Location
276 Shelly Bay Road, Shelly Bay Wellington, sits on the beautiful Miramar peninsula facing the West and looking across to the Capital City.
The former 4.5-hectare block that housed the air force base was occupied by the Defence Force for the past century,
In 1995 the air force base was closed and put up for disposal by the Defence Force. Plans for the area would turn it into a place where people can go and enjoy the coast.
The Wellington community urged that the land should have mixed use with great potential for a mix of housing, shopping and commercial premises with large areas of it being kept green. It really is the jewel in the crown of Wellington.
Lose yourself to another less stressed world as you travel only tem minutes from the thriving Capital City. Here the pace changes and the real beauty of a city by the sea is truly experienced.
History
1839: Part of the Port Nicholson Block sale in which most of Wellington was sold to the New Zealand Company.
1885: Selected as site for anti- submarine mining base because of a fear that New Zealand - then a British colony - might be attacked by the Russian navy.
1907: Transferred to the navy.
1914: At the start of World War I munitions stores and a small tramway built to the wharf.
1942: World War II - more stores, slipway and new wharves built along with accommodation, workshops and small hospital.
1946: Transferred to air force and renamed Shelly Bay Air Force Base and used to accommodate catering unit and up to 300 Wellington staff.
1995: Closed as air force base and put up for disposal - process delayed since then by wrangling over ownership of reclaimed land and a possible Waitangi Treaty claim settlement.
2002: Local Government Commission rules reclaimed land at front of base is owned by Wellington City Council.
2008: Iwi agrees to buy it back as part of Treaty settlement deal.
2010: The Lodge at Shelly Bay opens its doors for business maintaining the history and flavour of the time and showcasing the way things use to be.
Credit: Dominion Post - 18/12/2008.
