Manly’s First Bus Service Manly can lay claim to having the first regular private bus route in New South Wales. In 1905, Charles Reid and his brother imported the chassis of four motor omnibuses to Sydney. Mr Pittman at Redfern constructed the bodies of the omnibuses, and they were completed by December 1905. Two of the buses were intended for use between Manly, Rock Lily, Pittwater and Narrabeen, and the others were earmarked for a route between Glen Innes and Inverell. There was already a Government Tramways omnibus service from Potts Point to Oxford Street, which began in December 1905 with the idea that this service would interconnect with and give a boost to the tram service, but the Manly route appears to have been the first private route in NSW. An even earlier service from Hobart to Launceston appears to have been the first omnibus route in Australia. Reid’s omnibuses had four cross-seats, arranged like a charabanc, accommodating about 18 passengers, but unusually each row was on a different level, allowing every passenger an equal view of the scenery. Press reports described them as “pioneer” buses, particularly adapted to Australian conditions. Top speed was 20-25 mph. The formation of the Manly-Pittwater Motor Omnibus Company Ltd, with £8500 capital, was announced in February 1906. The company secretary was Mr E E Kennedy. The chairman was Charles H Kerry, and John Williams was Director. The Manly-Pittwater Motor Company began operations on 8 February 1906. The maiden run saw two omnibuses packed with dignitaries and pressmen depart from the Pier Hotel, Manly (pictured above on left) at 2.20pm to the destination of Brock’s mansion at Newport. “The introduction of the latest form of propelled vehicle was highly appreciated by the Manly residents”, stated the Sydney Morning Herald. The first bus covered the distance, some 11-12 miles, in 50 minutes, but the second bus had carburetor problems and took considerably longer. Bigwigs who travelled included Dugald Thomson MP, Dr Arthur MLA, and Mayor Quirk of Manly. By May 1906 the service had been in regular operation for about four months, running motor drags or charabancs between Manly and Narrabeen, and that month, the service was extended to Rock Lily and Bayview. The Manly-Pittwater Motor Omnibus Company was eventually registered in August 1907, with a capital of £5000, to ply motor omnibuses between Manly and the Spit, the Spit and Narrabeen, Manly and Newport and Bayview, and Manly and Sydney. However, for whatever reason, business did not take off, and the Manly-Pittwater Motor Omnibus Company Ltd was wound up voluntarily in July 1908. John Williams was the Liquidator. Manly Library Local History Studies http://manlylocalstudies.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/manlys-first-bus.html  Narrabeen about 1917 opposite where the Narrabeen Sands is now. My mum is the little girl in the front seat, she was six years old. My Grandfather was Charlie Bottle , who had a motor garage at Narrabeen opposite Antler. He had some converted lorries with garden seats on them to take passengers from Manly Wharf to Narrabeen in late the 20's early 30's. This photo was taken around 1930 at Narrabeen. Shared by Dennis Fraser.  

