Colonial Sugar Refinery and Chelsea Bay Beach

Chelsea Bay has been an industrial port since the 1880s so has never thrived as a beach destination. Yet the tiny Chelsea Bay Beach at the end of Telephone Road still allows visitors a taste of beach life. The George Giles Walkway along the beach connects east Birkenhead with the sugar refinery along a route that many workers would have used to get to work over the past century.

The core aspect of Chelsea Bay, though, is the New Zealand Sugar Company’s refinery, which has been in continuous operation since 1884. Begun as a subsidiary of the Australian-based Colonial Sugar Refining Company, the Chelsea sugar refinery, as it is popularly known, produces a range of sugar products from sugarcane grown around the world, especially Fiji, Cuba, Australia, Indonesia, and Peru. Many of the buildings of the original refinery remain intact as part of the current facility, although processes have vastly improved in the ensuing years.

The Chelsea refinery was one of the primary motivating reasons for people to settle in Birkenhead. Workers came and initially lived in workers’ cottages and subsequently along the major roads between the refinery and Highbury. Almost all the local public services and commercial businesses were in response to the influx of workers to the area. Four wharves extended out from the refinery, one for passenger use, two to receive raw sugar and crude oil, and one to export sugar products. Today, only one wharf remains to receive sugar—all shipments of products by boat ended when the Auckland Harbour Bridge opened in 1959.

Operations at the refinery became increasingly automated beginning in the 1970s, allowing for a reduction of staff and less reliance on older machinery. Some buildings were demolished and others renovated for new purposes. A more recent development in 2018 was the opening of the Chelsea Visitor Centre, which provides a formal method for guests to tour the sugar refinery year-round, 7 days a week. Today, Chelsea Natural Cane Sugars are shipped to customers around the world and is one of New Zealand’s most recognisable brands.

Continue along the George Giles Walkway to Maunganui Road and then turn left onto Rugby Road. Follow Rugby Road to Hinemoa Street.