Clay Point
From Windy Promontory to Prime Real Estate

Known in the 1840's and 1850's as "Windy Point", Clay Point was surely one of the most desolate and forbidding pieces of land in early Wellington. In those days the bush covered the hills above present day Lambton Quay and grew down to the waters edge. The narrow beach ran up Lambton Quay towards Clay Point where it turned sharply, as does the corner with present day Willis Street, leaving the headland open and exposed.

In time, Mr Millar's brickworks (stretching from Stewart Dawson's corner to Plimmers Steps) was to achieve, by default, excavation work which left a reasonable track and wooden breastwork along the foot of the hills. This "road" was continued by the City but did not, however, do much to ease the access around Clay Point as the track and the beach here remained very narrow. Clay Point was exposed to most winds and in Wellington, then as now, the wind loved to bite. Northerlies howled around the promontory, often making it impossible for ladies to pass in their voluminous crinolines.

Over the years proud and prominent Clay Point had been the site for Major Charles Heaphy's house and flagstaff and a battery of two 18 pound cannon, sited following the scare created by the Wairau Massacre of June 1843. It also had the distinction of being the site of the first piece of reclaimed land in Wellington. Much to the amusement of his neighbours who thought he was mad, the site was bought by Mr George Bennett not long after his arrival in 1848. Mr Bennett, unlike his contemporaries, saw possibilities in the section and set to with pick-axe, shovel and wheelbarrow to excavate the hill. He dumped the refuse onto the beach below and into the harbour, widening and improving the roadway making passage around the point much easier.

Ending up high and dry and a long way from the sea, Clay Point became one of the most prized and valuable pieces of real estate. As Stewart Dawson's Corner it became the meeting place and the sign post for Wellingtonian's and visitors and such phrases as "I'll meet you at Stewart Dawson's Corner" or "Go up to Stewart Dawson's Corner and turn right" were common. One wonders if the phrase "I'll meet you at Clay Point" would have had the same impact.