Former Liverpool mayor Ned Mannoun says more should be done to promote the area’s history

FORMER Liverpool mayor Ned Mannoun says more should be done to promote the rich history of Australia’s fourth oldest city.

Former Liverpool mayor Ned Mannoun possesses an old house brick made in Liverpool. He is calling for somewhere to house the city’s history. Picture: Melvyn Knipe

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FORMER Liverpool mayor Ned Mannoun says more needs to be done to promote the city’s heritage assets.

“I think that Liverpool genuinely needs to be looking at itself as a tourist destination, being the fourth oldest city, being the first free city established,” he said.

“You now have hotels that been built left, right and centre ... so you’re now probably going to have a couple thousand tourists that are here almost every night and every day.

“Now, why shouldn’t they be learning about the history of Liverpool?” Mr Mannoun asked.

He said one idea would be to make Collingwood House — the state’s fifth oldest home — a heritage precinct so that people “can see a bit of Old Sydney Town and experience it.”

The brick is marked Liverpool on one side. Picture: Melvyn Knipe

As a supporter of Liverpool’s history, Mr Mannoun was surprised to discover a piece of the area’s colonial history in his own backyard.

Embedded in the structure of his Liverpool home are bricks stamped with “Liverpool” on one side.

The bricks are believed to have originated from brickworks established by former Liverpool mayor Martin Christiansen, who arrived in Australia from Denmark in 1878.

Christiansen was a brickmaker by trade and his brickmaking business quickly boomed.

His legacy remains today with Brickmaker’s Creek named after his brickworks.

Mr Mannoun said he was fascinated by the discovery, especially the connection with a former mayor.

Former Liverpool mayor and brickmaker Martin Christiansen.

“You can imagine that this person at the time was making bricks and stamping Liverpool on it, he was proud of his community, proud of his city.”

He lamented the loss of opportunities as the city moved away from its historical roots.

“The heritage of Liverpool has been destroyed and it was destroyed long ago,” Mr Mannoun said.

“I think what they’re doing with the Liverpool Then and Now (Facebook) page is wonderful.

“You see these beautiful buildings that existed and you wonder why weren’t they kept and a lot of these were knocked down in the ‘60s and ‘70s but I think there’s a lot of lost opportunities there.”

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To help conserve Liverpool’s heritage, Mr Mannoun said its custodians — the City of Liverpool and District Historical Society — deserved a better home than their current underground quarters, which the Leader reported on last month.

“One of my failures and I guess I ran out of time to solve that issue but you’ve got the old courthouse,” he said.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to have them in there. These guys are the custodians of our history ... they need to be in a better location.”

Martin Christiansen’s brickworks in Liverpool.