Percy Leonard Nolan (1886 – 1954) was an Australian

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

and

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Manly Council Manly Council was a local government area on the northern beaches region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, first incorporated in 1877. On 12 May 2016, the Minister for Local Government announced that Manly Council would be subsumed into th ...

Early life

Nolan was born in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, the thirteenth child of Sara Susan (born Holme) and the Reverend James Adams Nolan. His father was a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

minister and in 1885 president of the NSW and Queensland Methodist Conference. His mother worked for temperance and women's suffrage and served as president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. After early years in Queensland, where his father was chairman of the Ipswich Methodist District, Nolan moved with his family to New South Wales. He attended

Fort Street High School Fort Street High School (FSHS) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, New South Wales government run, Mixed-sex school, co-educational, Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective, secondary school, secondary day school, ...

for one year and then

Newington College Newington College is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church Single-sex education, single-sex and Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, Primary school, primar ...

from 1899 until 1902.

Legal career

Nolan studied law and served articles with Reginald Cowlishaw, of Robson and Cowlishaw in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. In 1908 he was admitted as a solicitor. He lived in Manly from 1918 and in 1922 he became a partner in the firm of Turner, Nolan & Company.

Public office

Nolan first served on Manly Council as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

in 1923. For three terms from 1936 he was Mayor of Manly and served in that role during the

Diamond Jubilee A diamond jubilee celebrates the 60th anniversary of a significant event related to a person (e.g. accession to the throne or wedding, among others) or the 60th anniversary of an institution's founding. The term is also used for 75th annivers ...

celebrations of the council in 1937 and the Sesquicentennial celebrations of the white settlement of Sydney the following year. The

Dobroyd Head Dobroyd Head is a point or headland in the Northern Beaches local government area, in the suburb of Balgowlah Heights, New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Sydney Harbour National Park, which contains examples of ecosystems at risk such ...

scenic roadway, funded by the council, was opened during his mayoralty. The new

Manly Town Hall The Manly Town Hall is a landmark civic building in Manly, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The building is located at the junction of The Corso, Gilbert Street and Belgrave Street, opposite Manly ferry wharf. Designed in the Int ...

and the Eric Andrew designed Surf Pavilion at South Steyne were also undertaken whilst he was mayor. The pavilion won the

Sir John Sulman Medal The Sir John Sulman Medal for Public Architecture is an architectural award presented by the New South Wales chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects since 1932. The medal is sometimes referred to as the Sulman Award and now recognise ...

but has since been demolished. During his term as mayor, he was active in convincing the state government to allow the rebuilding of harbour ferry wharf which stands to this day. For many years, Nolan pushed for the removal of the

North Head Quarantine Station The North Head Quarantine Station is a heritage-listed former quarantine station and associated buildings that is now a tourist attraction at North Head Scenic Drive, on the north side of Sydney Harbour at North Head, near Manly, in the No ...

from Manly and called for its use as public open space. In 1924, Nolan was on the first board of the Manly Art Gallery and Museum and was a supporter of that unique municipal endeavour until his death. Just prior to his death on 3 June 1954 he received a certificate of merit from the Local Government Association of NSW for 25 years’ service to Manly Council. On his death at his residence in Margaret Street, Manly, he was survived by his wife, Irene, and daughters, Dorothy and Joyce. In 1955 Clontarf Road was renamed Nolan Place in his honour.

Opinions

As a public figure, Nolan's views on various matters were often published and discussed. In 1936 he stated "that

flats Flat or flats may refer to: Architecture * Apartment, known as a flat in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and other Commonwealth countries Arts and entertainment * Flat (music), a symbol () which denotes a lower pitch * Flat (soldier), a two-dimens ...

prevented the population increasing at the normal rate. People who lived in flats wanted motor cars, dancing, and picture shows rather than children." In 1938 he made national headlines when at the annual dinner of the Local Government Engineers' Association he reproved his hosts for not appearing in

dinner jacket Black tie is a semi-formal wear, semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and North American conventions for clothing, attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdoc ...

s. He commented that few of them, although they were professional men, were wearing

evening dress Evening dress, evening attire, or evening wear may refer to: * Evening gown or evening dress * Full evening dress or white tie, a formal Western dress code * Black tie, a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events * Evening Attire (horse), a ...

. "Clothes count ... they stamp the professional man as such, and I am surprised and disappointed that so few of you apparently realised this." As Mayor of Manly, Nolan wore the traditional black

silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

Geneva gown The pulpit gown, also called pulpit robe or preaching robe, is a black Robe, gown worn by Minister (Christianity), Protestant ministers for preaching. It is particularly associated with Calvinism, Reformed churches, while also used in the Anglican ...

with purple

velvet Velvet is a type of woven fabric with a dense, even pile (textile), pile that gives it a distinctive soft feel. Historically, velvet was typically made from silk. Modern velvet can be made from silk, linen, cotton, wool, synthetic fibers, silk ...

facings but believed he needed more ornamentation for the neck, so added a Jabot with seven cascades of

lace Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is split into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...

foaming down from the collar.

Portrait photographs

Photographic portraits of Nolan from 1925 until 1949 are held by Manly Public Library and are available on the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

online database ''Trove''.Portraits photographs of Alderman P.L. Nolan
Retrieved 17 August 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nolan, Percy 1886 births 1954 deaths Australian Methodists Mayors of Manly, New South Wales People educated at Newington College Lawyers from Sydney People educated at Fort Street High School People from Manly, New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians