Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company

The Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company was a publicly listed company that operated the Manly ferries in Sydney, Australia. The company was eventually taken over by the State Government and is now part of Sydney Ferries.

The company is notable for coining the expression about Manly being "Seven miles from Sydney and a thousand miles from care" and for promoting development in the Manly and Pittwater / Broken Bay areas.

The history of the company is entwined with the history of Manly itself. Manly had been envisaged as a seaside resort by Henry Gilbert Smith in the 1850s. Initially Smith had chartered a paddle steamer to Manly and other vessels visited on an ad hoc "excursion" basis. Smith built a wharf in 1855 and eventually acquired an interest in steamers himself and soon more regular services to Manly had commenced.

By 1873 Smith had sold the lease to the wharf and his share of the steamers to the operators of the ferries. The business was later acquired by John Randal Carey (who later founded the Sydney Daily Telegraph newspaper) in 1875 and together with three other businessmen formed the Port Jackson Steamship Company Limited on 23 January 1877.

By 1901 the Company’s shares were trading on the Sydney Stock Exchange.

After some disquiet about the level of fees being charged by the company (and having been encouraged by Manly Council which had advertised for an alternative provider) a group of Manly residents established a competitor company, the Manly Co-operative Steam Ferry Company, in 1893.

A period of intense price competition ensued that saw passenger numbers increase substantially. This resulted in the Co-operative experiencing financial difficulties and in 1896 its service collapsed and was taken over by the Port Jackson Company.

In 1907 the company was re-incorporated as the Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company Limited (reflecting the merger some years earlier and sensitivity to Manly residents).

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