February 1940; 24 February 1940; 12 March 1940; 10 May 1940

George Street houses

2010-08-10T22:47:00.000-07:00

Our appeal for information about George Street, Manly, has turned up this 1926 image of 'Ohio', built circa 1905, demolished in the late 1950s. 'Ohio' was the home of the Custer family. David Walter Custer was born in Ohio, USA, in 1865 and came to Australia in 1890. He founded the firm of D W Custer & Co Ltd, importers of fine Italian marble. Marble imported by the company was used in the construction of the magnificent State Theatre. Mr Custer was well-known in Manly Masonic circles. he was Worshipful Master of Lodge St John, and held office in several other lodges. He was a president of the Manly Bowling Club, and a vice-president of Manly Life-Saving Club. According to family recollections, the front room nearest the camera was dominated by a billiard table. The house would have had uninterrupted views out towards Sydney Harbour Heads.

Noisy Sophia Jane

2010-08-03T22:46:00.000-07:00

Watching the most recent episode of Cranford on ABC the other night, I was struck by the reactions of the Cranford ladies when they travelled on a steam train for the first time, concerned that their eyes might pop out with the excessive speed.
A similar sort of episode is described in an account in the Sydney Gazette for 18th June 1831. The Gazette's correspondent travelled on what purported to be the first excursion trip by a steamer in Australia, when the Sophia Jane ventured from Sydney to Middle Harbour. In a breathless piece of reporting he waxed lyrical over the marvellous journey. The steamer had no sooner left the wharf at Sydney, it seemed, than it was racing over the quiet waters of Middle Harbour: “Her velocity was astounding.”

I couldn’t help picturing the reactions of the handful of settlers living at Middle Harbour at that time, for whom the loudest noise would have been the ringing of an axe on a tree or the whinny of a horse. Suddenly, tearing over the water, laden with a hundred or more toffs quaffing champagne, with her engines going full pelt, the Sophia Jane breaks the silence, the harbinger of things to come.

Heritage in Manly

2010-07-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

People sometimes have a negative view of heritage. When a building is heritage-listed, for example, an impression can sometimes be given that this is not a good thing for the owners of the building, and that heritage-listing might prevent them from making the most of their property. It would be wrong to have only this impression of the importance of heritage. Copies are now available of a new brochure prepared for Manly Council's Heritage Committee outlining the variety of types of heritage, and giving examples of them in the Manly area. The brochure covers areas such as sporting heritage, landscape, streetscape, shops and businesses, types of religious heritage, maritime and transport heritage and more, and it is illustrated with many fine photographs from the collections of Manly Library, Manly Art Gallery and Manly, Warringah and Pittwater Historical Society. (Pictured is the tram punt at the Spit, operating in the 1930s.) You can pick up a copy of the brochure at Manly Library or Manly Council Chambers, or download a copy from our website at
http://www.manly.nsw.gov.au/Fact-Sheets.html

Carlton Street History

2010-07-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

This image was catalogued in our collection as 'National School, Carlton Street, Manly.' However, this could not be correct, as the National School was further along Carlton Street, nearer the escarpment. We now reckon the photo shows a property named Fernleigh, which had frontages of 58 feet to North Steyne, 105 feet to Carlton Street, and 57 feet to Whistler Street. It was built in the late 1890s, and was originally the residence of a Presbyterian clergyman, Rev Fenwick.

In November 1923 the property was offered for sale. On the block of land was the old stone cottage, which consisted of five rooms, kitchen, bathroom, and laundry, with a flag floor, and shingle and iron roof. It was a desirable location and was quickly snapped up for re-development.

The site is now occupied by the attractive apartments at number 81 North Steyne.

Dating a photo

2010-07-07T19:24:00.000-07:00

When was this photo of Manly Cove taken? There are several clues. On the right is Manly Art Gallery, opened in 1930. The boardwalk, constructed by the Port Jackson Company, was completed in December 1931. But there is no sign of the Dressing Pavilion (now the Manly Pavilion Restaurant), which was opened in June 1933. the boardwalk looks as if it might still be under construction, and there are none of the floating pontoons or slippery-dips installed yet. The likeliest date is the summer of 1931-32. The large crowd shows what an immediate draw the enclosed pool proved to be. When completed, it was widely regarded as the "finest pool in the Commonwealth."

A Lucky Find

2010-07-06T16:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes very short newspaper articles can convey a whole lot. The Sydney Morning Herald reported on 12 August 1914: “A baby boy, about 3 months old, was found on the edge of the cliffs at Blue Fish Point, Manly, about 8pm on Monday. It was without a stitch of clothing.”
The chances of someone finding this baby on a cold winter’s night at that location must have been very slim. What became of the infant? What became of his mother? We do not know, but let’s hope his life took a turn for the better.

Balgowlah Methodists

2010-07-01T21:40:00.001-07:00

Judith Knox has supplied this interesting photograph of the Christian Endeavour group of Balgowlah Methodist Church. The photo was taken outside the church circa 1933. Judith's mother, Edna Winterbon, is seated in the front row, to the left of the sign. At that time, the Balgowlah Girls' Grammar School met in the church, and part of their sign is just visible. Later it became the Methodist Girls' Grammar School.