Publications
Cracking Awaba: Stories of Mosman and the Northern beaches during the Depression – Paula Hamilton
This new book draws on seventy-two oral histories about life in Manly, Mosman, Pittwater and Warringah during the Depression of the 1930s.
By combining extracts of these interviews with an evocative selection of photographs of the period Paula has provided a wonderful glimpse of the landscape, culture and community spirit that existed in these suburbs during a particularly difficult time in Australia’s history.
The curious title comes from an interview with local Mosman boy Harley O’Reagan who as a lad attempted to ride a billycart down Mosman’s very steep Awaba Street. Harley and his mates called this ride an attempt to “crack Awaba”.
This innovative project was made possible by a Library Development Grant from the Library Council of New South Wales to the Manly, Mosman, Pittwater and Warringah Libraries.
Cracking Awaba is available for $12.00.
On A Shoestring: The Depression & 1930s in Manly, Mosman, Pittwater and Warringah – Paula Hamilton
On A Shoestring: The Depression & 1930s in Manly, Mosman, Pittwater and Warringah is an oral history project undertaken between January 2000 and October 2001.
72 people were interviewed who had been living in Manly, Mosman, Pittwater and Warringah during the 1930s.
The outcome of this project was a rich archive of interviews. From this, Paula Hamilton (Associate Professor of History at University of Technology, Sydney) wrote Cracking Awaba, Stories of Mosman and Northern Beaches communities during the Depression.
The On A Shoestring website has been developed to provide information about the project and insight into some of the stories recorded during the project.
A selection from these stories can also be heard online.
Good Riddance: A history of waste management in Manly, Mosman, Pittwater and Warringah – Pauline Curby and Virginia Macleod
From pre-European times to the present, from plague to prosperity, through pollution, packaging and putrescible waste…
Authors Pauline Curby and Virginia Macleod show that garbage is fascinating for what it reveals about how people live and how waste continues to shape our surroundings long after it has been thrown away.
Beautiful locations such as Curl Curl Lagoon, Balmoral Beach, Careel Bay and North Steyne Beach were all used as rubbish dumps in earlier years and the book chronicles the ‘bad old days’ when waste disposal meant dumping rubbish so that it was ‘out of sight and out of mind’, often in environments such as these.
Good Riddance also looks at waste-disposal in earlier times, with case studies of the Aboriginal shell middens at Angophora Reserve at Avalon and Balmoral Reserve at Mosman.
A fascinating and unique overview of a subject rarely discussed, the book is a valuable resource for students, environmentalists, researchers and all who have a keen interest in the history, conservation and preservation of our unique and precious natural resources.
As a social history, it will also be of great interest to the general reader.
Good Riddance is good reading. Link here for more information.
Other publications
Mosman Library also has available for sale:
- Mosman Impressions $54.95 – a superb book celebrating the beauty of Mosman in the words and images of its writers and painters. 200 numbered and signed Collectors’ Editions are also available at $275 each.
- Mosman: a history by Gavin Souter – brings the history of Mosman to life in a highly readable and entertaining narrative. Commissioned by Mosman Council, this publication is available for $43.95.
- historical postcards $1.10 each
- Mosman History books $3.30 each – Streets of Mosman, Tales of Old Mosman, Romance of a Whaling Station
- Mosman’s Architectural Heritage by Robert Staas $16.50
The following publications are freely available:
- Mosman House Hunt - a guide to searching the history of a house in Mosman (PDF 162KB)
- Mosman Council Chambers - a brief history (PDF 463KB)
- The Star Amphitheatre, Balmoral (PDF 295KB)
- The Spit - historical overview (PDF 316KB)
- Environment of Mosman: a guide to environment resources available on Mosman
