Fairlight is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

of northern

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, in the state of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Fairlight is located 13 kilometres north-east of the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or c ...

in the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

Northern Beaches Council The Northern Beaches Council is a local government area located in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on 12 May 2016 after the amalgamation of Manly, Pittwater and Warringa ...

and is part of the

Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the entra ...

region. Fairlight lies between

Balgowlah Balgowlah is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Balgowlah (or Bulgowlah) said to be an Aboriginal name for "North Harbour". The area now known as Balgowlah was known to the Aboriginals as Jilling. Balgo ...

and Manly on both sides of Sydney Road. The suburb reaches north past Balgowlah Road and the western boundary is Hill Street.

History

Fairlight takes its name from Fairlight House built by Henry Gilbert Smith (1802-1886) on land he bought in 1853 from John Parker who had received a land grant in 1837. The house was named after

Fairlight, East Sussex Fairlight is a village in East Sussex, England within Rother district, three miles (5 km) to the east of Hastings. Fairlight is also the name of the civil parish forming part of the Rother district which includes the villages of Fairlight a ...

, a historic village in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

, on the south coast of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Fairlight was originally only the area near the beach where Fairlight House once stood, and the suburb at the top of the hill was called Red Hill, due to the pre World War II red gravel surface of Sydney Road.

Name legacy

The

Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company The Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company (PJ&MSC) was a publicly listed company that operated the Manly ferries in Sydney, Australia. After being taken over by Brambles Industries, the ferry service was eventually taken over by the State ...

had a tradition of naming its ferries after the suburbs of the Northern Beaches. A paddle steamer ferry was commissioned in 1878 and named "Fairlight". In 1966, the company commissioned a hydrofoil ''Fairlight'', which in turn gave its name to the

Fairlight CMI The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight. — with links to some Fairlight history and photos It was based on a commercial lic ...

synthesizer. In 1987 Strider and Black Shadow named the now legendary

warez Warez is a common computing and broader cultural term referring to pirated software (i.e. illegally copied, often after deactivation of anti-piracy measures) that is distributed via the Internet. Warez is used most commonly as a noun, a plural ...

and

demogroup Demogroups are teams of demosceners, who make computer based audio-visual works of art known as demos. Demogroups form a subculture collectively known as the demoscene. Groups frequently consist of students, young computer enthusiasts who spend ...

Fairlight after this synthesizer company. In February 2021

Transport for NSW Transport for NSW, sometimes abbreviated to TfNSW, and pronounced as Transport for New South Wales, is an agency of the New South Wales Government established on 1 November 2011, and is the leading transport and roads agency in New South Wales, ...

advised that one of the series 2 Emerald-class ferries to commence service on the

Manly ferry service Manly ferry services (numbered F1) operate on Sydney Harbour connecting the Sydney suburb of Manly with Circular Quay in the CBD a journey of seven nautical miles. History In 1853, Henry Gilbert Smith chartered the wooden paddle wheeler ' ...

around the middle of 2021, would be named Fairlight after Fairlight Beach.

Landmarks

Fairlight has a cemetery in Griffiths Street. The Manly Fire Station is located on Sydney Road, Fairlight.

Fairlight Beach

Fairlight Beach is located on the Manly Scenic Walkway on

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

, which can be followed for some kilometres to

Spit Bridge Spit may refer to: Common uses * Spit (archaeology), a term for a unit of archaeological excavation * Spit (landform), a section of land that extends into a body of water * Spit or rotisserie, a rotating device used for cooking by roasting over ...

. The beach experiences light harbour swells and southerly winds. Though swells up to 2 metres were recorded following

Hurricane Larry Hurricane Larry was a strong and long-lived Cape Verde hurricane that became the first hurricane to make landfall in Newfoundland since Igor in 2010. The twelfth named storm, fifth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic hurrica ...

, it is not a surfing beach, as the shore is rocky and the break unpredictable. The beach has sand largely made up of

shell grit Shell grit is coarsely ground or broken seashells. It is used, among other things, by birds as a source of calcium for egg shell production, and to aid digestion Digestion is the breakdown of large insoluble food molecules into small water-solu ...

(largely missing from the beaches on either side), and a small tidal swimming pool. The ''K-12'' was a 611-ton ex-submarine of the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...

(later the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

) that was bought by private buyers after World War II and leased to the

, who set her up as a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

at a custom berth adjacent to Manly harbour pool. When storms struck in June 1949, an attempt was made by her owners to tow her to a safer berth in

Neutral Bay Neutral Bay is a suburb on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Neutral Bay is around 1.5 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of North Sydney Council. Neutral Bay takes ...

, however the tow ropes broke, and the submarine grounded on rocks near Fairlight Beach. The hull was lightened by salvagers then re-floated on 7 January 1951, and towed up the

Parramatta River The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average depth of , the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson. Seco ...

to Ryde Road bridge; however here she sank again after her

seacock A seacock is a valve on the hull of a boat or a ship, permitting water to flow into the vessel, such as for cooling an engine or for a salt water faucet; or out of the boat, such as for a sink drain or a toilet. Seacocks are often a Kingston val ...

s were vandalised. Some sources say that the engines and sections of the bow remain in Fairlight and are accessible by

scuba divers This is a list of underwater divers whose exploits have made them notable. Underwater divers are people who take part in underwater diving activities – Underwater diving is practiced as part of an occupation, or for recreation, where t ...

. However, they are the remains of a large aluminum speedboat that got blown by high winds and sunk on the night of 7 January 1952.

Population

AIn the 2016 Census, there were 5,840 people in Fairlight. 63.6% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 11.8% and New Zealand 2.8%. 84.3% of people only spoke English at home. The most common responses for religion in Fairlight (State Suburbs) were No Religion 40.2%, Catholic 22.5% and Anglican 16.8%. The most common occupations in Fairlight (State Suburbs) included Professionals 38.4%, Managers 21.7%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 11.4%, Community and Personal Service Workers 8.2%, and Sales Workers 8.1%. The median household weekly income was high at $2,620. Housing was expensive in Fairlight, with the median weekly rent being $648 and the median monthly mortgage payment was $3,000.

Sport and recreation

Fairlight Beach is popular for swimming and snorkelling and as a vantage point to view harbour yacht races. Fairlight is home to th
Manly Golf Club
and Golf Course. Shops and cafes are located in a shopping strip in Sydney Road.

Events

Fairlight is home to an annual Christmas Lights fundraising competition on ''Edwin Street''.

References

External links

Historical Photograph of Fairlight House
*

CC-By-SA A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright license A public license or public copyright licenses is a license by which a copyright holder as licensor can grant additional copyright permissions to any and all pers ...

] {{Sydney Northern Beaches suburbs Suburbs of Sydney Manly, New South Wales Northern Beaches Council