Manly Australia's Premier Seaside Resort - Seven Miles From Sydney and a Thousand Miles from care

Artist John Allcot (Australian, 1888 - 1973)

Publisher Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company

Datec 1940

Object number00019637

NamePoster

MediumColour lithograph on paper

DimensionsOverall: 455 x 290 mm, 0.05 kg

ClassificationsPosters and postcards

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionThis poster advertising ferry services to Manly features the SS SOUTH STEYNE, the world's largest operational steam ferry in the late 1930s. The popular Manly ferry service was instrumental in opening up the seaside suburb to the wider public at a time when car ownership was still limited.HistoryDuring the 1930s the ferry service to Manly was growing in popularity and succeeding to open up the suburb of Manly to the wider Sydney region. The world's largest operational steam ferry, the SS SOUTH STEYNE was built in Leith, Scotland for the Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company, well known ferry operators in Sydney who gained fame for their large cruise like steamers. The ferry was launched on April 1938 and arrived in Australia in September of the same year. SS SOUTH STEYNE was the only Sydney ferry licensed to sail outside the heads and from 1953 til 1973 made regular trips to Broken Bay, giving many Sydneysiders their first experience of an ocean cruise. By the 1930s the service was growing in popularity and helping to open up the suburb of Manly to the wider Sydney region. The SS SOUTH STEYNE crossed between Circular Quay and Manly over 100,000 times in its 36 years of service, before catching fire at a Balmain berth in August 1974. Restoration work commenced in 1987 at Ballina in New South Wales and later in Melbourne. Today (2009) the SS SOUTH STEYNE operates as a floating restaurant in Sydney's Darling Harbour. The SS SOUTH STEYNE is perhaps the most iconic and popular of the Manly ferries.SignificanceThis poster is representative of the Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company’s advertising campaigns which sought to promote their services and encourage harbour tourism in the late 1930s.