Reclamation of New Town Bay

By 1904 New Town Bay had been in use as a local rubbish tip for many years. The New Town Board decided to proceed with a reclamation programme, promising to result in public sports grounds. Local residents, who enjoyed the views of New Town Bay wrote to the Marine Board, urging them to reconsider their plans.

You can see in the aerial photograph from 1946 that the bay is still present although it would have been used as a dump for many years and there are accounts of rat plagues. 

Reclamation began taking place as early as 1915. In 1954, the Save the Bay campaign advocated against the reclamation of land at Cornelian Bay. However, a reclamation programme took place and over 42 acres of land was reclaimed including the sites for the New Town Recreation Reserve, the Brooker Highway, the Sports Ground, the sewage treatment plant and oil installations.