Ever wondered about your roots? Curious about the stories that make you, you?  That's where I come in. With nearly 40 years of experience as a family genealogist, I've helped countless individuals just like you uncover their family history and weave it into a narrative that spans generations. But I'm not just any genealogist. I hold a Masters in Social Science with Distinction, Writing Family History, Convict History, Families at War, Social History plus a Postgraduate Degree in Psychology, which means I don't just list your ancestors - I bring them to life. I delve into the social context of their lives, their personal triumphs and struggles, and how they've shaped the family you know today. And the best part? I work with you every step of the way. This is your family's story, after all. I'm here to guide you, to help you ask the right questions and find the answers. And once we've unearthed your family's past, I'll turn it into a personal family history book. A treasure to share with your family, to pass down to your children, and their children, and the generations to come. Everyone deserves to know their story. So, are you ready to discover yours? Introduction: Why Explore Your Family History?  Genealogy, or the study of family history, is a fascinating journey of discovery. It's about more than just names and dates; it's about uncovering the stories of your ancestors, understanding their lives, and connecting with your heritage. Whether you're curious about your ethnic background, want to learn more about your family's struggles and triumphs, or simply enjoy solving puzzles, family history research can be an incredibly rewarding experience.  My e-book will be designed to guide you through the initial steps of researching your family history. I'll provide you with a step-by-step approach, practical tips, and recommended resources to help you get started on this exciting adventure. My e-book will be available to purchase soon. I'll post an update here and send an email to my subscribers when it's ready. If you haven't already subscribed to my emails, you can do so on this webpage.    Here's a taste of my e-book: The best place to begin your family history research is with what you already know. Gather information from yourself and your immediate family members.  •    Create a Basic Family Tree: Draw a simple family tree chart, starting with yourself, your parents, and your grandparents. Fill in as much information as you know, including full names, dates of birth, marriage, and death, and places of residence.  •    Interview Family Members: Talk to your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other relatives. Ask them about their memories, stories, and family traditions. Take notes or record the interviews (with their permission, of course!). These personal anecdotes can provide valuable clues and insights that you won't find in official records.  •    Gather Family Documents and Photos: Collect any documents and photos you can find, such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, death certificates, old letters, diaries, family Bibles, and photo albums. These items can provide crucial information and add colour to your family's story.  Once you've exhausted the information available from your family, (or if you're unable to do any of those previous steps), it's time to explore online resources. The internet has revolutionised family history research, providing access to vast databases of records and information.  We'll explore online family history research resources in my e-book, so see you on the other side. Lisa The photo in this blog is of my Stanton family c.1922. My grandmother Edna b.1908 is the teenage girl in white dress standing on the left end of back row. My great grandmother Stella Clausen (nee Stanton) b.1887 is next woman to Edna back row centre, next to her is her brother and her Norwegian husband Claus Clausen b.1882 in Bergen Norway is standing at the right end of the back row. Below Stella, the bearded man is her father, my great great grandfather William Stanton, b.1844 in Penrith. His parents, Joseph Stanton, b1805, Hereford, and Hannah Stanton nee Simmons, b.1815 in Shropshire, were convicts. 

The history of the Northern Beaches intertwines with Australia’s broader narrative of exploration and the legacy of indigenous communities. Manly serves as a shining beacon of this history. At the time of the first European colonists, the Guringai people inhabited this area. Captain Arthur Phillip named the region after the Aboriginal population during his visit in 1788. He noted the confidence and masculinity of the Cannalgal and Kayimai clans, who inspired Captain Phillip to name Manly Cove. For a time, Manly was considered a hidden gem, difficult to reach due to its long and perilous 70-mile road from Sydney, which deterred most potential visitors. It was often deemed one of Sydney's least desirable places to live, overshadowed by the allure of surrounding locations. Isolated for years, the small population relied on fishing and farming, fostering a strong