Abstract
This work is the history of a particularly singular and strong human enterprise. Until the advent of several more recent interpretative works, Australian transport historiography has heavily emphasised engineering and operational development without examining the contextual social and economic forces. The Manly Ferry, with its unique contribution to the history of Sydney's development as a suburban city, provides a distinctive microcosmic example with which to illustrate the evolution of an urban society - with its emphasis on mobility - in the wake of the industrial revolution.
