Manly’s beloved ‘temperature guy’ farewells daily ritual

For four years, Guy Dunstan has written the daily sea temperatures on a concrete pillar at Manly Beach. His illustrated numbers – sometimes accompanied by chalk portraits, tributes and Australian sea creatures – have even reached frontline soldiers in the Ukrainian war.

But on Thursday, Dunstan, also known as the “temperature guy”, announced on his Instagram page that he had given his final report. The sea was 18.5 degrees, not unusual for November. Next to it, he drew a heart around the words “the end”.

“Last week, I just came to the realisation that it was the right time to stop,” the 71-year-old said.

“I’d always felt I almost needed to do it forever because it was doing good. [But] everything has a life, and it has done its job.”

Dunstan said he has been flooded with messages and comments from people who loved his work.

“The response I got from people on Instagram and Facebook – everyone had enjoyed the four years that the temperature guy had been there, and that they all had this wonderful sense of connection to each other and to the ocean. But it’s time to move forward.”

Dunstan took over writing numbers on the pillar when the previous writers were locked out of the area due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

His vibrant numbers quickly struck a chord with locals, who urged him to post them to social media so others could enjoy them.

“I [began] drawing something on a rock … with a set of numbers plus a picture. I tell a story to go with that image,” he said.

“Suddenly, the numbers were bringing not just a sense of structure and regularity – it also brought a bit of joy and connection to a lot of people.”

Soon, his pictures went viral – even reaching soldiers in Ukraine.

“I found out that my numbers were being sent to the front line of the Ukraine war, and soldiers were seeing these numbers every day to imagine they were in Manly and not in the war zone,” he said.

One morning, Dunstan drew a message in a bottle. But the bottle looked more like a vase, he said, calling it not his best work. A few days later, he stumbled upon a real message in a bottle on the beach, containing the ashes of the parents of two brothers who lived in different countries.

“I’ve always wanted to find one,” he said.

“A few days later, after I finished my numbers, I was walking up the beach, and there was a message in a bottle that looked like a vase.

“Their parents had a deep love of the sea, so the sons decided to put their ashes in six bottles and ‘launch’ the six bottles from places around the world that meant a lot to them – the purpose being to send them on final journeys together. The bottle I found was one of those bottles.”

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