Decanter Bay
Place on Banks Peninsula, New Zealand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Decanter Bay is a bay on the northern coast of Banks Peninsula in Canterbury, New Zealand, between Little Akaloa and Menzies Bay.
Decanter Bay
Te Kakaho | |
|---|---|
The distinctive rocks at the head of bay are the origin of the name. | |
  Decanter Bay Location of Decanter Bay on Banks Peninsula | |
| Coordinates: 43.653°S 172.999°E | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Region | Canterbury Region |
| District | Christchurch City |
| Ward | Banks Peninsula |
| Local iwi | Ngāi Tahu |
History
Prior to European settlement, the bay was the location of a Māori pā. In the Māori language the bay is called Te Kakaho, which references the knuckled stem of a reed.[1]
The first European settler of the bay was Thomas Duncan, a disgraced Scottish lawyer who operated a dairy farm in the bay for five years. He had eloped with his ward, Eliza, and so was keeping a low profile for some time. He later moved to Lyttelton and then Christchurch, where he founded Duncan Cotterill Law in 1857 with his friend Henry Cotterill.[1]
The name of the bay comes from a specific rock that was situated on the eastern headland of the bay.[2][1] The rock had the shape of a decanter, but the 'stopper' at the top of the rock fell off in the 1880s due to erosion.[1][2]
During the 1870s, the bay was the location of a steam sawmill that processed cut lumber from the bay. The settlement was large enough to have a post office, with twice-weekly deliveries of mail by sea from Lyttelton. After the bay had been deforested, the population dwindled.[1]
Geography
Decanter Bay is on the north-eastern shore of Banks Peninsula.[2] The next bay, a short way to the south-east, is Little Akaloa / Whakaroa.[3] Coastal features to the north-west include Squally Bay,[4] Otohuao Head,[5] and Menzies Bay.[6]
Duncan Stream runs down the valley and meets the ocean on the northern side of the bay.[7] The stream runs by the nearest major hilltop on the north side of the valley, simply called Graeme, which has an altitude of 446 metres (1,463 ft) above sea level.[8] Vehicle access is via Decanter Bay Road, which crosses Brockworth Ridge from Little Akaloa. As of 2025[update] the road is unsealed from the top of Brockworth down into Decanter Bay. The land is privately owned, with waterfront access only by permission of the landowners.
Ecology
The north-western side of the valley is a Site of Ecological Significance in the Christchurch District Plan.[9] The area is a mixture of original native forest, tussock grassland, and cleared pasture. The valley is home to a number of at risk or naturally uncommon plants (including the fragrant tree-daisy Olearia fragrantissima,[10] Veronica strictissima, Leptinella minor, Brachyglottis sciadophila, and Chenopodium allanii) and insects (including the locally-endemic Banks Peninsula green Cicada, Zelleria sphenota, Gadira petraula, and Bityla sericea).[11]
Bird life in the valley includes bellbirds (korimako), grey warblers (riroriro), Swamp harrier (kāhu), fantails (pīwakawaka) and silvereyes (tauhou).[12]
Like many bays on Banks Peninsula, Decanter Bay is a habitat for endangered Hector's dolphins. A 2024 acoustic study found that Decanter Bay logged more dolphin activity than other nearby bays.[13]
