Manly's History

The naming of Manly

In January 1788, after the satisfaction of seeing all the First Fleet safely anchored in Botany Bay, Governor Phillip was disappointed to find this site recommended by Captain Cook in 1770 was quite unsuitable for a large settlement.

There was not enough fresh water. Most of the soil was very poor, and the bay did not provide good shelter for his ships.

Checking out Port Jackson

So on 21 January 1788, Governor Phillip set out with three small boats to check out Port Jackson. Captain Cook had marked the entrance to Port Jackson on his charts but did not enter it. Governor Phillip also planned, if necessary, to look at Broken Bay, which Cook had also indicated.

In the boats with Phillip were Captain John Hunter, other officers and a party of marines for protection.

"Finest Harbour in the World"

As they came along the coast, Hunter thought the "high, rugged and perpendicular cliffs" unpromising. However, Phillip recorded that when they "got into Port Jackson early in the afternoon" he "had the satisfaction of finding the finest Harbour in the world, in which a thousand sail of the line may ride with the most perfect security."

"Manly Behavior" of the Aborigines

Governor Phillip’s first dispatch from the new colony of New South Wales was sent to England on 15 May 1788. Phillip wrote that he spent three days in Port Jackson, from 21 to 23 January 1788.

Probably during the first afternoon, 21 January 1788 he recorded:

"The boats, in passing near a point of land in the Harbour, were seen by a number of men, and twenty of them waded into the water unarmed, received what was offered them, and examined the boats with a curiosity that gave me a much higher opinion of them than I had formed from the behavior of those seen in Captain Cook’s voyage, and the confidence and manly behavior made me give the name of Manly Cove to this place".

By tradition, the gently sloping beach at Little Manly is the spot where the Aborigines approached the boats. Manly Point is likely to be the "point of land in the harbour".

However, the location is not certain. More recently,an old British Admiralty map, thought to be from Captain John Hunter, shows Manly Cove at what we now call North Harbour, around past Fairlight.

Manly’s Aborigines Dine with Governor Phillip

Governor Phillip wrote "the same people afterwards joined us where we dined". Other accounts also write about Aborigines following round the rocks as the boats with white men in them moved around the harbour.

The main Harbour Beach where the Manly ferry wharf is now located, would be the obvious safe place for the party to land. It is by far the largest and most open beach in the area. It would have been seen as the explorers came inside the Heads.

Phillip tells us more about Manly’s aborigines that day:

"As their curiosity made them very troublesome when we were preparing our dinner, I made a circle round us. There was little difficulty in making them understand that they were not to come within it, and they then sat down very quiet".

Phillip made contact with our local Aborigines many times in the months and years ahead.

Manly Cove Famous from First White Settlement

"Manly Cove" is the only place named in Port Jackson, apart from Sydney Cove (Circular Quay), mentioned by Governor Phillip in his dispatch to England.

"Sydney Cove" was named after Lord Sydney, the British Secretary of State for Colonies, at the time of Governor Phillip’s first white settlement.

Manly is a name famous from the beginning of white settlement in Australia.

Source: Adapted from "Governor Phillip and Companions in Manly Warringah", by Jeanne McGlynn, Manly Warringah Journal of Local History, Vol 1, No. 4, September 1988.