Condemned Manly cottage part of cycling history
Northern Beaches Council recently approved a development in Whistler Street, Manly which will result in the demolition of a tiny timber cottage. It was built in 1899 by Edward Hind, a notable carpenter and prominent member of the Manly Bowling Club (he was club champion four times!).
The Hind family was an integral part of the early days of Manly. There are 13 ‘Hinds’ – and no doubt additional female descendants whose names changed on marriage – buried in Manly Cemetery, including Ernest who died in 1939 and his wife Miriam who died in 1938. They both lived in this house, which they called Canna, until a few years before their deaths.
Edward’s sporting activities were not confined to lawn bowls. He was a founding member of the Manly Bicycle Club. At its formation in 1885, he was elected as their delegate to the NSW Cycle Union and the next year also became treasurer.
To put these dates into some context, the first event that the club competed in was the Suburban Bicycle Club intercolonial meeting on 9 May 1885, held at the Association Cricket Ground (today’s Sydney Cricket Ground). Edward, off 90 yards, came last in his heat of the maiden one-mile handicap, although some of his fellow members fared quite well.
The Manly riders, and all other competitors, were mounted on slightly modified penny-farthing bicycles, known as roadsters. Today’s ‘safety’ bicycle, with its two equal road wheels and chain drive to the rear, was invented that same year, 1885.
It is sad that, with the demolition of this modest cottage, we will lose a very tangible connection to our local history. Although identified in earlier heritage studies of Manly, it somehow was never added to the formal list of properties for protection.
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.