Everybody inhale

I remember standing behind one of these vehicles as a boy and taking a deep breath as the freshly laid tarmac was compressed. These shots were taken in Sydney Road, Manly, in circa 1960. I don't know what the correct name for the vehicle is - is it a road-roller? - or who the manufacturer was. But I bet you could hear it from a hundred yards away.

Ashburner Street flats

Surveying the pasing scene, a boy perches on the gatepost outside Valentia Flats in Ashburner Street, Manly, in June 1936.

The photograph also shows The Checkers and The Astor flats. The verandahs of The Checkers are not closed-in, but heavy canvas blinds can be seen, which would have allowed for the verandah area to be used as a sleep-out.

Disruption to traffic and damage to the road surface caused by the Norfolk Island pine trees in the street was a problem for the Manly Council Engineer at this period. The photo was taken to indicate if there was a need to remove any of the trees.

John MacRitchie.

A Vision for the Corso

The National Library's Trove database now includes issues of the Illustrated Sydney News, which are an excellent source of contemporary pictures. The drawing above comes from its issue of 15 March 1886, p20, and shows shops in course of erection for the Anglo-Australian M L & F Company at Manly. The development was on the west side of the Corso. The architects were a young Melbourne pair, Richard Loweish and Frederick Moorhouse. This would have been a significant commission for them, and an important development in the streetscape of the Corso. It is good to know when the scheme was completed and who the architects were.

With the exception of the two shops to the right of the group, the facades of the others and four of the original stone chimneys have survived, 125 years on. The shops have had a multitude of uses over the years. At time of writing, the surviving shops are occupied by clothing and surf stores: All, Diva, Cotton On, Platypus, Sportsgirl and Big Swim. The two shops to the left of the group were for many years occupied by the well-known estate agents, Robey, Hanson and Strong.

Waratah Street

Waratah Street in Fairlight was first subdivided in the 1920 Golden Dawn Estate subdivision. Property owners in the street asked Manly Council for assistance with beautifying the street's nature strip in the late 1940s, and the result was the display of palms seen in this 1949 photograph.

No buts

In 1943, the world was in flames. Police in Manly had their hands full, too. The Sydney Morning Herald reported (10 July 1943): "A goat the Manly police took into custody has been released on a 'good behaviour' bond."

For some days the goat had been Manly's greatest nuisance. It wandered about the streets, climbed into buses, went into shops, and stole food. Finally an exasperated shop-owner dragged it off to the police station. The goat was tied up in the police yard until the owner claimed it.

"Manly police believe they made history by taking a goat into custody for the first time in NSW," concluded the Herald. Was it taught a lesson by its time behind baaaas?