Days Bay

Sheldrake on the old water chute pond, 2010

Kererū in Day's Bay, 2012

Then after seven more good years Williams became concerned that in 1909, only four years away, his lease of his Day's Bay wharf would expire. He had put ten successful years work into Day's Bay. The Evening Post reported about 4000 had visited Days Bay on Anniversary Day 1905.[17] His real pleasure was in running his resort and finding extra work for his commercial vessels in their slack times. By 1905 there was less commercial work available. The Union Company had bought two tugs for its own operations and there were other smaller competitors. A wharf had been built at Rona Bay and building sites were being sold. The usual civic institutions were beginning to take root in the neighbourhood, initially an unelected group calling themselves The Day's Bay Ratepayers Association. Properly constituted they would see a useful tax source in his business and in any case he did not want to run a scheduled commuter ferry service to please permanent residents.[12]

Williams had successfully floated Wellington Steam Ferry Company Limited in 1900, a public listed company, and put his own business into its ownership. That way he raised enough extra capital to improve and expand the resort's facilities and acquire another ferry. He now put his share of Wellington Steam Ferry and its 226 acres of Day's Bay up for sale and in August 1905 it was bought by a syndicate led by William Watson of the Bank of New Zealand. Wellington Steam Ferry became a subsidiary of Watson's newly formed Wellington Harbour Ferries Limited.[12]

Within a month an auction of 66 building sites was advertised. It seemed all Wellington protested. Harold Beauchamp, father of Katherine Mansfield appealed to the Premier, Richard Seddon, for the Government to acquire Days Bay and proclaim it a National Park "for all time".[note 2][18] He suggested maintenance costs then would be funded by the rents from the accommodation house and pavilion and an agreed portion of the ferry company's fares.[19] No government help was forthcoming.[12]

After the uproar abated the auction went ahead. Wellington Harbour Ferries found revenue enough to maintain the ferry service but wanted the profits from more subdivision in Day's Bay. Its focus became property development, it had a ferry service to make the properties attractive. It lost Miramar business when trams arrived and, as expected by Williams, Harbour Board and Eastbourne Borough Council both pushed up wharf rentals. Duco was sent to the Chathams to fish and earn cash but disappeared with all hands. The council would not buy the bush-clad slopes for a reserve. The Council demanded they be allowed to buy the ferries.[12]

Eastbourne Borough Council committed themselves to their purchase on 26 June[20] and took over Duchess and Cobar on 1 September 1913. The timetable was increased and the service made more convenient for East Harbour residents. In 1923 the council purchased Muritai but it proved an expensive vessel to run. The paving of the Hutt Road and the extension of the bitumen to Muritai lowered ferry custom and the council was obliged to buy a fleet of buses. Duchess was sold in 1934.[21] Muritai was taken over for Defence purposes in August 1940.[22] Cobar was badly damaged by fire in 1948 and sold for a trawler in 1950. Cobar replacement Ocean Cruiser, a stripped Fairmile with a puny stand-in for its three V12 petrol engines, proved unreliable and did not attract the hoped-for custom.[12]

Day's Bay House soon after it was built

Day's Bay House was built in 1903 for J H Williams's Wellington Steam Ferry Company. The resort hotel operation met with only moderate success and in 1913 with its immediate surrounds, 4 acres, it was sold to Miss Gladys Sommerville and building and grounds became Croydon School.[5]

When the resort without hotel became available at the end of 1913 once again strong public pressure arose for the Government or Wellington City Council to buy it. Having no satisfaction from these organisations a Citizens' Committee was formed and it called for donations. Much the largest were from the Government, £4,000 and the Wellington City Council —the same amount—and from Mrs W R Williams, widowed mother of the park's founder, J H Williams.[23]

The Wellington City Council announced on 11 March 1914 that councillors had visited and inspected the land in Days Bay and after a special meeting in the evening in committee resolved to buy it on the terms submitted by the deputation of citizens and the vendors. The foreshore rights vested in the company would now vest in the Wellington City Council.[23]

Mrs W R Williams was given a copy of the following resolution by the council: "That this council place on record its deep sense of the public spirit manifested by Mrs W R Williams in contributing a sum of £1,500 towards the fund for the purchase of the Day's Bay grounds for public purposes and in recognition of her generosity hereby resolves that the reserve shall henceforth be known as Williams Park".[23]

For a long time the ferries also enjoyed the commuter traffic that found the road intolerable. The whole far or eastern side of the harbour had become known as Eastbourne by the turn of the 19th to 20th century but it was still referred to as the-district-round-about-Day's-Bay. Modern Eastbourne was then Rona Bay (within) Day's Bay and its broader neighbour to its south, Muritai (within) Day's Bay, both accessible by Day's Bay steamer.[24] That is to say Rona Bay (or Brown's Bay or Okiwi) and Muritai (or Robinson's Bay) were in Day's Bay and the province of the Day's Bay Ratepayers Association, a free association of like-minded residents and not an elected body. Some letters to The Evening Post described the Association as a coterie.

