Freemans Bay

Story

Freemans Bay is the name of a former bay and now inner city suburb of Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. The bay has been filled in to a considerable extent, with the reclamation area now totally concealing the ancient shoreline. Historically a poor and often disreputable quarter, it is now a comparatively wealthy and desirable neighbourhood known for its mix of heritage homes and more recent single-dwelling houses, as well as for its two large parks.GeographySince the turn of the 20th century, extensive land reclamation has seen Freemans Bay itself disappear. The reclamation of the old bay was finished in 1901, and Victoria Park was created on most of the resulting flat area. It is still public land used mostly for sports purposes.The coastline shifted more than one kilometre to the northwest of the city centre and is now composed of the concrete wharves of Viaduct Basin and the Tank Farm or as it is now renamed, the Wynyard Quarter.HistoryMāori originsWaiatarau was the Māori name for the bay that is now Victoria Park, although other names were used to refer to the area; such as Wai Kōtota and Te Koranga . A stream called Waikuta discharged into the south eastern corner of the bay while the Tunamau stream came down from what is now Western Park and met the bay at the bottom of what is now Franklin Road.