A military move to cut down the Manly beachfront pine trees during World War Two was scuppered at the eleventh hour thanks to some fast-thinking locals.
In a previous piece on a local resident John Woods, I mentioned the initial planting in c1877 of the iconic Norfolk Island Pines along the Manly ocean beach frontage.
While synonymous with Manly to this day, there was a moment in their history when they were almost lost.
Horace Hayman was a well-known local resident, builder, timber merchant and timber miller on the Peninsula in the first half of the 20th century.
Readers may remember Mr Hayman and Ellis Hardware at North Manly. In 1942, he received an early morning phone call from Major Bill Mahoney of the Royal Australian Army Engineers based at Victoria Barracks.
He requested Mr Hayman to arrange for timber jinkers and trucks to take away all the pine trees that his company was going to cut down that morning at South Steyne.
Some trees were preventing the planned installation of a heavy gun in the hill behind the surf sheds while many more along the seafront would also have to be removed to give the gun a clear field of fire along the beach to Queenscliff.
Horace agreed but, being a local, he was very concerned. He immediately rang the Mayor of Manly, Bob Miller, who was in the shower. The mayor leapt, almost immediately, into action and took off for Victoria Barracks to try to stop the slaughter.
We know now that he was successful, but not before about six trees had fallen. Horace took them away as requested but we can thank his concern and fast action, and that of Mayor Miller, for preserving the pine-lined promenade that we still enjoy today.
