About: Moncks Bay

Moncks Bay is a south-eastern suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand. The first European owner of 100 acres (40 ha) in Moncks Bay was George Heath, who arrived in Lyttelton in March 1851 on the Isabella Hercus. He also had 500 acres (200 ha) of land on the hills behind. Heath sold the land to William McCormack in 1860; McCormacks Bay in the adjacent suburb Mount Pleasant is named for his brother. Moncks Bay changed owner again in 1868, and was purchased in 1869 by John Stanley Monck, after whom the area was named. Monck increased his land holdings up the hill by purchasing adjacent property from Dr Alfred Charles Barker (50 acres or 20 hectares) and in 1882, he acquired land from the estate of Alfred Watson that brought his holdings in Redcliffs to a total of about 300 acres (120 ha).