A Hero in Waiting

A group of photographs showing the young Roden Cutler has just been donated to our collection. Among the photos is this one, taken in 1940 at what looks like Martin Place, Sydney, of Roden aged about 23, with his younger sister Doone.
Colleen McCullough, in her biography Roden Cutler VC, notes that the 2/5th Field Artillery Regiment sailed for Suez on the Queen Mary in October of 1940. The following year Lieutenant Cutler won his Victoria Cross.

La Stupenda

There was a treat for music-lovers on 8th September 1948, when Manly Music Club presented one of its regular ‘musicales’ at St Andrew’s Church Hall in Raglan Street. Accompanied by her teacher, Aida Summers, was the 21-year-old Joan Sutherland, in a recital that included arias by Handel, Mozart, and Richard Strauss. The young Joan Sutherland performing ‘Porgi Amor’ must have been quite something. She also performed a group of three songs by the American composer and accompanist Frank La Forge, one of which, ‘I Came With a Song’ is still available in Dame Joan’s back catalogue on Decca. Sutherland left Australia in 1951 for Covent Garden, so this would have been a rare chance to hear her in a recital setting before her international success.
The other artist performing that night was the pianist Igor Hmelnitsky, well-known in Sydney as a soloist and piano teacher.
This programme is one of a number kindly donated to our collection by Mr Boyd Osborne, augmenting our existing group of programmes of Manly Music Club recitals.

Robert Shute

The Manly Daily (Tuesday 18 August 2009) carried an article by John Morcombe about Robert Shute, after whom the NSW Rugby Union trophy, the Shute Shield was named. Playing in a trial match for The Rest against NSW at Manly Oval on 5 June 1922, Shute suffered a cerebral haemorrhage in a heavy tackle, and died at a Manly private hospital the following day. He had survived service with the Field Artillery in World War One, which must have intensified the loss felt by his family and friends. By coincidence, a photograph has recently been found which shows the Sydney University Engineering students of 1920, with Robert Shute in the front row. Some of his classmates went on to distinguished engineering careers, and there can be little doubt that he would have had similar success but for that fateful incident.

Anti-German Manly in WWI

When and why did Vienna Street become Kitchener Street? Why did the captain of Manly Life Saving Club change his name from Fritz Schwarz to Fred Campbell? Why was Antonio de Fina’s shop on Manly Wharf destroyed in a riot? The answer lies in the xenophobia which infected Manly, and Australia generally, during World War One. Historian Dr Terry Metherell has examined how Manly took the lead in inciting anti-German sentiment, and how this resulted in various grotesque outcomes. You can read his article by clicking on the link.

Anti-German%20sentiment%20in%20WWI.docx

Sweet Nell

Manly has been home to a number of colourful characters over the years. One of the most fondly remembered was ‘Sweet Nell’. Manly Council gave Sweet Nell, (Helen Sullivan) the right to sell sweets and chewing-gum on Manly Beach, throughout the 1920s. She became a familiar figure, in her gaudy costumes, pushing a barrow laden with Jaffas, Mintoes and Wrigley’s chewing gum. Her personal circumstances were hard, but she was always cheerful and loved chatting to the children on the beach. When she died, aged 60, in 1933, her funeral was paid for by a group of local businessmen, and, according to the Manly Daily Pictorial, over 3,000 people lined the Corso to pay their respects.