Manly Beach
This image looks roughly south-west over Manly, a beach-side suburb of northern Sydney. It is 17 km north-east of the central business district (the world-famous Harbour Bridge can just be made out in the very top left corner of the image).
Manly was named by Captain Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, for the indigenous people living there. He stated that "their confidence and manly behaviour made me give the name of Manly Cove to this place". These men were of the Kay-ye-my clan (of the Guringai people). While scouting for fresh water in the area in 1788, Phillip encountered members of the clan, and after a misunderstanding he was speared in the shoulder by one of the clan; to his lasting credit, the progressively-minded Phillip ordered his men not to retaliate. I wonder how many would be so tolerant today?
Manly is, of course, most notable for its beaches which are popular tourist destinations. It features a long stretch of sand on the ocean side. Whilst researching the elements in the photograph I came across a couple of quirky items. Despite the typical Australian images of beaches, surf, barbies and sunshine, Manly has almost a month more of rainy days than London (my home) (133 days to 109) and more than double the precipitation (1218mm to 601mm).
And surprisingly (to me, at least), until 1903 daylight sea bathing was banned in Australia. When it was finally challenged at Manly, and then allowed by the authorities there later that year, 17 people were drowned within 12 months, leading to the creation of one of Australia's earliest life-saving surf clubs. Manly's life-saving club is on the left end of the beach as seen above. Bathing on Sundays, Easter and Christmas were apparently only permitted from the 1920s and mixed bathing was not given official approval until the 1940s!
- all details from various Wikipedia pages.
Manly Beach
This image looks roughly south-west over Manly, a beach-side suburb of northern Sydney. It is 17 km north-east of the central business district (the world-famous Harbour Bridge can just be made out in the very top left corner of the image).
Manly was named by Captain Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, for the indigenous people living there. He stated that "their confidence and manly behaviour made me give the name of Manly Cove to this place". These men were of the Kay-ye-my clan (of the Guringai people). While scouting for fresh water in the area in 1788, Phillip encountered members of the clan, and after a misunderstanding he was speared in the shoulder by one of the clan; to his lasting credit, the progressively-minded Phillip ordered his men not to retaliate. I wonder how many would be so tolerant today?
Manly is, of course, most notable for its beaches which are popular tourist destinations. It features a long stretch of sand on the ocean side. Whilst researching the elements in the photograph I came across a couple of quirky items. Despite the typical Australian images of beaches, surf, barbies and sunshine, Manly has almost a month more of rainy days than London (my home) (133 days to 109) and more than double the precipitation (1218mm to 601mm).
And surprisingly (to me, at least), until 1903 daylight sea bathing was banned in Australia. When it was finally challenged at Manly, and then allowed by the authorities there later that year, 17 people were drowned within 12 months, leading to the creation of one of Australia's earliest life-saving surf clubs. Manly's life-saving club is on the left end of the beach as seen above. Bathing on Sundays, Easter and Christmas were apparently only permitted from the 1920s and mixed bathing was not given official approval until the 1940s!
- all details from various Wikipedia pages.