At one point in time, the beaches were set for a bullfrog population boom.
The Northern Beaches could have been the frog-farming capital of Australia. In 1935, Mr Harris of Dee Why set up a farm alongside Dee Why Lagoon. He imported 18 American bullfrogs, although only eight survived the journey.
This setback did not dampen the enthusiasm of the newspapers at the time. Reporting that the remaining frogs were thriving on the farm next to the lagoon, they quoted Mr Harris as saying that ‘over 100million frogs a year are being consumed in New York and Chicago alone and I see no reason why Australians shouldn’t take to them’.
The frog farming venture sank without trace, which is fortunate as it’s unlikely that Mr Harris would have been able to confine the frogs to his farm. The Northern Beaches could have had its own cane toad disaster!
Mr Harris was not the first to farm frogs on the Northern Beaches. The NZ Taranaki Herald reported in 1917 that Leon Gebehr was ‘operating the only frog farm in Australia at Balgowlah, near Manly’ and that ‘they were raised not for culinary but for scientific purposes, being sold in large numbers to the universities’.
They further reported that a recent visitor to the farm found stocks somewhat depleted – there were only about 4,000 all told! Given there are no subsequent reports, it’s presumed that the Balgowlah effort, like the later bullfrog attempt, did not succeed long term.
This seems to have been the pattern with frogs on the Northern Beaches. In the early 2000s, efforts were made to establish a colony of the endangered green and golden bell frog in a reconstructed wetland on Long Reef golf course. Over many years, 9,000 tadpoles were released, but a colony did not establish itself.
Richard Michell is the vice-president of the Manly, Warringah and Pittwater Historical Society and the secretary of Friends of Dee Why Lagoon. Visit mwphs.org.au and fodyl.au respectively.