Evans Bay
Evans Bay is a large bay at the southern end of Wellington Harbour, New Zealand. Located between the Miramar Peninsula and Hataitai, it was the site of New Zealand's first patent slip and served as Wellington's international flying-boat terminal from 1938 until 1956. It is named after George Samuel Evans, an early Wellington settler.
Geography
Evans Bay is a large U-shaped bay within Wellington Harbour. Within the bay are smaller features such as Balaena Bay, Hataitai Beach and Shelly Bay. Prior to the Haowhenua earthquake in about 1460 AD, Miramar was an island and Evans Bay would have been open to Lyall Bay. Today it is bounded by the Miramar peninsula to the east, the Rongotai isthmus to the south, and a hilly ridge forming part of Hataitai to the west. Formerly the Waipapa Stream flowed from the valley in Hataitai into the head of Evans Bay near the bluff at Wellington Road, creating a large swampy delta. The shoreline of the bay in this area was known by Māori as Te Akau-tangi. An 1890 map names the beach at the head of the bay as Tangahakau Beach. Another Māori name suggested for Evans Bay is Kokotahi te Taniwha.Considerable reclamation has been undertaken at the southern end of the bay. Kilbirnie Park and Cobham Drive sit on reclaimed land.
Evans Bay as an unofficial Wellington suburb nestles at the western side of the bay between Hataitai, Kilbirnie and Rongotai. According to the 2018 census, the population of Evans Bay was 1122 people living in 435 dwellings. Evans Bay Intermediate School is to the south at the head of the bay.
History
Patent slip
A heritage site near Greta Point commemorates the former Patent slip that operated in this location. The first slipway on the site was commissioned in May 1863 to enable maintenance of the hulls of small vessels. The Wellington Provincial Council was keen to encourage shipping trade by improving facilities in Wellington harbour, and began planning later in 1863 for the construction of a larger patent slip. A concession was granted for the supply, construction and operation of a patent slip on the site. Equipment for the new slip was delivered in 1865 and 1866, but construction was delayed for several years because of a contractual dispute concerning the suitability of the design for the ground conditions. The original suppliers lost a court case and withdrew from the project. The Wellington Patent Slip Company was formed to take over the assets and construction began in 1871. In March 1873, the Patent Slip was officially opened.A second slipway was constructed at the site in 1922. The original slip operated until 1969, and the second was closed on 31 July 1980. Most equipment has been removed from the site, and a residential development now occupies some of the original land. However, the site has been listed as a Category 2 Historic Place, and the area is classified as a heritage zone by the Wellington City Council.
Union Steam Ship Company, Greta Point
During 1910 – 1911 the Union Steam Ship Company reclaimed land at Greta Point next to the Patent Slip and constructed a large complex of buildings, including a laundry, workshops, a sawmill and upholstery department. All of the company's laundry in New Zealand was handled by the site at Evans Bay. By 1981 all but one building had been demolished, and the former store became a bar and restaurant known as the Greta Point Tavern. In 2003 it was moved in pieces in 11 trips by barge to a site on Queens Wharf in the inner city. Not much remains of the original building except the exterior. As of 2022 the relocated building houses Foxglove bar and restaurant. The land at Greta Point was then used for a 91-unit townhouse development designed by Stuart Gardyne and Allan Wright of architecture+ and built during 2001–2002.Power station
In the early 1920s a coal-fired power station was built at Shag Point in Evans Bay. It began full operation in May 1924 and was shut down in 1968. Coke breeze from the power station was used as infill for reclamation at the Evans Bay Yacht Club site. While the power station was unpopular due to its unsightliness and emissions, its outlet pipes discharged warm water into Evans Bay, which was enjoyed by bathers.Flying boats
Evans Bay functioned as the preferred flying-boat alighting area in Wellington Harbour during the 1930s, and local officials promoted it through the decade as such. However a 1938 report concluded that although Evans Bay was the best site for flying boats in Wellington Harbour, it was subject to strong winds that would make a regular service unviable. Visits from Imperial Airways aircraft took place in 1938 as well as from Pan American types. In 1940 Tasman Empire Airways Limited flew one of their two Short Empire flying boats to Evans Bay with dignitaries who attended the nearby New Zealand Centennial Exhibition located at Rongotai.Although RNZAF Short Sunderland and Consolidated Catalina flying-boat operations flew intermittently through the 1940s from their seaplane base at Shelly Bay located on the western side of the Miramar Peninsula, it was not until October 1950 that TEAL, operated a permanent overseas service to Australia from Evans Bay.
