The suburbs to the north of Manly Lagoon weren’t always as accessible as they are today. A footbridge and stairs provided the first link.
In its early days, Manly was quite isolated from the rest of the Peninsula. Manly Lagoon (then called Curl Curl Lagoon) cut it off with its extensive wetlands. The overland route was west along Balgowlah Road and then north on Jenkins Road (Condamine Street today).
As Manly grew, post 1860, this situation frustrated real estate speculators. There was prime residential land on the northern side of the lagoon, particularly near the coast.
In 1885, the developers of the Queenscliff Estate subdivision — which encompassed most of the land from Crown Road, on the top of the Harbord headland, south to the edge of Manly Lagoon — bit the bullet. They built a footbridge near the mouth of the lagoon and cut a set of stairs from the northern end of the bridge up to the top of the headland.
This provided access to the magnificent views over Manly Beach and the ocean, from Manly to Queenscliff, and the area rapidly developed.
The footbridge served as a link for more than 30 years and was only replaced by a road bridge (funded jointly by Manly and Warringah Councils) in 1918. That bridge was rebuilt, and upgraded in strength, in 1990, this time funded solely by Manly Council.
The footbridge almost had a competitor. Robert Lewers bought acreage on the oceanfront at Harbord with plans to subdivide it. In 1908 he built The Kiosk which stands today as Pilu Restaurant. To make the walk for day-trippers from Manly less arduous, he had a tunnel cut through the base of the Queenscliff headland. He never fully completed it though – perhaps realising how dangerous the route could be in high tides and rough surf – and the idea died with him in 1911 when he committed suicide.
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.