Chinamans Beach (5/5)

The beach lies at the head of a small stream, bordered on either side by low, but steep, ridges. There is a "bridge" over the stream remnants, probably necessary after heavy rains. The steps are on the Spit Bridge end, and the concrete path winds up the Mosman end, with that real-estate cliche, "harbour glimpses".

There are rock ledges at either end with warm pools of living molluscs. The beach is quite clean, no seaweed, no jellyfish, no stingers. The only sting is in the parking meters, at $8 per hour. But ... there is a way around that which does not require a steep trudge.

Chinamans Beach (4/5)

There is so much to do at this beach, not just swimming. Not just chasing butterflies.

Where the market gardens were there is a playground. And an extensive grassed area, through which the "creek" trickled, beside which the bok choy flourished. Once again, as with Clontarf Reserve, it is a family beach. People between 13 and 30 very very sparse on the sand.

Chinamans Beach, Mosman (3/5)

The boy - probably 8 or 9 years old - has a (partially obscured) red net. He expended copious amounts of energy dashing up and down, capturing white butterflies, of which there were plenty. His father told me he had already played a game of football, and swum the length of the beach countless times. Imagine having that cooped up in a living room! The girl on the right is his sister. The three on the left are Alannah, and her two friends, Eleanor, and Annabel. They were all VERY impressed. Alannah wants a red net. But she wanted one last week, too, to help her scoop up jellyfish.

We were up the back of Chinamans Beach where the sand dunes had been stabilised with native grasses. The image above on the left is "Kangaroo Grass" (Themeda australis). The image above on the right, is "Hare's Tail" grass (Lagurus ovatus). The image below left is "Hairy Spinifex" (Spinifex sericeus). The hind dunes were planted with low growing forms of "she-oak", through which a short-cut has been trodden.

Running around stupid catching butterflies, and waves is not for everyone. Some like to evacuate their mind, and catch a fish.

Chinamans Beach, Mosman (1/5)

Chinamans Beach is directly across Middle Harbour from our usual Sunday morning haunt of Clontarf Reserve. It is very, very different. For starters, there is no enclosed pool. There are far fewer people, probably because access - and parking - are more difficult. However, we arrived at 930am and were gone just after midday.

It borders close to the description of "unspoilt", does this beach. That does not mean undeveloped. It is accessed via a kempt parkland with BBQs and playground. Perfect for kite-flying, and reading. Access to the beach itself is via a small wooden "bridge" and a bushland meander-path. And this is the view at the end. In the final photo, we are looking out towards the Heads of the main harbour itself.

In the 1840s, Chinese market gardens occupied the land behind what was known as Shell Cove. Hence, the name of the beach. The gardens were established by Cho Hi Tick on a leased grant from Captain John McLean's "Park Gate Estate".

Taronga before the chair-lift

The good ole days weren't really, you know. I don't reckon.

Taronga Zoo has been clinging to a harbour cliffside since 1916, and from then until the very late '50s it was serviced by trams, either that or shanks's pony. Getting over there was the easy part: you went by ferry to bottom gate, or by car to top gate. If you went down, you had to clamber back up to your car. If you came by ferry it was the hard yards as you viewed the animals.


So, Taronga Zoo was serviced by a tram route that took visitors from the Athol Wharf up to the top gate, facilitating an easy ramble one-way only. As I meandered down the other day, I saw remnants of the tramway down Athol Wharf Road. See the image of the black bike? Look at the upper right quadrant and you will see a hook in the rockface for keeping the electric cabelling in place as the trams rattled along. I can find these everywhere now!


But Athol Wharf Road comes off Bradleys Head Road at top gate, and is a very steep incline as some of these images attest. More so than some of the trams could cope with. Three times they careered on down the road, past the wharf and into the harbour, having to be ignominously dredged out by crane. This happened in 1942, 1952 and 1958. This image shows the 1958 plunge.


The trams finished in the late '50s and buses took over the same route. They are still there, the buses. Plying their way from bottom gate to top gate, and thence to Mosman or to Balmoral Beach. I am unable to date the commencement of the chairlift, but here it is in all its glory.

Taronga Zoo 1916

Bear with me if I state that this is from the 'cute' school of architecture. This wasn't the first site for a zoo in Sydney. That honour lies with a section of Moore Park which today houses Sydney Boys' High School which was a zoo in the 1880s. That area became too small and from just after 1910 the state government was looking for another site, eventually dedicating 50 odd acreages of prime harbour foreshore. The zoo opened in October 1916 and all these top gate buildings were original at that time.

The word 'taronga' means 'beautiful view' in an aboriginal dialect.


However, when reading the history of Taronga on their site, it occurred to me that a smidge of air-brushing had been going on. I think the first time I went to the zoo was in 1954 when I was 6. Elephant rides were all the go. But ... but ... I remember the name of Sir Edward Hallstrom being instrumental in the history of Taronga Zoo. But no longer it seems. I had to go to Wiki for information.


Hallstrom was an engineer who made his money designing and manufacturing refridgerators between the wars. His best known brand was the Silent Knight range. He made a motza and went into philanthropy in a big way.

But he had neither training nor experience in fauna, native or otherwise. And it was he who was instrumental in setting up concrete pits for the early animals. This is my earliest memory: animals pacing up and down in concrete pits was down below me. Of gorillas in square cages. Cages, cages, cages ... And Hallstrom bore the brunt of the change in the way animals were treated. And respected.

I am not unhappy with the change, and the zoo today is a remarkable place. I just don't like airbrushing. For any reason. I do like these cute buildings, though.

View from the zoo

This was taken from the northern shore of the harbour, on the ocean side of the bridge. Not my normal haunt. I was outside the bottom gate of the zoo, on Athol Wharf Road in the suburb of Mosman. The zoo is on very steep ground with a comanding view of the city which I have shown you before.

On Saturday mornings - early - I take a bus (two buses actually) across to Mosman Junction for a two hour group French lesson. This week, instead of simply taking the bus back home again, I decided to walk a couple of kms (2.7 kms according to Google) down past the zoo to the ferry wharf, and come back that way.