Saint Heliers Bay is the most easterly of the suburban eastern bay beaches on Tamaki Drive in Auckland and directly south of Rangitoto Island. It also marks the end of the shared 9.6 km cycle and walking path that connects to Downtown.
The 700-metre beach is separated from Kohimarama to the west by Gower Point and bounded to the east by the high rocky cliffs of Achilles Point. Pōhutukawa trees line the walkway at the beach's edge, with shops and cafes making up Saint Hellier's village on most of the south side of Tamaki Drive. There is also Vellenoweth Green, a grassy reserve opposite the west end of the beach. The beach is safe for swimming and popular but less busy than the others to the west due to its relative distance from the central city.
It is also an easy walk up to Achilles Point from the bay. The views from the cliff edge path and the point are superb. A little further on, you can also visit Whakamuhu / Glover Park, one of Auckland's many volcanic craters with a pronounced tuff ring known as The Rise.
Māori referred to the area around St Heliers, including Achilles Point to Glover Park, as Te Pane o Horoiwi (the Head of Horoiwi). Horoiwi was a migrant aboard the Tainui waka and settled there with his family in the 1200s. The Te Pane o Horoiwi pā was located at the end of The Rise, and these people intermarried with others, forming Te Waiohua iwi. Around 1750, Ngāti Whātua invaded Tāmaki Makaurau, displacing Te Waiohua and becoming dominant on the isthmus and eastern bays. In the late 1700s, Ngāti Whātua gifted the land around St Heliers to Ngāti Pāoa, but they were, in turn, forced out by Ngāpuhi attacks during the Musket Wars in the 1820s. Ngāti Pāoa returned in the 1830s and sold the area around St Heliers to the government in 1841.
European settlement followed, and the historical Glen Orchard house (on St Heliers Bay Road) was built in the 1850s. In 1879, Glen Orchard became Auckland’s first stud farm. It was managed by Major Walmsley, who suggested Saint Heliers Bay because it reminded him of the Bay of Saint Helier in Jersey, a British Channel Island. In the mid-1880s, the idea was that the homestead would become the centrepiece of a model seaside suburb. Plans were drawn up, and a developer got to work.
However, not much happened, and the small community continued to provide little more than farm support. The roads were poor, the bay was accessed mainly by boat, and ultimately, the development proposal failed. This was even after constructing a 460-metre pier to improve boat access at low tide. It became popular for day boat excursions in the 1890s, but the opening of Tamaki Drive in 1932 finally made a difference. This transformed Saint Heliers into an attractive seaside suburb.
