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FREEMAN’S BAY

Feisty First Settlers!

Among speculation on where Freeman's Bay got its name, one in particular we find very alluring.

Glenys Hopkinson (please refer to Sources) writes:

“Over 160 years Freeman’s Bay has been altered and reclaimed beyond recognition but its residents have remained as independent and feisty as its first settlers, some of whom described themselves as “Free Men” to separate their identity from the bureaucrats at Official Bay. Some say it is that spirit which led to the name Freeman’s Bay.”

Did you know that Victoria Park Market where it is situated today, used to stand on the sandy shores of the Waitemata, before the reclamation of the land between it and the current waterfront?

Because it was so shallow it was often flooded by rainwater coming down College Hill and Franklin Road, and pedestrians travelling to town were often seen treading barefoot, holding their shoes in one hand to ensure they had dry footwear in the city.

Early on there was no lighting, so people carried their own lights – often a candle in a bottle.

Victoria Park Market itself used to be an incinerator, built in 1905 to get rid of the city’s refuse. In this era, industrial buildings were designed with as much attention to form and style as to functionality, which accounts for the building’s beautiful appearance.

A Touch of Tuscany

And if you thought “A touch of Tuscany” was something of recent times only, it is interesting to know that the Gas Company Building along Beaumont Street has been built in Italianate style, a more ornate style popular in ninetheenth-century architecture.