Shelley Headland

The Shelley Headland is a rocky clifftop area on the southern side of Manly, rising above Shelley Beach and falling sharply to the rocks below. Though commonly referred to in historical documents — including police records and the SCOI report itself — as the “Fairy Bower headland,” Sackar J noted that the headland is in fact closer to Shelley Beach than to Fairy Bower Beach, which lies further to the north-west.

The headland and surrounding area form part of Sydney Harbour National Park. The clifftop vegetation is dense bush with rocky outcrops, small informal tracks leading from the road to the cliff edge, and no safety fencing.

The beat

From at least the mid-1970s through to the 1990s, the clifftop area of the Shelley Headland was used as a beat — a location where men went to meet other men for consensual same-sex encounters. The isolation of the location, accessible via bush tracks from the end of Bower Street in Manly, made it both a place of meeting and a place of danger.

Evidence before the Sackar Inquiry established that Manly Police were aware of the beat by at least April 1977, when a local newspaper article described a beach patrol that had “busted homosexual activities at North Head.” An officer who investigated the death of Mark Stewart at this location in 1976 stated he was not aware of the beat’s existence at the time, having been stationed at Manly for less than twelve months.

The beat is documented in historical evidence before the Inquiry, in Garry Wotherspoon’s Gay Sydney: A History (2016), and in broader historical scholarship on beat culture in Sydney.

Deaths at this site

Mark Stewart, 18, was found at the base of the cliffs approximately 250 metres south of the headland’s most prominent point on the morning of 11 May 1976. He had last been seen the evening of 9 May at the Hilton Hotel in the CBD. The Sackar Inquiry found there is “objectively reason to suspect that LGBTIQ bias was a factor in his death.” The cause of his fall — accident, suicide, or foul play — could not be determined.

Paul Rath, 27, died at or near this same location on 15 or 16 June 1977 — approximately twelve months after Mark Stewart. His body was found wedged between rocks at the base of the cliff. The circumstances of his death were also examined by the Sackar Inquiry as a Category A matter.

The proximity of two deaths at the same location, in the same year, at a known beat, was noted by the Inquiry in considering each case. The area in which the deaths occurred has been identified as having been used as a beat.

First Nations Country

The Shelley Headland sits on Gayamaygal Country. The Gayamaygal people are the custodians of the land extending from Manly Cove to Pittwater, including North Head and the northern beaches coastline. This acknowledgement is based on the AIATSIS Map of Indigenous Australia.

The traditional name for this headland is not currently known to this project. Any attribution of a traditional place name should be made only in consultation with the Gayamaygal community or the Manly Warringah Local Aboriginal Land Council.

Proposed memorial

Sackar J’s Chapter 16 called on local councils to install physical markers at locations of historical significance to the LGBTIQ community. The Shelley Headland — the site of at least two deaths examined by the Inquiry — is a candidate for a commemorative marker. As of 2026, no marker has been installed. Northern Beaches Council has planning jurisdiction over this area.

Historical record sourced from: NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ Hate Crimes (Sackar J, 2023), Vol. 2, Ch. 5, paras 5.96–5.281 (Mark Stewart, pp. 219–252). Press: The Manly Daily, May 1976; The Manly Daily, 27 April 1977. Beat history: Wotherspoon G (2016) Gay Sydney: A History, New South Printing.