Village champions

From time to time we receive donations of material of use to our collection from other librarians around Sydney, and just received from a colleague at Waverley is this souvenir programme of the inaugural Australian National Games, held in 1928. The programme is of double interest to us because, firstly, it was printed by the local printer, the Manly Daily, and secondly, because the opening ceremony and the bulk of the events were held at Manly. The athletic programme was held at Manly Oval on 7th January 1928, and the swimming and diving at Manly Baths on January 11th and 14th. The cycling component of the Games was held at Sydney Sports Ground, and the Boxing and Wrestling were held at Sydney Stadium. The programme lists all the competing athletes.
The Australian National Games were intended to be held every four years, preceding the Olympiad later that year, acting as an Olympic selection event, and the Honorary Directors were James Taylor, Chairman of the Australian Olympic Federation, James Eve, the Secretary-Treasurer of the Australian Olympic Federation, and Les Duff, the Secretary of the NSW Olympic Council. Manly was a natural choice for the swimming events, and argued a strong case for the athletic events, based on the gold medal-winning performance of Nick Winter in 1924 in the triple jump. A photo in the programme shows Manly’s trio of Olympic champions, Boy Charlton, Dick Eve and Nick Winter, posing together.

Little Manly and the Eastern Hill

This view of Little Manly and the Eastern Hill dates from, we think, circa 1920. It was taken from no 63 Stuart Street. Little Manly boatshed, built in 1916, is still in new-looking condition. Bruce Avenue has not yet been formed on the Eastern Hill, following the subdivision of the Manly Point Estate in 1928. It's easy to picture Manly's little penguins finding burrows along the rocky foreshore at this date. The Little Manly Wharf was controlled by the Port Jackson Steam Ship Company, but was only intermittently used, eventually being demolished and the land subdivided. Not many of the grand houses on the Eastern Hill survive, but one which is still in situ is Elim, at 44 Addison Road, with its distinctive central chimney.

Thanks to Mrs Ingram for the donation of this fascinating photo.

Hi Ho, away we go

Here's a lovely shot of the speedboat Hi Ho coming in beside the Manly Fun Pier. No date, but looks circa 1960. The girls are patiently waiting their turn. Let's hope no-one falls in.

There were several speedboats plying the waters of Manly Cove in the 1950s and 60s. Names such as Let's Go, Let's Go Too, Kalowa and Hi Ho are still well remembered. Kookaburra, one of the Manly speedboats from the 1930s, is now in the Australian Heritage Fleet at the Australian Maritime Museum. Does anyone recognise which school the girls are from?

This is also quite a good view of the old Fun Pier.

