Andersons Bay - History

History

The Māori name for the area was Puketai or Puketahi, probably meaning "single or isolated hill". It is likely that a pa of this name was sited somewhere in the vicinity, possibly on the rise overlooking Tomahawk Lagoon in what is now the suburb's southeast, or on some section of the Musselburgh Rise. Such a site would have commanded a strategic position prior to the reclamation of land from the harbour and from swamp, as it would have controlled almost all land passage to the Otago Peninsula.

Andersons Bay was named after early settler James Anderson and his son and daughter-in-law John and Isabella, who were the first European settlers in the district in 1844 - four years before the founding of Dunedin. James's grandson John was the first European child born in the area, in 1846. Their home was close to what is now the corner of Somerville and Silverton Streets, a corner known for many years by the now almost-forgotten name of Ross's Corner.

Andersons Bay Inlet, once known as Andersons Cove, is what remains of a far larger expanse of water which included the long-reclaimed Tainui Inlet. Much of this was reclaimed in the 1950s to provide grounds for Bayfield High School. In the late 19th century both a railway and ferry service connected this area with central Dunedin, but neither has survived. The ferry operated only during the 1890s, and the railway operated from 1877 until the early years of the twentieth century. The original intention was for a rail line to run along the shore of the peninsula to Portobello, but Andersons Bay was the furthest the line ever reached.

Andersons Bay had its own council briefly, the Bay Town Board. This administered the area from 1905 until its amalgamation with Dunedin City in 1912.

Andersons Bay hit the news headlines in Dunedin in 1995 after one of Dunedin's most notorious crimes was committed in Every Street, close to the boundary of Andersons Bay and Shiel Hill. The case, in which five of the six members of the Bain family were slain, led to one of New Zealand's most prominent causes celebres after the remaining member of the family, David Bain, was arrested for the murders. David Bain was found guilty and served 13 years of a life sentence before succeeding in having the case reopened. His retrial, in 2009, resulted in a verdict of "not guilty".