This is Stop 15 on the Spit to Manly Walk as marked on the Manly to Spit Walk Map. This fence is all that remains of a beautiful Georgian mansion built in the 1850’s by Henry Gilbert Smith on a subtantial piece land. He is known as the “the father of Manly”. Before him Manly […]

This is Stop 14 on the Spit to Manly Walk as marked on the Manly to Spit Walk Map. It was here, on 21st January 1788, Captain Phillip and his men were met by twenty local Aborigines, who “waded into the water unarmed, received what was offered them, and examined the boats with curiosity.” Impressed […]

This is Stop 13 on the Spit to Manly Walk as marked on the Manly to Spit Walk Map. Romantically, Forty Baskets Beach gained its name from a group of fisherman who caught 40 baskets of fish here in one afternoon in 1885. Far from being greedy, the fish were caught for soldiers at the […]

This is Stop 12 on the Spit to Manly Walk as marked on the Manly to Spit Walk Map. Reef Beach is a Guringai (Kur-ring-gai) Resting Place and is a declared Aboriginal Place by the NSW Govt. Aboriginal remains, originally taken from here and Forty Baskets Beach for display in museums, were reburied here in […]

This is Stop 11 on the Spit to Manly Walk as marked on the Manly to Spit Walk Map. The first known non-Aboriginal person to see Sydney Harbour was Lieutenant (later Captain) Cook of the Royal Navy. In 1770 he noted in his log that he sailed “about 2 or 3 Miles from the Land, […]

This is Stop 10 on the Spit to Manly Walk as marked on the Manly to Spit Walk Map. Crater Cove is one of those places where you continually blink your eyes to make sure it’s not a mirage. Are they really houses down on the cliff edge by the water? Yes. The first one […]

This is Stop 9 on the Spit to Manly Walk as marked on the Manly to Spit Walk Map. Sydney is an open air museum of Aboriginal art. Ranging from hand stencils and charcoal drawings in rock overhangs to these totemic symbols engraved into the rock face. They are up to 1000 years old and […]

This is Stop 8 on the Spit to Manly Walk as marked on the Manly to Spit Walk Map. Grotto Point has the distinction of being the first point inside Port Jackson, later to be called Sydney Harbour, to be mapped. The lighthouse, built in 1911 still operates. When the lights from Grotto Point and […]