In the Spring of 1904 a bill was introduced to Parliament to constitute an Eastbourne Road District and a Road Board for it replacing the administration of the Hutt County Council.[25] On its way through Parliament the idea became expanded into not just a roads board but a Borough Council. York Bay and Lowry Bay remained in Hutt County at the request of their residents as did, for the moment, Day's Bay.[note 3][26] Rona Bay and Muritai became Eastbourne. The first meeting of the new Eastbourne Borough Council was set down for 8 June 1906.[27] By the time of the first World War Williams Park's location was firmly Day's Bay, Eastbourne but civic administration remained separate from Eastbourne and there were complaints at the way Day's Bay in Hutt County took the bulk of the holiday traffic on Eastbourne's Ferries having made no contribution to their upkeep. Of course the visitors would have been just as happy to get off the boat at Rona Bay, there you could take your pick from wharf or sandy beach or if a fresh southerly sprang up, visit friends.

A McEwen's lorry on the summertime surface, 1916[28]

There were four miles of road from the Waiwhetū Bridge to Days Bay. The Hutt County Council defended its practice "which is recognised good practice in road-making" of using a mix of gravel and sand on a muddy clay surface while admitting it was difficult to keep that surface in good condition in winter weather. The City and Suburban Highways Board took the road under their management in early 1926.[29] It was intended to pave the road through Days Bay in late summer 1926[30] but there was a proposal for a subway to link the wharf and road entrance to the Pavilion. The subway was strongly and in the end successfully opposed by local residents and the paving in front of the park finally went ahead in 1927.[27]

Eastern Bays statistical area covers 1.93 km² (0.75 sq mi)[2] and includes several other bays between Days Bay and Point Howard. It had an estimated population of 2,140 as of June 2022,[31] with a population density of 1,109 people per km².

Eastern Bays had a population of 2,079 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 135 people (6.9%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 63 people (3.1%) since the 2006 census. There were 813 households, comprising 1,023 males and 1,056 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.97 males per female. The median age was 49.6 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 330 people (15.9%) aged under 15 years, 270 (13.0%) aged 15 to 29, 1,035 (49.8%) aged 30 to 64, and 441 (21.2%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 93.9% European/Pākehā, 6.3% Māori, 1.2% Pasifika, 4.2% Asian, and 2.5% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.

The percentage of people born overseas was 27.8, compared with 27.1% nationally.

Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 55.3% had no religion, 36.1% were Christian, 0.3% were Hindu, 0.3% were Muslim, 0.9% were Buddhist and 2.3% had other religions.

Of those at least 15 years old, 879 (50.3%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 99 (5.7%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $50,100, compared with $31,800 nationally. 651 people (37.2%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 861 (49.2%) people were employed full-time, 324 (18.5%) were part-time, and 42 (2.4%) were unemployed.[32]

James Herbert Williams (c.1858–1915) for many years connected with his father's shipping business subsequently created the local tug and ferry service which he conducted for a number of years and eventually formed into the Wellington Steam Ferry Company Limited. He, and later through that company, developed Day's Bay Estate into a popular resort. He died at his residence, 22 Hobson Street, Thorndon, 19 January 1915 aged 57 leaving a son and three daughters.[36]

J H Williams held the piloting and tugboat contract at Wellington 1894–99, his tugs were Duco and Mana[37] In 1900 he sold his business, including the resort of Days Bay, into his Wellington Steam Ferry Company.[38] In 1914, less than twelve months before he died, his mother gave a large sum of money to help Wellington City Council purchase from a subsequent owner the Day's Bay resort for the benefit of the public. In view of her considerable generosity the Wellington City Council named the resort Williams Park. The ferries and the hotel were bought by other interests.[12]

The Beauchamp family cottage in Day's Bay

The area has particular associations with the young Katherine Mansfield. The story "At the Bay" was based on her holiday experiences as a child when Day's Bay encompassed Rona Bay and Muritai and they took a house on the rise above St Alban's church. After she came back from school in England her father had a tiny family holiday cottage on Day's Bay's rocky beachfront by the point where what is now Marine Parade turns towards Sunshine Bay.[8]

Wellington Steam Ferry Company Limited incorporated 1900 (J H Williams, manager E G F Zohrab)[21] Williams sold his interest in 1905 to William Watson's syndicate[5] and the company became a subsidiary of Watson's newly formed Wellington Harbour Ferries Limited.

Miramar Ferry Company Limited

incorporated 1901, plant sold to Wellington Harbour Ferries Limited in 1906.[5]

Wellington Harbour Ferries Limited

incorporated 1906 (Wm Watson (1846–1938), president of the Bank of New Zealand,[39] and other Seatoun residents, manager E G F Zohrab)[21] to own a controlling share of Wellington Steam Ferry Company Limited and the plant from Miramar Ferry. In 1913 the ferries were sold to the Eastbourne Borough Council and Day's Bay House to Miss Sommerville for Croydon School. The remaining Day's Bay land was bought by Wellington City Council and the companies were eventually wound up.[5]