Saint Marys Bay, New Zealand

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

1853 For £1100 Catholic Bishop Pompallier purchases 19 hectares (47 acres) in the area between Three Lamps and the shoreline from James O’Neill, christening it Mount Saint 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 and orphanage was situated near St Patrick's Cathedral in Federal Street in the CBD.

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 Street.

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-storey 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" and "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 concentrates 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 and 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.

1865-68 The Suffolk Hotel [now the Cavalier Tavern] is built on College Hill.

1869–70 The Convent of the Holy Family is destroyed by fire. The Catholic Bishop is forced by his mortgagee to sell his remaining land, including the Bishop's House. The buyer is a Mr. Bennett who demolishes the Church of the Immaculate Conception [now the Ponsonby Tennis Club]. The Bishop resigns and leaves, leading to the dissolution of the order he had formed, the Order of the Holy Family. Saint Mary's Convent remains.

1873 Bishop Croke, the second Catholic Bishop of Auckland buys back the land with the Bishop's House on it. In 1874 the wooden house is moved to its present location at 57 St Marys Road.

1874 The farm "Campbellville" owned by John Campbell is subdivided for suburban development.

1886–87 The Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart is built on the corner of O’Neill St and Ponsonby Road. This takes over the role of Parish Church from St Mary's Chapel.

1890s The underground men's public toilets at Three Lamps are built - these are possibly the first such public utilities in Auckland.

1894 The New Bishop's Palace is constructed to the designs of Pugin & Pugin, Edward. W. Pugin (1834–1875) and Peter Paul Pugin (1851–1904), sons of Augustus Pugin, the Gothic Revivalist architect responsible for much of the decorative work of the Palace of Westminster. The Bishop's Palace was partly funded by donations from all over the world including 5,000 schools in Europe and the US, the Lord Mayor of London and an Archduchess of Austria. This imposing brick gothic structure is believed to be the first house in Auckland to have been constructed with electric lighting.

1902 The Ponsonby Fire Station in St Marys Road is built. [Goldsb'ro & Wade Architects].

1905 The Leys Institute at Three Lamps is established by brothers William Leys and Dr Thomas Leys. This splendid Edwardian Baroque building contains a public library, lecture hall and gymnasium.

1911 The Ponsonby Post Office is built. John Campbell - Government Architect [NZ Historic Places Listing].

1950s The foreshore of Saint Marys Bay disappears during the construction of the motorway approaches to the Harbour Bridge. Cut off from the sea a great number of small commercial boat-yards are forced to close and many private boat-slips which have been used for almost a century fall into disuse. The Auckland Harbour Board plan to fill in Westhaven completely. A group of local residents including engineers and architects donate their services to create Westhaven Marina, now one of Auckland's greatest assets.

1959 The Auckland Harbour Bridge opens.