Physical Changes

Development within the Manly area became rapid following completion of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in l932. All suitable residential areas were quickly taken up and market gardens sprang up along the creeks, which fed into the lagoon in North Manly and Brookvale.

The waterways of Manly Lagoon and its tributary creeks have been the subject of significant man-made changes over at least the past sixty years or so. Of particular interest is that Hinkler Park was an island up until the l950s when the former southern channel, some l3 to l5m wide, was artificially closed during bridge and roadworks and replaced by a small 600mm diameter pipe culvert.

Only 10% of the original wetlands in the lagoon catchment remain, 90% having been landfilled and/or reclaimed, for:

Lagoon Park as far south as the present Stella Maris School; Aitken Avenue; Manly Golf Course; Hinkler Park; Warringah Golf Course (south of Kentwell Road); District Park (now Nolan Reserve); Warringah Mall shopping centre; Playing fields off Aquatic Drive; Passmore Reserve; Addiscombe Road; T.S. Condamine; Wakehurst Golf Course.

Former Tip Sites:

Addiscombe Road; Lagoon Park (eastern end); Playing fields off Aquatic Drive.

Foreshore Former Market Garden Sites:

Along the southern side of the waterway from Manly Creek downstream to the eastern end of Campbell Parade.

Source: Mcinnes, H. Problems and Principles in Estuarine Management.