A temporary terminal was provided by using roadside parking-garages along Evans Bay Parade at the sheltered western end of the bay next to the patent slip, until a more substantial terminal facility was constructed for TEAL on reclaimed land at what is now Cog Park in 1951. At first passengers were transported by launch between the shore and the flying boats, but in 1951 a small jetty was built and connected via a gangway to a floating pontoon made of 124 large square steel tanks connected together and ballasted with water and oil. The pontoon was built at Gracefield from ship tanks used by US forces during World War 2 to build rafts and wharves. The tanks were welded together in three sections, which were then slid down a bank into the Hutt River and towed across the harbour to Evans Bay. The pontoon was U-shaped, 110 ft long and 74 ft wide. Flying boats were winched tail-first into the U so that passengers could step straight onto the pontoon dock. The dock also allowed light maintenance of the Short Solent flying boats that TEAL used at the time. Evans Bay could become quite rough in unfavourable weather conditions and at least one Solent was damaged during alighting, needing substantial repairs. The trans-Tasman flying boat service ended in 1954, and in 1957 the 400-ton pontoon structure, known as a 'Braby pontoon', was winched on to land, dismantled and transported in pieces to Auckland by road and rail, to be reused by the Air Force's flying boats at Hobsonville Air Base.
Services to the Chatham Islands also operated from Evans Bay, using aircraft from TEAL and Ansett Airways as well as the RNZAF. A proposal for a peak-time domestic service to Auckland by National Airways Corporation in 1949 using Short Sandringham flying boats to make up for the 1947 closure of Rongotai Airport was turned down as uneconomic compared to DC-3 operations away at the present-day Kapiti Coast airport.
Nearby Rongotai airfield provided air-traffic control for the alighting area. As advances in aviation overtook the flying-boat concept, TEAL switched to landplane operations and the Evans Bay terminal closed in 1956. Also at the time, Rongotai airfield started undergoing total redevelopment into today's Wellington International Airport, which opened in 1959. An original concept involved developing a joint landbase and flying-boat airport, but this did not come to fruition.
The terminal building built for TEAL airways was later used by Sea Cadets. The building was badly damaged by fire on 15 December 2005 and had to be demolished. The Sea Cadet unit moved into another building on the site that had been a TEAL workshop, then into a new purpose-built building opened in 2007.
Whale sighting
Orca and dolphins visit Wellington Harbour fairly often, but whale sightings are much rarer. In July 2018 a juvenile male southern right whale was seen in Evans Bay. Crowds of people came to see the whale during the week it was in the bay, causing traffic jams. Wellington City Council postponed its annual Matariki public fireworks display after taking advice about the whale from the Department of Conservation. The mid-winter timing of the whale's visit led some people to nickname it 'Matariki'.Demographics
Evans Bay statistical area runs between Hataitai and the bay. It covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2.Evans Bay had a population of 1,122 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 84 people since the 2013 census, and an increase of 192 people since the 2006 census. There were 432 households, comprising 558 males and 564 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.99 males per female. The median age was 34.4 years, with 150 people aged under 15 years, 309 aged 15 to 29, 561 aged 30 to 64, and 99 aged 65 or older.
Ethnicities were 81.3% European/Pākehā, 10.7% Māori, 4.0% Pacific peoples, 11.0% Asian, and 5.6% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.
The percentage of people born overseas was 32.9, compared with 27.1% nationally.
Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 58.3% had no religion, 29.1% were Christian, 0.5% had Māori religious beliefs, 2.4% were Hindu, 0.5% were Muslim, 1.1% were Buddhist and 2.9% had other religions.
Of those at least 15 years old, 486 people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 51 people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $54,300, compared with $31,800 nationally. 372 people earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 651 people were employed full-time, 120 were part-time, and 33 were unemployed.