Andersons Bay - Geography

Geography

The suburb of Andersons Bay extends south from the Andersons Bay Inlet, an indentation in the southern shore of the Otago Harbour, and across the isthmus joining the Otago Peninsula to the mainland. Andersons Bay's 2001 population was 2,532.

The suburb's name is also occasionally used for the area extending north along the Southern Endowment, an area of land reclaimed from the harbour which sits close to its western shore - towards the suburb of South Dunedin. This area, which was reclaimed during the mid twentieth century, was the location of the bay for which the suburb is named. The Southern Endowment is largely light industrial land, though it also includes one of the city's prominent sports complexes, The Edgar Centre.

South of the Anderson's Bay Inlet the suburb is residential. It is bounded by Musselburgh in the west and southwest, Shiel Hill in the east, and the coastal suburbs of Tahuna and Tainui in the south. These two smaller suburbs, which lie close to the Pacific Ocean, are often considered part of either Andersons Bay or Musselburgh. The rocky outcrops of the Musselburgh Rise are located immediately to the west and south of the Andersons Bay Inlet.

Close to the northern edge of the Andersons Bay Inlet is a large memorial stone to the Taranaki Māori prisoners of the New Zealand Land Wars who were transported south to Dunedin, many of whom constructed the causeway across the head of the inlet and much of Dunedin's foreshore roads as forced labour. A branch railway ran along Portobello Road in this area from the 1870s until 1912.

One of Dunedin's main secondary schools, Bayfield High School is located on reclaimed land at the southern end of the inlet. This school lies close to the boundary of the suburbs of Andersons Bay and Musselburgh.

Andersons Bay's main roads include Portobello Road and Portsmouth Drive (in the industrial area north of the inlet, and Musselburgh Rise, Silverton Street, and Somerville Street (in the residential area to the south). Shore Street and Marne Street skirt the western and eastern shores of the inlet; Marne Street links with Larnach Road, which runs steeply up to the suburbs of Waverley and Vauxhall.