Local Northern Beaches - Historical

We have had two stories about structures that never transpired – the Northern Beaches Railway and the Ocean Beach Pier at Manly.

The pubs of the peninsula are large and comparatively few compared to the pubs of the inner Sydney suburbs.

As spring arrives, real estate advertisements start to increase. In all the flurry, there are a number of Peninsula and Orient (P&O) houses on the market.

The peninsula and its people have been the subject of such major Australian photographers as Harold Cazneaux (1878-1953), Sam Hood (1870-1953), Max Dupain (1911-1992) and Olive Cotton (1911-2003), but not many people are aware of the visit of Emile Otto Hoppé (1878-1972) to our shores in 1930.

There are not too many foodstuffs that have had a song written about them, however such is the love of ice cream worldwide, most people can sing the opening bars of ‘I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!’.

The landform of the peninsula is like no other in Sydney, with a steep ridge line extending north-south from Seaforth to Cottage Point and West Head.

Every now and again in local history, one comes across a chronicle that gives you a completely different dimension into how life was conducted.

In the late 1940s, Brookvale was identified as the area on the peninsula that would be its industrial hub. Although manufacturing has now largely left Brookvale, in the early 1950s there were many small businesses in active production.

In many towns and suburbs across Australia, there is a building proclaiming to be the Literary Institute or School of Arts or Mechanics Institute.

The NSW Governor recently unveiled a sculpture at the entrance to Governor Phillip Park, commemorating the visit of the first governor, Captain Arthur Phillip, to Pittwater in March 1788.

On September 5 1875 a small congregation celebrated the first service in a newly completed stone church in what was later to become the suburb of Seaforth. The church, with its short spire, was the Church of St Paul, Middle Harbour.

On 18 January 1908 Mrs Learmonth, wife of the mayor of Manly, unveiled a memorial fountain on East Esplanade near the ferry wharf. The monument was in the form of a broken column, a symbol of a life cut short.

In 1887 David Scott, former owner of a fireworks factory at Waverley and then, reputedly, of a photographic studio in Sydney, purchased 25 acres of land at Newport, encompassing most of the Crystal Bay foreshore as well as a large residence known as Bayview House.

In January 1994, bushfires raged across the peninsula, exposing the remains of an almost-forgotten industrial site at Deep Creek on Narrabeen Lagoon. Known colloquially as the “Never Been Beaten Lime and Cement Works” or “Stoney’s”, the works were operated from 1934 to 1945 by Edward Giles Stone, a pioneer in the use of reinforced concrete.

In 1872 William Oliver, who had been granted 66 acres at Pittwater in 1864, donated part of his land for a chapel, a cemetery and a school.

In 1906 Cabbage Tree Hill Farm, the 350-acre (140 ha) farm granted to James Jenkins in 1829, was subdivided into a mixture of residential blocks and small farming lots, and offered for sale as ‘The Great Warriewood Estate’.

Terrey Hills takes its name from two settlers, James Terrey and Samuel Hills. Formerly known simply as ‘Terrey’s and Hills’ the shorter name was adopted by the newly formed Progress Association in 1932

In April 1888, Newport’s first school, then officially known as Mona Vale Provisional School, was opened.

This beautiful old stone building on the corner of Whistler Street and Sydney Road was substantially built in 1862, and extended in the early 1870s.

On 8 November 1849 David Foley, tenant of the 700-acre farm at Bongin Bongin (Mona Vale), set out by cart to North Harbour carrying butter and other produce for delivery to Sydney.

In September 1871, St John the Baptist Church of England, Pittwater, a Chapel at Ease in the Parish of Manly, was officially opened.

Hallstrom Place and Taronga Place are both names that offer a clue to a slice of Mona Vale’s history. Edward Hallstrom (1886-1970) made his fortune with ‘Silent Knight’ refrigerators but his real passion was for animals

Between Lovett Bay and Elvina Bay on Pittwater’s western shore is a short peninsula which terminates at Rocky Point. In 1842 William Oliver was granted 30 acres (12 ha) of land there, his holdings later increasing to 70 acres (28 ha) and occupying the entire peninsula.

Overlooking the Flint and Steel bay towards the north-west tip of the Lambert Peninsula are the ruins of ‘Flint and Steel’, the house that ‘Mac’ built.