When Manly (and Sydney) marked the 150th anniversary of Arthur Phillip’s arrival
EIGHTY years ago, Manly joined the rest of Sydney in celebrating the sesquicentenary of white settlement, as well as the naming of Manly.
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EIGHTY years ago, Manly Council joined the rest of Sydney in celebrating the sesquicentenary of white settlement in Sydney, as well as the naming of Manly.
The celebrations lasted for weeks and some councils, including Manly, decided to hold theirs a few weeks after the City of Sydney to avoid being overshadowed by the far grander pageantries in the city.
To mark the occasion, Manly Council published a souvenir program of the events it planned to mark the occasion and to provide an historical overview of Manly and Warringah, although the latter was only mentioned in the last three pages.
The 24-page program, which was printed by the Manly Daily, featured an unusual design on the cover — an Aboriginal man on Manly Beach shaking hands with a white woman wearing a bathing costume, with Shelly Beach Headland in the background.
At the time of the sesquicentenary — 1938 — the Manly local government area had about 35,000 residents, not far shy of the 39,747 it had at the time of the 2011 census.
The council could also boast that it had accommodation for 2000 students in the Manly Intermediate High School and the Domestic Science School, five picture theatres in the Manly CBD and several others in the district, and centrally-located dance halls that catered for both modern and old-style dancing.
One of the full-page advertisements in the souvenir program was placed by the Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company, the operators of the Manly ferries.
Curiously, while the company boasted of what it called “one of its latest additions to the fleet”, the Curl Curl, the company failed to mention the pending arrival of the ferry that would come to be regarded as the queen of the company’s fleet, the South Steyne.
But while Manly Council was right to join the rest of Sydney in marking the 150th anniversary of the raising of the flag on January 26, 1788, it made two errors regarding Manly’s place in the history of the colony.
In its souvenir program, the council printed an illustration of Captain Phillip and other officers landing at Manly Cove on January 21, 1788, prior to exploring the rest of Port Jackson.
But Phillip never landed at Manly on January 21 — that honour belongs to the aptly-named Camp Cove, just inside South Head, where Phillip and his men camped for the night.
And the place where Phillip encountered the Aborigines whose manly demeanour led him to call the place Manly Cove was at the head of North Harbour, not where Manly Wharf was later built.
Over the years the Manly Cove named drifted from the head of North Harbour to its current location.
The events at Manly marking the sesquicentenary began with an official opening of celebrations by Manly mayor Percy Nolan on the steps of the town hall on February 18.
The following day, February 19, saw a re-enactment of Phillip’s “landing at Manly”, a procession of floats around the CBD and a gala display and concert on Manly Oval.
There were minor events though the following week until Saturday, February 26, when exhibition matches featuring some of Australia’s best players were played at the Manly Lawn Tennis Courts in front of 800 spectators, an Inter-Dominion surf carnival was held on Manly Beach and a novelty carnival was held at the harbour pool by the Manly Harbour Beach Life Saving Club.
The Inter-Dominion surf carnival attracted enormous interest and involved teams from New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand, and was preceded the previous day when about 90 members of the touring teams received an official welcome from the mayor of Manly and then taken on a motor tour of the northern beaches.
The surf carnival also included 10 events for Sydney surf clubs.
New South Wales won the Inter-Dominion Championship, while northern beaches clubs won seven of the 10 interclub events.
There were more minor events throughout the next week until the program closed on Saturday, March 5, with the Royal Life Saving Society’s carnival at the Manly harbour pool comprising 25 events, Manly Sailing Club’s championship regatta and a Venetian Carnival on the harbour beach that night that attracted and estimated crowd of 50,000 people.