Olivia Spencer Bower
England / Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1905, d.1982
Menzies Bay
- c. 1938
- Watercolour and pencil
- Purchased with assistance from the Friends of Robert McDougall Art Gallery, 1999
- 275 x 380mm
- 99/08
- View on google maps
Location: Arcade
Tags: bays (bodies of water), hills, landscapes (representations), natural landscapes, seas, snow (precipitation), trees
The spectacular view in Olivia Spencer Bower’s watercolour is taken from the hill between Menzies Bay and Te Kakaho / Te Kākahu Decanter Bay on the northern side of Horomaka Banks Peninsula. It’s an area that affords an impressive view out across Pegasus Bay to the distant mountains, while Awaroa Godley Head and Te Ihutai Avon–Heathcote estuary are just visible further round the coastline. The view must have appealed to Spencer Bower, as she painted several watercolours from this vantage point. As with so much of Horomaka, prior to the arrival of Pākehā settlers Menzies Bay was covered with dense native bush. It was subsequently cleared for grazing, with much of the bush shipped to Ōhinehou Lyttelton as timber and firewood. The HMS Acheroncalled into the bay in 1849 when it was completing the first British survey of Horomaka, where the ship’s crew were treated to potatoes and milk from the local McIntosh family.
(He Kapuka Oneone – A Handful of Soil, 2025)
