Saint Marys Bay, New Zealand

Saint Marys Bay
The suburb and Westhaven Marina seen under the Auckland Harbour Bridge from the North Shore.
Basic information
Local authority	Auckland Council
Population	2,481(2006)
Surrounds
North	(Waitemata Harbour), Birkenhead
Northeast	(Westhaven Marina), Wynyard Quarter
East	Freemans Bay
Southeast	Freemans Bay
South	Ponsonby
Southwest	Ponsonby
West	Herne Bay
Northwest	(Waitemata Harbour)

Saint Marys Bay is an Auckland suburb

mid-1840s George Scott farms the land where 3 Lamps is now.

1853 For £1100 Catholic Bishop Pompallier purchases 19ha in the area between 3 lamps and the shoreline from James O’Neill christening it Mount St. Mary.

1854 O’Neill’s house becomes St. Anne’s School for Maori Girls run by the Sisters of Mercy. Responding to a Maori request for holy women to teach the children, the sisters of Mercy arrived in Auckland from Ireland in 1850 already fluent in the Maori language. Their first school & orphanage was situated near St Patrick’s Cathedral in Federal Street.

1854 St Mary’s College for Catechists on the North Shore is transferred to Ponsonby, St. Marys School for Boys and a Seminary are built on 5 acres (20,000 m²) of Crown Grant land at the end of Waitemata St..

1858 The wooden Church of the Immaculate Conception is built [demolished 1869–70, present site of the Ponsonby Tennis Club]

1859 New Street is put through the middle of the St Mary Mount estate and Bishop Pompallier presents land on the eastern side of the street for the creation of St. Mary’s College. Almost unaided the sisters erect a three story convent building and open it in 1861. The only surviving building from this period is the Kauri St Mary’s Chapel constructed in 1865 by Edward Mahoney for £1100.

1860s Many Roman Catholics buy land in the new Subdivisions in order to be near the Catholic centre with its church, convent and schools. Names such as "Dublin" & "Green" reflect this development.

1860 Bishop Pompallier returns from Europe with a group of French nuns. They form under his direction, the Congregation of the Holy Family, which concentrated on teaching Maori girls.

1861 St. Anne’s boarding school occupies O’Neill’s former house.

1862 The Convent is completed. The new order of the Holy Family takes over teaching at the school. The order now consists of Maori as well as French Sisters.

1862 The Bishop takes over O’Neill’s former house as his official residence.

1863 The Bishop sells more land, retaining the 4 acres (16,000 m²) with the Bishop’s House, The Church of the Holy Family and the Convent of the Holy Family. The Nazareth Institute for Maori and Half-Caste Girls is founded.

1866 St. Mary’s Convent, with its dormitories and Chapel is built.