The renowned Smith

In late 1919, police arrested Joseph Alfred Schmidt, aged 28. He was found in a well-hidden cave at Seaforth, near the Spit, so covered with vines and creepers that it was almost impossible to discern even when very close by. The cave had been fitted out as a dwelling, including a bed, and Schmidt’s wife was also found on the premises, disguised in man’s clothing. In the cave were found apparatus and chemicals used in photography, zinc plates and a number of negatives, one of which was of a £1 Commonwealth note. There was also printing ink in 3 colours, and 2000 pieces of linen paper cut to the size of a bank note. “It was concluded that the accused was engaged in counterfeiting”. Two Winchester rifles were also found. Schmidt, who also went by the name Fritz Yackles, pretended at his trial to have no English, but this was not believed.[1]
Schmidt hit the headlines again in 1921. Mr Brimbecomb, the owner of a well-known dairy at Balgowlah, woke to find a man standing over him, pressing a cloth to his face which smelt strongly of chloroform. Brimbecomb, dazed, fought off the intruder, who fled, leaving behind a knife and a pry bar. The safe in the bedroom, however, was undamaged. The assailant was discovered hiding in a cave in the vicinity, and was captured by the police, but managed to escape into the bush, and evaded re-capture for several weeks. Again, he seems to have been living in an elaborately fitted-out cave at North Harbour.[2] It was Schmidt, who was also wanted on charges of motor car theft, stealing and receiving. He was sentenced to hard labour at Bathurst jail.[3]
Schmidt’s wife Daisy sued for divorce, and obtained a decree nisi in 1925. The couple had originally married at Manly in 1919.[4]
While at Bathurst Schmidt attempted to escape, and on his release, he soon re-offended. This time, he was charged with breaking and entry, and receiving. He had committed multiple thefts in the Manly area. Judge Scholes on sentencing stated: “You are the renowned Smith, who had an apparatus at Manly for the purpose of printing Commonwealth notes and whom the police chased all over the country. You are a clever man but you are a confirmed criminal. You are sentenced to four years’ penal servitude and I declare you an habitual criminal.” Earlier offences for horse and cattle stealing at Newcastle and malicious damage at Goulburn were disclosed, as well as firearms offences.[5]
On 14 November 1930, Schmidt and another prisoner escaped from police custody by removing a plank from the floor of the police van in which they were being transported between Burwood Police Station and the Central Police Court, and dropping though onto the road. Passers-by on Parramatta Road watched them melt into the crowd.[6] He was recaptured on 1 December 1930.
On the outbreak of WWII, Schmidt was interned as an alien with a long police record. His internment records give his nationality as Dutch[?], born in 1895, arriving in Australia in 1911. On 10 February 1940, possibly with the help of confederates who had put the local sub-station out of action a month earlier, he escaped from Liverpool internment camp, by hiding under a sanitary wagon. The bloodhound “Disraeli” and two Alsatians brought in to track him were unable to find a scent! This was the first escape from any internment camp in Australia in WWII, and sparked Australia’s biggest man-hunt for many years.
He was recaptured at the Balmain lodgings of his second wife (one Marie Smith) and child, after a dramatic scuffle and another attempted escape across the rooftops. He was granted bail, despite a forged banknote being found in his possession, and he and his wife were later acquitted on a charge of having a forged banknote.[7]
Scmidt was returned to internment, and after two unsuccessful appearances before the Appeals Tribunal, he was released from internment on 11 September 1944.
What happened to him thereafter is unknown.

[1] SMH 10 October 1919, 18 November 1919
[2] The Sun, 11 February 1940.
[3] SMH 27 September 1921, 2 November 1921, 12 November 1921
[4] SMH 9 August 1923; 18 March 1925
[5] SMH 10 May 1923; 10 April 1923.
[6] SMH 2 December 1930.
[7] SMH 12 February 1940; 24 February 1940; 12 March 1940; 10 May 1940

George Street houses

Our appeal for information about George Street, Manly, has turned up this 1926 image of 'Ohio', built circa 1905, demolished in the late 1950s. 'Ohio' was the home of the Custer family. David Walter Custer was born in Ohio, USA, in 1865 and came to Australia in 1890. He founded the firm of D W Custer & Co Ltd, importers of fine Italian marble. Marble imported by the company was used in the construction of the magnificent State Theatre. Mr Custer was well-known in Manly Masonic circles. he was Worshipful Master of Lodge St John, and held office in several other lodges. He was a president of the Manly Bowling Club, and a vice-president of Manly Life-Saving Club. According to family recollections, the front room nearest the camera was dominated by a billiard table. The house would have had uninterrupted views out towards Sydney Harbour Heads.

Noisy Sophia Jane

Watching the most recent episode of Cranford on ABC the other night, I was struck by the reactions of the Cranford ladies when they travelled on a steam train for the first time, concerned that their eyes might pop out with the excessive speed.
A similar sort of episode is described in an account in the Sydney Gazette for 18th June 1831. The Gazette's correspondent travelled on what purported to be the first excursion trip by a steamer in Australia, when the Sophia Jane ventured from Sydney to Middle Harbour. In a breathless piece of reporting he waxed lyrical over the marvellous journey. The steamer had no sooner left the wharf at Sydney, it seemed, than it was racing over the quiet waters of Middle Harbour: “Her velocity was astounding.”

I couldn’t help picturing the reactions of the handful of settlers living at Middle Harbour at that time, for whom the loudest noise would have been the ringing of an axe on a tree or the whinny of a horse. Suddenly, tearing over the water, laden with a hundred or more toffs quaffing champagne, with her engines going full pelt, the Sophia Jane breaks the silence, the harbinger of things to come.