Peace Park at Manly Point

Continue to the park at the very end of the street.

Peace Park, located here, is one of several world-wide spots where signs proclaim the wish for peace throughout the world. Organised by a Japanese peace movement, the stone near the road was dedicated in 1986. The plaque on the stone and others inspired by the same movement, have the following wording: "World peace begins in the hearts and minds of each individual - may we each seek harmony and peace in our daily lives. "

View the harbour from the park, and look to the left for Little Manly Beach and Collins Flat, which you can visit later on this walk.

Leave the park, returning on this side of the road to the intersection with Stuart Street. Turn right down Stuart Street to find Little Manly Beach. Turn right into Craig Avenue for Little Manly Beach.

The timber house on the corner of Craig Avenue and Stuart Street was the home of James Farrell, fisherman, from 1898. Walking down Craig Avenue towards the beach, you will see a grassed area to the left of the boat ramp. Here Farrell constructed a boatshed in 1916.

Note the stone bench on the grass, with the inscription: In memory of the Farrell family, skilled and brave boatmen and pioneers of Little Manly, 1981.

Little Manly Beach

This beach is a popular family beach and has long been a place of recreation for residents.
Imagine a summer's day in the 1940s. The beach is very busy. Many people are hiring boats and fishing for kingfish and leatherjackets, and for blackfish near Collins Flat. Boating is very popular, and many of the surf clubs keep their boats here for training. In 1976 the house and boatshed were sold to Manly Council. The boatshed was demolished.

The enclosed pool at the eastern end of the beach was constructed in 1880. It was known as the Crystal Baths. A keen eye can detect the faded word `BATHS' on the rock face beside the pool. The original fencing was timber rather than metal. See the tiny pools in the rocks at the edge of the beach. Do you think these were formed naturally? Note that a shed once stood here. It was supported on timber poles.

Storms ahead

As it faces south, this beach is exposed to storms. In June 1974, two weeks after the storm that damaged the pool in Manly Cove, a ship rolled coming through the Heads, and lost all of her deck cargo of oregon. The 12-metre (40-ft) timber lengths floated into Little Manly Beach, where they were piled up and later auctioned.

Take the steps that begin near the enclosed pool, and continue south-east. The path that joins the steps will take you to Little Manly Point.

Little Manly Point - Gasworks

Little Manly Point, once an industrial site, is now a park. The Manly Gas Company's works originally produced gas here for anyone within five miles (8 km) of Manly Post Office. The company purchased the land for £600 and paid half the cost of making good the road from the bottom of Stuart Street to Little Manly Point. Gas was used for lighting from 1884, and by 1923 there were 329 lights covering 30 miles (50 km) of streets. Lamplighters climbed ladders to light each lamp with a taper, for which they were paid 25 shillings a week. From 1926 gas was also supplied to Warringah as far as Collaroy and Narrabeen, and several years later reached as far as Newport. The walk around the park was opened in 1992. The plaques show how the gasworks operated.

Coal was brought by ship to the Point and offloaded from Spring Cove at the jetty there. Apart from producing gas the works had by-products: coke, which was sold as a fuel and used by ferries among others; tar, which was used for road surfacing; and ammonia, which was punted away, distilled and sold as long as it was economic to do so.

When the gasworks were opened in 1883, the Point was isolated from the rest of Manly. Gradually, however, housing increased in the area, and some employees later moved, to live close by in Stuart Street. The gasworks employed about 40 men. Some played quoits at lunchtime, and at one time cricket nets were used on the lower area beside Little Manly Beach. The company was considered progressive, with all the most up-to-date equipment by the time it reached its heyday in 1938.

The showroom in Manly even gave weekly lectures on cooking. The switch from cooking with fuel stove to a gas stove which gave instant heat, with no cleaning of ashes, was an important change for many women during the first half of the twentieth century.

End of an era

However, as an increasing population began to need more gas, the site became too small. The works closed in 1964, and were sold to the NSW government in 1970. The buildings were demolished in 1971, but the site lay otherwise untouched for many years. A new park was created here, with a quantity of toxic waste being removed or sealed in the ground, and the whole area was landscaped and planted. Since the park was opened in 1992, it has become a popular recreation area.

Spring Cove

Spring Cove lies to the east of this park. In 1975 a 12-metre strip of foreshore, part of St Patrick's Estate, was made available for a public walkway. The buildings of the Quarantine Station are visible on its further shore, as is the Australian Institute of Police Management, site of a hospital for seamen during World War I. From 1832 ships would anchor in Spring Cove if there was anyone on board with a contagious or infectious disease. From 1837 accommodation was established on shore, and new arrivals were isolated there. From 1838 signal flags were flown at Cannae Point to warn of the dangers of approaching the Quarantine Station, and a yellow flag ordered ships with contagious passengers to take them to be quarantined. The signal mast, which was probably erected in 1853-4, has been repaired from time to time, most recently after lightning damage in 1986.

Plague!

The Station was also used to isolate Sydney residents. In 1900 there was an outbreak of bubonic plague, and cases from both the city and Manly were quarantined. It was last used for Vietnamese refugees, and was closed in 1984 and given to the state government. It became part of the Sydney Harbour National Park, administered by the National Parks and Wildlife Services. The Quarantine Station, a unique element of Australia's heritage, was left almost untouched for most of the twentieth century.

For a longer walk through bushland and a secluded beach, continue from the end of Stuart Street down the path to the left to Collins Beach. There are some steep steps to and from Collins Beach, and the path may be muddy.

Otherwise go to `Darley Road'. Or return via Wood Street.