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Sydney Harbour, Port Jackson and Manly

Sydney Harbour Services

The first steamship to operate on Sydney harbour is believed to be the locally-built wooden hulled steamer "Surprise" which entered river service between Sydney and Parramatta in 1831. Early the following year after an unsuccessful attempt to establish herself, the ship was sold for service at Hobart, Tasmania. 

It was not until 1878 that a formal company was established to regularise short ferry services across Sydney Harbour :  the North Shore Steam Ferry Company. It had operated as an unincorporated company from 1861 with thier new double-ended wooden paddle steamer Kirribilli.  It became Sydney Ferries Ltd in 1899 and soon absorbed the  Parramatta River Steamers & Tramway Company, followed in 1917 by the Balmain New Ferry Company and in 1920 by the Watsons Bay and South Shore Steam Ferry Company. A number of other small local services were also taken over. The company also purchased land in the area to develop as leisure attractions to support its services.   

Above  :  Sydney Ferries Ltd's ex- North Shore Ferry Co. paddle steamer Bunya Bunya tenders an interested Sydney public on the occasion of a visit by 16 ships of the US Navy as part of their world tour.

Port Jackson and Manly

Steamship services to the coastal resort of Manly developed on a speculative basis in the 1850s, with services promoted by resort developer Henry Smith who chartered, then owned, vessels as well as encouraging private owners to offer services.
The Port Jackson Steamboat Company 1877 (and renamed Port Jackson Steamship Company in 1881 and later Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company in 1907) dominated business and saw off the Manly Cooperative Steam Ferry Company, formed in 1893, and, taking it over in 1896. The company remained independent until nationalised in the 1970s.

Paddle Steamers (Double-ended ferries) : Port Jackson and Manly services

Fairlight (1878-1914)

Built in 1878 by T. Wingate & Co at Glasgow
171.4 x 22.2 ft : 315 GRT
Designed and built for the Manly service
Converted for use as a barge at Brisbane and used until 1928

Emu, later Brightside (1877-1897)
Built in 1865 by A & J Inglis of Poinhouse, Glasgow
170.8 x 22.1 ft : 270 GRT
Reassembled at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane
Operated by the Queensland Steam Navigation Company for use on the Brisbane River and at Moreton Bay
Moved to Sydney in 1877 for the Port Jackson Steamboat Company
Renamed Brightside in 1887
Sank at Neutral Bay in 1897. After being raised she operated as a cargo ship from 1902 until being lost to fire in 1908

Brighton (1883-1916)

Built in 1883 by Seath & Co, Rutherglen, Scotland.
220 x 23 ft : 417 GRT
2 x two cylinder compound oscillating engines by A Campbell of Glasgow
Delivered after an 89-day voyage with numerous encounters with heavy seas
Owned by the Port Jackson Steamship Company (Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company  from 1907)
In 1900 she was beached after a collision and subsequently repaired
Withdrawn in 1916, hulked and abandoned in Pindimar Bay, to the north of Newcastle 

Narrabeen (1886-1911)

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