Title: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Author: Cyclopedia Company Limited

Publication details: The Cyclopedia Company, Limited, 1905, Christchurch

Part of: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand

License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand Licence

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Colac Bay is a favourite resort for picnic parties and excursionists throughout the summer and autumn months. The bay is about one mile from the railway station, and is of horseshoe shape, with the wooded settlements of Oraki and Colac on its sides. Colac Bay is on the south coast, between Oraki Point and Howell's Point, with Pig Island and Centre Island in the offing. The station is seven miles from Riverton, on the Invercargill-Orepuki line of railway, and stands at an elevation of ninety-seven feet above the level of the sea. The district has a public school, post office, telephone bureau, a Presbyterian church, an hotel, two stores, two butchers' shops, a blacksmith's shop and a bakery. Colac, too, has a very good rifle corps, with a large drill shed, a football club, an athletic society, and a lodge of the Order of Druids. There is a native settlement a short distance from the township, and the public school is situated midway between the two places. A flaxmill and several sawmills are at work in the district. Not far from the railway line there is a very pretty sheet of water, surrounded by bush, and known as Lake St. George. Colac Bay is in the electorate of Wallace, and in the Orepuki riding of the county of Wallace, and, at the census of 1901, it had a population of fifty-one.