This part of Moreton Bay was occupied by the Aboriginal Mipirimm people. Their lifestyle was semi-nomadic. Increasing contact with the white settlers brought new diseases to the Aborigines including smallpox and tuberculosis which ravaged the indigenous population. European settlement of the Manly area first took place from 1859 when Thomas Jones obtained a land grant of. By 1862, Jones had built the first house in the area, a stone homestead he called Wyvernleigh; it would later also be known as Tingalpa House. In 1882 the land was sold by auction by James R. Dickson for the Manly Beach Estate, apparently named after Manly, New South Wales beach in Sydney. It comprised 177 allotments of about bounded by Arnold Street to the north and north-west, Moreton Bay to the east, Spring Street to the south, and Ernest Street to the south-west. In 1885, James R. Dickson auctioned a further subdivision of 700 lots to the north of the 1882 land sale, bounded to the north-west by Gordon Parade, to the south-west by Mountjoy Crescent, to the south by Cambridge Parade and to east by Moreton Bay. The advertising mentioned the forthcoming railway. However, the 1885 land sale was evidently not successful as 400 blocks in that subdivision were offered in a "continuation sale" in January 1887. In 1889 a railway line was opened that provided a direct service to the state capital, Brisbane; it would subsequently be extended to be the present Cleveland line. By the early 1900s the area had become a popular seaside location. In June 1890, 395 subdivided allotments of the Manly Beach Estate was auctioned by Arthur Martin & Co. This was the third and final section of the estate. A map advertising the auction shows the estate was close to Manly Railway Station and Ernest Street. Manly State School opened on 4 July 1910. The Manly War Memorial was unveiled in a park at 184 Carlton Street by Walter Henry Barnes, Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, on 5 March 1921. The memorial, originally of Helidon brown freestone on a base of Enoggera granite, with a statue of Carrara marble, honours the 16 local men who fell during the First World War. In June 1925 the homestead Wyvernleigh/Tingalpa House, by then on a site bounded by Oceana Terrace, Kooralgin Street, and Ernest Street, was bought by James Duhig, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane to be used for the building of a Roman Catholic church and school. Duhig announced that the church would be named after St John Baptist Vianney. The homestead was used for church services until 1927, after which it was demolished to be replaced by a parish hall. On 20 September 1930 Archbishop Duhig performed the stump capping ceremony on the new church hall; the hall appears to be completed by May 1931. Later the hall was consecrated as a church. The well-sheltered coastal location of Manly has resulted in it becoming a popular location for boating. In 1958 Manly Boat Harbour was built. Large tidal walls were constructed to the north and south with dredging being undertaken to deepen the harbour. The silt that was recovered in this process was brought ashore and used in the construction of the parks and parking areas around the harbour. In 2000 the Queensland Place Names Board named Norfolk Point which was on reclaimed land in the Manly boat harbour in Moreton Bay after the sloop Norfolk commanded by Matthew Flinders in his exploration of the Moreton Bay. The naming was triggered by a recreation of the trip by a replica of the Norfolk. A plaque on the point commemorates the naming.
Manly Boat Harbour is not even the largest boat harbour facility in Queensland. It has two boat ramps at both ends just like Scarborough Boat Harbour which is only marginally smaller. A number of boating clubs are based in Manly including the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, the Wynnum Manly Yacht Club, the Moreton Bay Trailer Boat Club, and the Darling Point Sailing Squadron. Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, Wynnum Manly Yacht Club and Moreton Bay Trailer Boat club have floating marinas, dry boat storage facilities and boat maintenance yards for use by members. There is one commercial marina in the harbour, East Coast Marina, also offering floating berths, undercover boat storage and a boat maintenance yard. Brisbane Coast Guard also has its Flotilla Base in Manly Boat Harbour, at 40 Trafalgar Street, near the harbour entrance. This Flotilla, the largest in Australia, has the Lord Mayor of Brisbane as its Patron. It was formed in 1972 and continues to operate duty rosters every weekend and public holiday, with its emergency services on call 24/7.
Demographics
Over 43% of households in this area consist of couples without children and a further 37% are couples with children. Stand-alone houses account for 67% of all dwellings in this area, with townhouses accounting for a further 10%. The median house price in Manly for the 2004 calendar year was $510,000. Federally, the people of Manly are represented by Ross Vasta MP in the seat of Bonner. In the the population of Manly was 3,702, 50.4% female and 49.6% male. The median age of the Manly population was 42 years of age, 5 years above the Australian median. 73.1% of people living in Manly were born in Australia, compared to the national average of 69.8%; the next most common countries of birth were England 6.7%, New Zealand 5.6%, Scotland 0.8%, United States of America 0.7%, Ireland 0.6%. 90.2% of people spoke only English at home; the next most common languages were 0.5% French, 0.4% Tagalog, 0.3% Dutch, 0.3% Cantonese, 0.3% Thai.
