#MC37
Ca. 1880
Ink drawing on creamy laid paper, ca. 8x14 cm (3 1/8 x 5 ½ in). Captioned and signed by the author on the lower margin. Mounted on an old card album leaf, with a private albumen print dated ca. 1880s mounted on verso. The album leaf mount is slightly foxed, but the drawing is in very good condition.
This ink drawn view of Manly Beach (now a part of the Northern Beaches, Sydney) was copied from an early photo by an author who signed “A. Hallam” on the margin underneath the picture. The ink drawing gives an interesting view of the original state of one of the most popular beaches near Sydney. The photograph on verso is a Victorian albumen print showing an estate overlooking a seaside, possibly in New South Wales.
Manly Beach was named by Capt. Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales and founder of Sydney, for the indigenous people living there: "Their confidence and manly behaviour made me give the name of Manly Cove to this place" (Wikipedia). Manly started to develop as a seaside resort in the 1850s, with the steamer service from Sydney opening in the 1870s. It was then that the owners of the Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company coined the expression about Manly “Seven miles from Sydney and a thousand miles from care”.
