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Freemans Bay is the name of a bay and an inner suburb of Auckland , in the North Island of New Zealand . Since the turn of the 20th century extensive reclaimation has seen Freemans Bay disappear. The coastline shifted more than one kilometre to the northwest of the city centre and is composed of concrete wharves. Most of what was Freemans Bay is now Victoria Park , a very flat piece of public land. The headquarters of the Auckland port company (Ports of Auckland) is located here, close to Princes Wharf, as is the terminal of the ferries which run between Auckland and the North Shore at Devonport and Birkenhead , and also out to Waiheke Island . Other wharves run the length of the Auckland foreshore for three kilometres to Mechanics Bay in the east, close to the entrance of the Waitemata Harbour . Recently (in 2000-2003) the far eastern inner part of Freemans Bay has been transformed into the Viaduct Basin , which served as a headquarters for the various Yachting syndicates involved in the America's Cup campaigns of 2000 and 2003 . THE SUBURB OF FREEMANS BAY The suburb of Freemans Bay is located near the original shoreline, a little over a kilometre to the southwest of the bay's current location. It is surrounded by the suburbs of St. Marys Bay to the northwest, Ponsonby to the west, Newton to the south, and by the city centre, which lies to its east. According to the 2001 census, the Freemans Bay area unit had a usually resident population of 3678. HISTORY OF FREEMANS BAY "Reflecting Waters" or Waiatarau was the Maori name for the bay that is now Victoria Park, although other names relate to the area; such as Wai Kotkota or "the place where the cockles are harvested" and Te Koranga "The scaffolds" (refering to the racks upon which fish waould be hung to dry in the sun). A stream called Waikuta "waters of the reed" discharged into the south eastern corner of the bay (bottom of College Hill Road) while the Tunamau "To catch eels" stream came down from what is now Western Park and met the bay at the bottom of what is now Franklin road. Freemans Bay is probably named after Captain William Hobson ’s secretary, James Stuart Freeman who apparently lived in this area. He was described by John Logan Campbell in 1844 as “the most disgustingly immoral swindling scoundrel in town”. Local gossip had it that he was not actually married to the woman he was living with, or that there was something amiss in her past. She apparently had been on intimate terms with Mrs Hobson and others in the Government House circle but after William Hobson's death in 1842 and Mrs Hobson's return to Britain she found herself shut out of genteel society in Auckland. This pained Eleanor Freeman enormously and enraged her husband. Living in a workers cottage on the wrong side of town certainly couldn't have helped her social status. After her early death at the age of 26 on 17th December 1844 Freeman added to the wagging tongues by remarrying just six weeks later. After his marriage to Mary Ann Miller on 29th January 1844 the Freemans left New Zealand. From the earliest period of European occupation Freemans Bay was an unfashionable area. Here on the "wrong side of Queen Street " were located the timber yards, boat building yards, the abattoir, gasworks the city morgue, nightsoil dump and from 1905 the city rubbish incinerator. Around these occupations were gathered some of the most modest houses in 19th century Auckland. Two land auctions in 1864 in this area were the "Brookville" estate [121 sites and "Alma Place" sites The large number of building sites are probably an indication of the small size of the building sections. These very small workers cottages were built very close together in many cases and often poorly constructed. By the middle of the 20th century the area was considered a slum. In the 1930s the Auckland City Council set up a committee called "The Degenerate Areas Committee" (later called "the Slum Clearance Committee') largely to deal with the area. When the motorway system was constructed from 1955 onwards it was an ideal excuse to demolish large areas of Freemans Bay in the name of slum clearance and progress. The motorway cut large swathes through Freemans Bay taking out good housing as well as slum quality buildings. Council flats and townhouses were built in the area during the 1960s and 1970s. Later, during the 1980s and 1990s, the remaining victorian house stock was Gentrified along with the neighbouring suburbs of Ponsonby and St Marys Bay and they are now some of Auckland's most fashionable and desirable residences. In 1905 Victoria Park was created which included sports grounds, a Sports pavilion and a children's playground. The playground equipment was donated by Mr John Court of the John Court Department Store.In 1909 a kindergarten for the local children was opened. It soon ran into financial problems, however, from which it was rescued by John Logan Campbell . This building has been in a delelict condition for some years and is awaiting restoration as of 2006. During the 1918 Flu Epidemic the sports pavilion was used as a depot for corpses awaiting transportation by rail to the city cemeteries. Across the road from Victoria Park stands Victoria Park Market , which occupies the buildings of the previous City Council Works Depot. Built between 1905 & 1915 and known as "the destructor" this facility burnt a great deal of the city's rubbish for many years. It was closed in 1972, and in 1983 the brick industrial complex was converted into the market. REFERENCES
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