and tight-knit community that still embodies the area’s resilient spirit today. In June 1855, Henry Gilbert Smith recognized Manly’s potential as a thriving settlement and invested in its development. He purchased land and constructed hotels, donated space for schools and churches, and established a ferry service to improve accessibility. By 1880, the Manly Council was officially incorporated, and the area had blossomed into a popular seaside resort. Over the following decades, Manly would become a pivotal cultural and vacation hotspot for Sydney, transforming from one of its least populated areas to one of its most sought-after destinations. Paradise Lost As the area gained popularity, Manly began to lose some of its original identity. The surge in visitors drove housing prices up, attracting buyers looking for holiday homes or accommodations, which inevitably pushed out many long-time residents and families. It’s more important than ever to ensure that the history of Manly and its role in the Northern Beaches is preserved so we can sustain the cultural identity this remarkable area has provided over the years. Enter Lost Manly and the Northern Beaches Lost Manly serves as a premier history and culture preservation hub, dedicated to educating people about Manly's rich past and its place within the Northern Beaches. Our products celebrate this history, reminding us of our roots and encouraging both residents and tourists to take pride in the area, ensuring it remains liveable for future generations. Our keepsake calendars feature stunning photography of seafaring ferries, honouring the legacy of the first voyages funded by Henry Gilbert Smith. Additionally, we offer clothing that showcases Manly’s vibrant spirit, including hoodies, polo shirts, and V-neck t-shirts—perfect for leisurely beach walks in the summer! You can shop for our products online or visit our clothing store in Manly. Want to personalize your experience? Customize our logos to your specifications and showcase your connection to the Northern Beaches! If you’d like to bring a touch of Manly and vintage Sydney to your home, we offer beautiful ceramic mugs, posters, and cushion covers—imagine a vintage poster of Manly adorning your teenager's bedroom! At Lost Manly, we aim to preserve the cultural spirit of the Northern Beaches, raising awareness of our heritage and advocating for the preservation of our iconic Freshwater Class Ferries. Ultimately, it’s the people who shape a place’s identity. Cultivating our community spirit and gratitude for living in such a beautiful location is a meaningful pursuit. Together, we can support preservation efforts that honour our shared history and culture. Feel free to reach out for more information by chatting with us online or emailing us at support@lostmanly.com.au. We’re excited to connect with you! And don’t forget to check out all our blog posts here!  

Many Australian family trees boast a convict or two in their lineage. While it was once a secret shame to be covered up at all costs, they are nowadays viewed as 'royalty' and we proudly boast of finding them in our family trees. One only has to watch, 'Who do you thing you are?' to see the excitement upon finding a convict in their family story.  And more often than not, once familiarised with the circumstances, afford a distinct endearment of empathy and compassion for their plight.  As their stories unfold it becomes apparent how unique each story is as they are not easily pidgeon holed or painted with the same brush. From a psychological historical context, traits of strength and resilience, and even trauma, can be passed down through the generations, influenced by our family histories and subconsciously impacted by their experiences of injustice and trauma, love and faithfulness, from generation to generation and we then pass down to our children and their children, and their children's children.  I'm now a firm believer, more than ever before, that those who came by sea to this great southern land, came with their 'baggage' that we inherit and pass on to those who'll come after us. These are our family traits and each family is a unique compilation of past and present.   Our convict past is a vast, diverse blend of stories told of harsh injustices and wanton desperation of survival. More often than not, convicts were victims of the cruel and unjust legal system, written by the privileged few and their children, to protect their hierarchy on the social scale. There was absolute contempt for the poor, and the law was an institutionalised means of scourging the nation of them, and keeping them at arm's length, and better still, ridding the country of them, to as far away places as possible; enter the penal colonies of the world, and Botany Bay was the beginning of the Australian penal colony history.   