AUS-NSW-SYDNEY-L Archives

Archiver > AUS-NSW-SYDNEY > 2003-12 > 1071133510


From: "Janice Doughty" <>
Subject: [ANS] Sydney-A day at the beach..Part 2
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 20:05:15 +1100


Marg and Listers,

........continued..........

If you decided that you wished to visit the surfing beach, your crossed over from the Wharf to Hay's Corner, if you looked to your right you could see the wonderful old theatre, the Embassy. Once you reached Hay's corner you then made your way up The Corso. In those days The Corso was not closed off as a mall as it is today, traffic travelled up and down The Corso from the wharf to the beach. Crossing over at Darley Road you passed St. Matthews Church of England, continuing towards the beach, you passed by the yummy Fish and Chips shops until you reached the corner. On this corner was a milk bar and on the roof of this shop was a large neon sign advertising Skol Suntan oil with a little girl with blonde hair in bunches and a dog pulling down the back of her cossies, the cossies moved up and down as the dog dragged on them.

The excitement would now grow as the smell of salt would be thick in the air and you could hear the waves crashing on the sand. You crossed over the Steyne and ran under the tall Norfolk pine trees. If you arrived early enough you were in time to join the children under the trees for the Salvation Army Sunday school and listen to their band, sometimes you were given triangles or a tambourine to clang and bang in time with the music and song. Or some of the other churches set up the Sunday School down on the sand. If you were not interested you would run down the sand to the water's edge, you always wore a rubber bathing cap to keep your hair dry, they always smelt funny. Once at the water's edge you would dive into the waves, however if you had your bubble cossies on and got tossed around on the sandy bottom, when you came out of the water you would find the bottom of your costumes would be full of sand, that was really, Yuk.

Your parents would either hire an umbrella and sit on the sand on the beach, or they would hire a deck chair on the southern end outside the old South Steyne Surf Club, where they would rest and read the Sunday paper, while watching you play and swim down on the beach. If you needed suntan oil you paid a man to spray you at high pressure with suntan oil, you were then ready to crisp yourself in the sun and guarantee many years down the track you would be making many visits to the Skin Cancer Clinic. A big thrill when you were bigger was to hire a black rubber surfer plane for an hour or more and ride the waves into shore. Lunch would be hot chips and a coke from the Fish and Chip across the road. After you had worn yourself out jumping over the waves, you would drag your father down to the water's edge and with your bucket and spade start to dig holes and let the incoming water fill them or you would build a sand castle.

Later on in the afternoon, chairs would be set up in front of the Music Shell next to the South Steyne Surf Club, the area would quickly fill up, children sitting in the front on the concrete and the parents taking up the chairs. A free concert would then be put on for everyone, with comedians, singers and a band. Across the road on the corner of South Steyne and Ashworth Avenue, was the Roller Skating Rink. When it was time to make our way back down The Corso to catch the late afternoon ferry, we would first stop at this small structure on the promenade, it housed a wishing pool where you threw money in the pool and made a wish. The money was to be used to help the building of Manly Hospital, at the back of the wishing pool was a miniature building of the hospital.

If you were lucky and you had to wait a half an hour or so for the next ferry your parents may take you on to the Fun Peir, for a ride on the Ghost Train or a ride on the Ferris Wheel and to be double lucky they may buy you a Fairy Floss. Once on the ferry and now on the way home, to the relief of many parents most children didn't take long to fall asleep as they were so exhausted, sunburnt and very happy after having such a great day at the beach. No one seemed to mind the long travelling time by public transport to reach home, as that is just how it was. This was Sydney on a Sunday, at Manly beach in the late 1940s or the 1950s.

Regards,
Janice

This thread: