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Von Tosseau (or von Tossau), Arthur Neven (d1927)
Arthur von Tosseau.
Manly Daily / Gabrielle Ewington
Arthur Von Tosseau was a surfing identity in the early part of the 20th century, who was popularly
known as “The Poster King”. He specialised in lightning sketches. North Steyne Surf Life-Saving
Club stalwart Bert Owen recalled: “Where the Art Gallery is, that originally was a shell and the
Poster King operated there and he ran a variety show there for two or three seasons. The Poster
King had three big easels on the stage and he would do lightning sketches, like Rolf Harris, White
Wings Flour and all this sort of thing and of course he was paid for that and then after the interval
he’d do another three there, he had some good artists there and of course why I know all this was, I
worked at the Serenaders as a boy… I worked at the Poster King’s and he used to pay me 7/6d a
week which was a lot of money you know in those days.”
Von Tosseau was of French-Canadian heritage. He organized Freshwater Surf Life Saving
Club’s first carnival in 1909 and designed its first club badge. He and his wife were great travellers
and drove around Australia by car in the 1920s, no mean feat in those days.
He was killed in a car accident in Wellington, NSW, in 1927, aged 54.
W
Watters, George
George Watters was Manly Cemetery’s most important monumental mason for over fifty years.
He came to Manly in 1918. He had a crippled left hand which kept him from enlistment in World
War One. Instead he worked at Lithgow’s Commonwealth Small Arms Factory before coming to
Manly at the end of the war. He learned his trade of monumental mason at Mudgee.
He may have rented before moving into his own mason’s yard on the south-east corner of Hill
and Griffiths Streets, Balgowlah, opposite Manly Cemetery. Around 1922, George moved into his
own home at what is now 29 Hill Street, while maintaining his mason’s yard on the corner just down
the hill from his house.
Watters’ office was on the corner of Hill and Griffiths Streets, while the workshop, storeroom and
other sheds were on the southern boundary of the lot. He often worked in the yard seven days a
week to keep up with demand. George Taylor, the full-time gravedigger, was known to dig up to
three graves a day when required. Very heavy manual labour was involved in shaping, lifting and
polishing the sandstone blocks especially on raw winter mornings.
In the mid-to-late 1960s, George Watters amalgamated with Mullens Brothers who ran a mason’s yard at Frenchs Forest. Together, Watters and Mullens remained in business at Manly cemetery until the late 1970s.
George Watters’ mason’s inscription can be found on the base of many gravestones at Manly
Cemetery, often accompanied by the plot number also carved in the sandstone. Several late
Watters and Mullens small brass plates can also be found.
Weekes, Mayor Nicholas (d1887)
Nicholas Weekes.
Nicholas Weekes, a chemist, came to Manly from Glebe circa 1885. He is recorded at Mount
Pleasant, Norton Street, Manly in 1885, and at Addison Road in 1886. His house was on the east
side of Addison Road, between Kulnura and Maretimo He became Mayor of Manly in 1887, but died
in office.
Weekes Road in Clontarf is named after him. This may have been the doing of his neighbour
and friend, John Griffin, who succeeded him as Mayor, and named several streets in Manly after
various members of his family and friends.
According to the Minutes of Manly Council, Mayor Weekes died on the 9th June 1887 at Dr. Tarrant’s Hospital in Sydney, where he had been removed after an attack of paralysis; condolences
were sent to his widow. His death fell in the middle of an election to replace another alderman who
had resigned on 19th May 1887, and hurried arrangements had to be made for another returning
officer to be appointed as the poll was on the 10th of June.
Wellings, Leslie Clarence (1889-1973)
MAN02313. Leslie C. Wellings, c1949
Leslie C. Wellings came to Manly in 1902. In 1909 he commenced employment at Manly Municipal Council as a Junior Clerk, and became Assistant Town Clerk just prior to being granted leave of
absence in 1915 for active service in World War I. He was Bandmaster of the 8th Infantry Brigade
A.I.F., and being in charge of regimental stretcher-bearers, participated in engagements at Fro-
melles, Messines, the Somme, Ypres and other zones he was to be awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and decorated by the then Prince of Wales, at Government House, Sydney, in 1920.
Mr. Wellings returned to his position as Assistant Town Clerk in 1919 and was appointed Town
Clerk following the death of Mr. Hogan in 1921. He retired in 1957.
Mr. Wellings was a member of many local organisations. He was a member of Manly Band from
1904 and won the professional solo cornet championship of Australasia at Ballarat in 1912. He was
President of Manly Rotary Club 1952-53. He was an active member of the Manly and District Citizens’ Relief Committee which began in 1921 and which helped the poor and needy of Manly and
district. Mr. Wellings was also a foundation member of the Manly, Warringah and Pittwater Historical Society undertaking the duty of the Society’s archivist. He was not only custodian of documents,
but also carried out many researches covering the beginnings of Manly and its progress over the
years. Perhaps the most well known of the works undertaken by him was the paper on The Streets
of Manly and the Origin of their Names, which was read before the Society of Australian Genealogists on June 25, 1947.
When it was decided to create a new postal district between Manly and Balgowlah, Mr. Wellings
was asked to suggest an appropriate name for the area. He suggested that Fairlight would be suitable and this was later adopted.
In recognition of Mr. Wellings’ years of service as a member of the Council’s administrative staff,
the reserve on the Northern foreshores of North Harbour, extending to the waterfall, was named
Wellings Reserve. In the 1967 New Year’s Honours, Mr. Wellings was awarded the MBE for services to local government.
The many scrapbooks compiled by Mr. Wellings show his great interest in the Manly area and its
history. These books, kindly donated to Manly Library by his daughter Mrs. Beryl Carter, are a valuable addition to the Library’s Local History Collection. This collection was officially named the Wellings Local History Collection on Friday, 6th April, 1979.
Whaley, John (c1800-1885)
The following information is abridged from Profiles of the Pioneers by George and Shealgh
Champion:
John Whaley (Whealey, Whalan and other variations) and his father, also John Whaley, had
been convicted together in County Antrim, Ireland, in March 1821, each being sentenced to seven
years’ transportation. They arrived in Sydney on the Isabella in March 1822. John Whaley Junior
was 16 years old when he arrived, height 5ft 4¾in, with a pale complexion, brown hair and hazel
eyes. As convicts, they were sent to Parramatta, and both were assigned to Gregory Blaxland. In a
statutory declaration dated 10 October 1876, John Whaley Junior said that in 1824 “I removed to
Manly Beach to take care of cows belonging to my father who kept a dairy in Sydney and as the
cows my father kept in Sydney became dry I took them down to Manly for fattening, driving up others which were in milk.”
John Whaley Junior received his Ticket of Leave on 27 June 1827, and his Certificate of Freedom on 17 March 1828. Following the murder of Patrick Duffey at North Harbour in 1830, Whaley
was arrested and tried at the Supreme Court. However, despite the efforts of the prosecution, he
was found not guilty.
On 7 January 1834 John Whealey applied to the Surveyor General to purchase 25 acres of land
bounded by Burnt Bridge Creek on the north, and the Township of Balgowlah on the east. This was
followed on 2 June 1834 by a second application, this time for 15 acres which was refused as the lot
was too small, 50 acres being the minimum size.
He supplied milk to the Quarantine Station. The Minerva was quarantined in 1838, and Dr. Stuart wrote to the Colonial Secretary on 29 January, “There is a person who keeps cows in this
neighbourhood, and as the milk is better than that from Sydney, I will thank you to authorize me to
draw from him which quantity I may require for the sick.” At the end of the quarantine period, “J.
Whaley residing in the neighbourhood of Spring Cove” was paid ₤35 for his milk. In December
1839 “John Whylie a resident near Spring Cove” was authorized to supply milk to emigrants in quarantine from the ship North Britain at the contract price of 8d per quart.
The 1841 census listed John Whaley living at Manly Cove, apparently with his wife and six children. His wife was Jane Shadwick or Chadwick, whom he married in 1846. Some of their children
were: Daniel; Elizabeth; Henry (b.27 October 1839, married Joanna Foley 1864); Sarah (b.7 Jan
1842, married George Sly 1867); William (b.27 Oct 1844); Helen (b.28 March 1846); Anne (b.29
April 1852); Crawford (b.24 Sept 1859, married Sarah Booth 1885).
John Whaley purchased sixteen acres of land at Cabbage Tree Beach from Charles Andrews
and Christopher Skally on 9 August 1847. The Sydney Commercial Directory for 1851 listed him as
“woodman, Manly Cove.” This land was sold by Whaley and his wife Jane to Henry Gilbert Smith
for ₤200 on 30 January 1855.
On 16 May 1855 Whaley received a land grant of 20 acres at Forty Baskets, which he purchased
for ₤70. It appears from directories and electoral rolls that he probably lived on this land at North
Harbour, Sands’ Directory for 1875 listing him again as “woodman”. The land actually measured
more than 20 acres, and he sold the excess, of about nine acres, to James Alexander Cowan on 16
August 1867. He sold 20 acres to Jabez William Small for ₤140 on 27 February 1874. Whaley
purchased Lot 37 on the east side of Whistler Street from H.G. Smith on 28 April 1875, for ₤50, and
lived there for the rest of his life.
His wife Jane died of accidental drowning in 1880: John and Jane’s son Daniel Whaley
(Whealey), a waterman or boatman at North Harbour, died in 1881; and John Whaley himself died
in 1885, aged 85.
Whittle, Alderman George E (1883- 1964)
MAN02413 Alderman Whittle, 1929 MML
The following is taken from an obituary in the Manly Daily, 30 December 1964:
“George Whittle was born in England in 1883 and migrated to Australia with his family in 1898, to
join his father, who had come to Sydney a year previously to open up W Chorley’s Ladies Tailoring
section in George Street, Sydney. As a lad and young man, George had worked at Beard Watson’s, Bushell’s Tea Co, The Carrington at Katoomba, and later went to sea, gaining his AB certificate.
Just before 1906 he worked at Hudson’s Timber Yard at Glebe, where Mr George Hudson met
him and got him to take charge of his Manly Chair Company. During his regime as manager of the
Chair Co at South Steyne, there were afternoon and evening band recitals on Sundays, and also
Saturday evenings and holidays in the summer season.
Including Manly’s own famous band, under Mr Hawkins and later Mr Pheloung, other bands secured to play included French, Italian, American, English and many oddments in the entertainment
field. People Mr Whittle met and chatted with included Lord Dudley and Lord Foster, many State
Governors, Dame Nellie Melba, John McCormack, Clara Butt and many others, and to all and sundry he was ‘George’.
In 1928 he stood for Council with a ‘New Blood’ team, who were elected, and spent three years
with his Municipal comrades on a programme of improvement which has continued more or less
since then. He was Deputy-Mayor for a term. He did not then stand for re-election, but some years
later, on completion of his employ with the Council he again stood and was elected an Alderman,
when he served another six years.
The Depression and the effects of radio development brought about a change of occupation and
George entered the service of Manly Council and remained there until reaching the age limit of 70.
Shortly after, until a year ago, he was on the staff of The Manly Daily, which commenced the same
year that George came to Manly, 1906.
He attended services at both Manly Methodist Church and the Salvation Army, he having been in
the North Sydney Corps over 40 years ago.
In earlier years George was a pillar of strength in the Friendly Societies of the district and helped
organise Manly’s first horse-drawn ambulance. He was a trustee of the Friendly Societies Dispensary up to the time of decease. One of Mr Whittle’s greatest interests was the Far West Health
Scheme.
A regular attender at the Manly Lodge of the Manchester Unity Odd Fellows right up to the last
meeting before his death, he was also a member of the Druids and Rechabites. George was Secretary of Manly UFS Dispensary from 1915 to 1918, and was a founder and member of the Balgowlah
Friendly Societies Hall. The Masonic Craft also held his interest, he having been a member of
Lodge St John; Lester Marine; a foundation member of Lodge Manly Temperance, to which he was
still attached, and several other lodges.”
Wild, Richard John (?-1933)
Scan 14.08.06 R J Wild, 1933
R J Wild and Sons was one of Manly’s most successful and enduring businesses. Richard John
Wild migrated to Australia from England in the late 1850’s. In reminiscences in the Daily Telegraph,
7 January 1927 on “The Corso in 1877”, ‘R J’, as he was known, recalled arriving in Manly in 1877.
He helped out the then Minister of St Matthew’s Church, Reverend Willis: “I did the removal of their
furniture from Manly to Sutton Forest. Next to the church was vacant land, on which I have seen
the aborigines do their corroborees.”
R J began his carrying business in 1879, with a single cart and horse. By 1895 he had expanded and moved to new premises in Victoria Parade, this time between Darley Road and South
Steyne, still on the west side. He was to retain this site, which ran through to Wentworth Street, for
several decades, even after opening new offices both in Manly, the City and eventually Leichhardt.
He married Caroline Stephens, daughter of William George Stephens, in 1882, and they had at
least 14 children: Edwin 1883 and 1885; Stanley 1884; Florence 1887; Elma 1889; Emily 1891;
Charles 1891; Jessie 1892; Irene 1894 and 1896; Kate 1895; Alice 1898; Edith 1900; Norman 1903.
Mrs Caroline Wild died in 1942.
R J was a devout Methodist who helped establish the Manly
Methodist Church in West Promenade, opposite Gilbert Park.
By 1905, business was prospering sufficiently to support a fine new house in Wentworth Street,
and a new office at Manly Wharf. By 1910, R J had expanded further, adding his sons to “R J Wild
and Sons, Limited, General Carriers and Forwarding Agents.” The business was now established
at [25] Victoria Parade, [20-22] Wentworth Street and Manly Wharf.
By 1914, the Wild family businesses had expanded again, with R J Wild and Sons adding a second telephone number to their office at Manly Wharf; Edwin R Wild established with an additional
depot at “Fulham”, 235 Pittwater Road, Manly, on a large site adjoining the Manly Tramway Depot
and Sheds close to Manly Lagoon; William Wild, manager of the Manly Motor Garage in Whistler
Street; and James Wild at 67 Stuart Street, Manly. Arthur Wild, one of R J’s four brothers, estab-
lished the hansom cabs at Manly Wharf and kept his creamy ponies near the family home.
In 1918, R J opened his first city office, at 13 Barlow Street near the Darling Harbour wharves.
His Manly-based carrying operation had outgrown the Victoria Parade site and was moved to
“Fulham”. In January 1927 R J Wild and Sons advertised: “1879-1927, Established 48 years” with
“Head Office at Victoria Parade, Manly; Branch Office and Stores at 26 Whistler Street and [235]
Pittwater Road, Manly; and City Office at 40 Harbour Street (off Liverpool Street), Sydney.” The
horse-drawn charabanc that seated 20, and the hansom cabs drawn by creamy ponies were in time
replaced by a new fleet of motor vans, trucks, taxis and hire cars. In 1978, R J’s nephew, Noel
Wild, remembered both fleets working side by side in the 1920’s. He recalled “unharnessing for him
one evening and committing the crime of undoing every single buckle!”
Wilson, Thomas (fl 1860s)
Thomas and Priscilla Wilson were the parents of Mary Jane Wilson, whose marriage certificate
survives, dated 22nd July 1861 and with the place of residence of bride given as “Manly Beach”.
It is thought that Thomas Wilson was transported to Australia as a convict in 1824 for 14 years.
He was sent to Prospect to work for William Lawson, one of the explorers of the Blue Mountains. In
about 1828 he was pardoned. We know by Mary Jane’s christening certificate they were living in
Lane Cove in 1842 and in 1854 in Pittwater. They were living in Manly in 1861 when Mary Jane
married. He may be the same Thomas Wilson who signed his name to the Petition for the formation
of Manly as a Municipality.
Mary Jane Wilson married James Tobin on 22nd July 1861. James Tobin, a dairy farmer, also
lived at Manly Beach, and owned a few properties in what would now be the centre of Manly. On
11th August 1890 James Tobin drowned at Circular Quay at the P&O Wharf. He was 55 years old
and left 10 children.
In 1897 Mary Jane married Richard Louis Saillard. Mary Jane died on 12th July 1924 in Manly
Cottage Hospital aged 81, and is buried in the Roman Catholic section of Manly Cemetery.
Wise, George Foster (1814-1897) and Mrs Frances (1817-1889)
The Australian Dictionary of Biography vol 6, p429 summarises the life of George Wise:
“G F Wise was born at Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight, 1814. He migrated to Australia on the Alfred
and married Frances Marsh, whom he befriended on the voyage, at Muswellbrook on 21 June 1842.
They had no children.
He was… engaged in land dealing in Camden, Kiama and Moreton Bay where he set up as a
land agent; he returned to Sydney in 1844 and became a magistrate in 1846…
Wise was appointed agent for immigration and a member of the Immigration Board on 1 November 1862. [He succeeded Dr Haynes G Alleyne, and among his duties was the supervision of the
condition of the Quarantine Station.] He implemented government policy of sponsored, assisted
immigration, supervised standards and conditions in migrant vessels, received newly arrived migrants and reported to parliament. He was acting sheriff and acting inspector of prisons in 1869-70
and compiler of census in 1870-73. Sincere and conscientious, he was not a notable administrator
but he exerted himself to find work for migrants.