At this time, the effects of the Industrial Revolution saw many labour jobs disappear resulting in mass unemployment among the lower class, which led to increases in hunger and crime. England's prisons were overflowing with these wretched poor and destitute souls, victims of progress and an unfair and inhumane legal system that disadvantaged them without mercy, harsh punishments were doled out for the smallest of indiscretions, for eg, death sentences for stealing bread or potatoes, desperate to feed their families, and trying to make ends meet. There were no ends for the poor and needy.  A scroll through the online Old Bailey court session journals reveals a litany of such examples. Whereas the sentence for murder of a pauper was often very mild in comparison, encouraged almost. While stealing a handkerchief, a ring, or a silk scarf, could send you to your death or transportation for life to the colonies.  And even still, an orphaned child of 16 years, a dairy maid, sentenced to death for heresay burning down the wheat storage barn as a cry for help, to draw attention to the sexual abuse she was suffering under the hands of the man, who was indentured to care and protect her from harm, was himself perpetrating harm upon her, as alleged in the court case recorded in the Old Bailey files. This orphaned child was my 3x great grandmother.  Though her death sentence at 16 was commuted to Transportation for life to New South Wales in 1831 because the fledgling colony needed more women of child bearing years to mend the imbalance of the sexes, and so she was spared. Though this 'act of mercy' by the judge was more for the sake of benefitting the colony more than giving a damn about the child. This is Hannah's story... Hannah Simmons, b.1815 was born in Prees Green, in Shrewsbury near Shropshire, the youngest of two daughters, Catherine, b.1813, to Thomas and Anne Simmons. More to this story in Hannah's story book tba). The Bubonic Plague and Cholera were ravaging England at this time and many families were left destitute. At the age of 10, Hannah and her sister were handed over to the church orphanage, where Hannah was 'Indentured' to a local farmer at Whixall, named Fordham..... Hannah was schooled in husbandry and by 16 years of age was working as a dairy maid on Fordham's farm, and then we read how Hannah's salvation became her worst nightmare, when she is arrested and charged with Arson for burning down the wheat storage barn at the Fordham farm, and here's what the court case said... Three months into her 16th birthday, Hannah was charged with Arson for setting fire to the wheat stores at the Fordham farm. She went before the Judge at Shrewsbury Prison. Her court case was a sensational scandal and was reported in four local newspapers, of 'he said, she said', with suggestions that the farmer, John Fordham had been taking liberties with the girl, and her actions were a cry for help. A witness gave testimony that he heard Fordham's wife call him evil for taking liberties with the girl, but it fell on deaf ears and the Judge sentenced Hannah to death, yet showed her mercy, by commuting it to Transportation for Life in the penal colony of New South Wales (because the colony needed more child bearing women.  Hannah married Joseph Stanton of Hereford, UK, also a convict, ten years her senior. By all accounts it was a long and happy marriage producing many children, one of which was my great great grandfather William Charles Stanton, b.1845.  William Charles married Mary Barlow, the twin daughter (Mary and Martha) of convict Charles Barlow of Norwich, UK and Amelia Sherringham, daughter of convict Robert Sherringham of Cromer, UK. Charles and Mary has several children also, one of which being Stella Stanton, my great grandmother, b.1887 in Penrith, who married Norwegian sailor Claus Clausen, b.1882 in Bergen, Norway. They too had several children, their first born, Edna Florence, my grandmother, b.1907. Photo of Stanton family in Penrith, dated c1922. The bearded Patriarch in the photo is one of Hannah's sons, William Charles Stanton, b.1842, my great great grandfather. Behind William is his daughter Stella Clausen b.1887, my great grandmother, her husband on the right end, Norwegian sailor Claus Clausen, their first born child on the far left standing, my grandmother Edna Clausen and some of her younger siblings seated in front. I have researched Hannah's life story from her birth in Shrewsbury, Shropshire in 1815, a very extensive research and turning it into a book as its very extensive. Stay tuned for updates. Please share your comments and questions below.

