Sydney then and now: Manly

Here's a view of Manly from Kangaroo Hill looking south taken by Henry King taken some time between 1891 and 1909:

The photograph is from the Powerhouse Museum's Tyrrell Photographic Collection and may be viewed on Flickr here and at the museum's website here.

 

Here's the view I took today:

 

I've dated the top photograph as having been taken between 1891 and 1909 because St. Mary's Catholic Church had a development history which included the nave being built in 1891 and the 1909 Blessing of the Sanctuary, Sacristy and transepts after they were added.  (ref. here ) The nave of the church may be seen in the right middle distance of the top photograph, without the later additions.

The front view of the church looked like this today:

 

Paula Bray at the Powerhouse Museum was wondering where the top photograph by Henry King was taken.  I've tracked it down to Kangaroo Park, off Kangaroo Street on top of a natural rock escarpment near the statue of a kangaroo 

Here's the Google Map and the marker "A" shows the precise spot from which I took  my photograph:

View Larger Map

and here's the well weathered statue of a kangaroo which was erected in 1856:

 

That thing on the head of the kangaroo is a red Santa hat.  The statue was erected by Henry Gilbert in 1856.

Comments

[Paula Bray]

Fantastic researh Bob-thanks for the effort required to get that comparison shot.

Amazing to see how much this view has changed-will geo-map this now!

[Bob Meade]

I waited until now to let someone else have a turn, but ... there is just me.