A devout Anglican, Wise was a member of Sydney Diocesan synods in 1870-91. He… was a
committee-man and office-bearer of the Home Visiting and Relief Society (1862-87), the NSW Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind (1866-91) and a director of the Sydney Infirmary and
Dispensary (1871-81). In the 1870s Wise was a director of the Illawarra Steam Navigation Co, but
resigned after a question in parliament in 1879.
He retired on a pension on 31 December 1891, and returned to the Isle of Wight, where he died
on 14 August 1897 at Bembridge House, George Street, Ryde.”
Wise appears to have been in Manly from circa 1873; he is described as ‘freeholder’ in the 1876
Petition for the formation of the Municipality. His residence in Manly may have related to its convenient proximity to the Quarantine Station. According to historian Shelagh Champion, “At the end of
1873, George Foster Wise purchased land bounded by North Steyne, Raglan Street and Henrietta
Lane, being about one third of the block between Raglan Street and the Corso. (The Steyne Hotel is
on the Corso corner of the block). He purchased a similar amount of land bounded by Henrietta
Lane, Raglan Street and Central Avenue (then called Norton Street)… Wise built his home, Ocean
Wise appears to have been in Manly from circa 1873; he is described as ‘freeholder’ in the 1876
Petition for the formation of the Municipality. His residence in Manly may have related to its convenient proximity to the Quarantine Station. According to historian Shelagh Champion, “At the end of
1873, George Foster Wise purchased land bounded by North Steyne, Raglan Street and Henrietta
Lane, being about one third of the block between Raglan Street and the Corso. (The Steyne Hotel is
on the Corso corner of the block). He purchased a similar amount of land bounded by Henrietta
Lane, Raglan Street and Central Avenue (then called Norton Street)… Wise built his home, Ocean
View, on a large lot on the corner of North Steyne and Raglan Street. The Clarendon Hotel was on
the opposite corner. He is listed in Sands’ Directories as living there in 1877, 1880, 1883 and 18851891 inclusive. He is also listed in the 1891 census, his household consisting of 4 males and 2 females. Ocean View occupied a large size lot, much larger than the space occupied by the present
Paradise Motel at 54 North Steyne.”
At Ocean View, Wise had one of the first lifts to be installed in a private residence, for the benefit
of his crippled wife, Fanny, Mrs Frances Wise. She was born Frances Marsh in 1817 at Jamaica.
She and her brother John Marsh were orphaned when babies, and taken to England by their grandmother. Frances came to Australia on the Alfred, arriving 16th January 1839, with her uncle, Sir
Francis Forbes, the Chief Justice.
She earned great respect for her activity in the Sydney Foundling Hospital, the Society for the
Relief of Destitute Children, and the Sydney Female Refuge Society, as well as her work as a lady
visitor in the homes of destitute and handicapped children. She died 13th June 1889.
Woolland, Ernest (1876-1960)
Ernest Woolland
Ernest Woolland featured as number 19 in the series, ‘Moulders of Manly’, in the Manly Daily,
28th August, 1946 (extract):
“Ernest Woolland was born at Willoughby in 1876. His father, who was an orchardist, was one of
the pioneers of this district. He was educated at the North Sydney Superior Public School, as it was
termed, at that time, and later took up the work of painter and decorator. He came to Manly in 1902
and entered into partnership with his brother in the well-known firm of Woolland Bros. Ill health
forced his retirement in 1936.
One of Manly’s outstanding institutions in the early years of this century was the Manly Rifle Club
of which Ernest Woolland was a foundation member. In 1905 a few of the enthusiastic got together
and were successful in the foundation of the Manly Rifle Club. The opening of the range was quite
an event for Manly. Many coach-loads of members and supporters journeyed with their wives to
Curl Curl where the targets were set up against the huge sandhill at the beach and the shooting
mounds extended back alongside Curl Curl Lagoon.
“Ernie” Woolland filled several important positions in the club. He was first treasurer, then captain, and finally succeeded the late John Rankin as president. His capabilities as a marksman were
evidenced in his notching the Northern Suburbs aggregate… In 1914-15 the number of members on
the club’s roll was 350, of whom 180 enlisted for active service in World War I, the remainder being
men over military age or men whose responsibilities precluded them from enlisting. The Manly Club
went thoroughly into its business as military reserve and recruiting agent “Ernie” Woolland proved
his mettle in training novices (and there were many untrained boys at that time) in the use of the rifle.
The club went into recess in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II.”
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