Le Bons Bay

The tiny town of Le Bons Bay has a library of appropriate proportions, with a beautiful name. It was built as a memorial after World War One and has always had PEACE above the front door, as a dedication to Peace Day, 19/07/19. Not officially serving as a library since 1992, the Peace Memorial Library is still the connector and hub of this community, locals volunteering to keep the doors open and the maintenance seen to.

The only other public service in this town is St Andrew’s Church, designed by Allan Mitchener in 1959, and hailed as an example of New Zealand Christian modernism in it’s purest form. St Andrews features in a book on 70 best examples of church architecture in New Zealand, by Auckland University’s Bill McKay.

The local school, which served for 138 years was closed in 2013. The people of Le Bons Bay are now rallying to save the school buildings and grounds as a community asset.

Always a town with a small population, it apparently got it’s name when early French settlers aiming for Akaroa, stopped here prematurely. The sailor sent ashore to check out the bay was supposed to have been named Le Bon, he had little to report and the sailing ship headed around to the harbour. There is some dispute around the truth of this story which seems unlikely to find resolution at this stage.

Image Credit: Schwede66