Isabel Letham pioneered surfing for women long before the culture had become widespread in Australia FOR CHAMPION FEMALE surfers in Australia today – such as Stephanie Gilmore, Layne Beachley and Pam Burridge – Isabel Letham was an inspiration, carving the waves in a male-dominated sport during an era when most girls remained on the beach. Born in Sydney in 1899, Letham’s early childhood was spent in Chatswood, north Sydney. At age 10, her family moved to a house built by her master-builder dad, William, near Freshwater Beach, just over the headland from Manly. It suited Letham’s appetite for outdoor and aquatic pursuits, and by her mid-teens she was swimming, diving and bodysurfing. Such interests would have been deemed unconventional, even defiant, among Letham’s more inhibited contemporaries, but these were the early days of a cultural shift that saw swimming and beach-going become national pastimes. Australia’s first female surfer When Hawaiian swimming champion Duke Kahanamoku visited Freshwater to give a surfboard-riding demonstration, the event attracted an enormous crowd, including Letham, then 15. It was the summer of 1914–15 and Kahanamoku – 100 yards freestyle world-record holder and gold medallist at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games – was in Australia to compete in local swimming carnivals. His surfing would change Letham’s life. The Sydney Morning Herald reported: “[Kahanamoku] came out with his surfboard, plunged into the water, and continued to swim out until those watching from the beach wondered when he would stop. After covering nearly half a mile, Kahanamoku turned and prepared for a roller, which came along a moment after; he caught it, and as the wave carried him shorewards, he performed all kinds of acrobatic feats on the board, and finally dived into the water as the roller broke.” When Kahanamoku called for someone to ride tandem with him, Letham volunteered and from then became widely acknowledged as the first Australian to board-surf. She later recalled: “He paddled on to this green wave and, when I looked down, I was scared out of my wits. It was like looking over a cliff. After I’d screamed, ‘Oh, no, no!’ a couple of times, he said, ‘Oh, yes, yes!’ He took me by the scruff of the neck and yanked me on to my feet. Off we went, down the wave.” Female surfing pioneer Despite her initial terror, Letham was hooked. She surfed with Kahanamoku again at a carnival in February 1915, and convinced her father to make her a surfboard to the Hawaiian champion’s specifications – a 34kg slab of American sugar pine. Along with the short-legged, figure-hugging, one-piece swimsuits preferred by Letham, the board features in photos taken between 1915 and 1918. Some historians dispute that Letham was the first Australian to surf and cite examples of boardriding several years earlier. Later, Letham declined to acknowledge the claim to fame, preferring to consider herself the first Australian to ride local waves in the Hawaiian fashion. Either way, the landmark moment launched Letham on a career that in 1918 took her to the USA, where the Hawaiian Star Bulletin gushed she was “the prettiest swimmer to come out of Australia”. Letham remained in the USA as a swimming instructor for most of the 1920s. Her roles included assistant swimming coach at the University of California and director of swimming for San Francisco city council, where in 1926 she instigated the city’s first women’s swimming competition. Letham also attempted to introduce Australian surf-lifesaving methods to California beaches, but her authority was undermined by the Manly Surf Life Saving Club, which denied her membership because of her sex. Returning to Australia in 1929, Letham spent the rest of her career teaching swimming. In 1980 she welcomed the admission, at last, of women as members of Surf Life Saving Australia, the same year that 15-year-old Sydneysider Pam Burridge won the inaugural Australian women’s surfing championship. Pam, who 10 years later became the first Australian-born women’s world surfing champion, had been inspired by Letham. She visited her in a beachside nursing home and recalls the elderly woman looking out the window at the ocean and commenting: “Small waves don’t interest me. I’m only interested in the big ones.” Letham was inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame in 1993 and died in 1995, aged 95. At her request, her ashes were scattered by surfers in the sea off Freshwater Beach in the same way Kahanamoku had been farewelled at Waikiki in 1968. Source: Australian Geographic Mar – Apr 2012 Joanna Gilmour 2012

STANTON, C 33rd Battalion Pte 5087ADied of wounds 2/6/17. I knew Stanton, he was in D.Co.XV Platoon, his initial was C. or S. He came over as a 17th Reinf. To 13th Battn. He was about 5ft8, fair, thickset. He was killed in Ploegsteert Wood, a few days before the battle of Messines in June 1917. I did not see it happen but was told about it at the time by a Pte H.H.Clark (also of D.Co.XV Platoon) who was a mate of Stanton, that he had helped to bury Stanton in the wood. Clark told me that Stanton had been killed outright. Clark was wounded after Stanton was killed and before the battle of Messines. I was a Lance Cpl, before Messines and both Clark and Stanton were in my section. I did not know any other Stanton in the Battn. and there was only one Stanton in D. Co. 5087A would be about Stanton's number.Informant: A'Hern, J. Pte 1054 33rd Battn. D, Co. X Platoon.No.4 Australian General Hospital, RANDWICK.N.S.C. 27/11/17 A reliable witness.SYDNEY BUREAU.From my Stanton family tree, a nephew of my great grandmother Stella Clausen of Soldiers Avenue, Freshwater (renamed Harbord 1922, then back to Freshwater 2008). NSW, Sydney Australia.