The history of this neighborhood
“Orphelinat” Bay borders the West coast of Noumea and also gives its name to the surrounding neighbourhood. It is located between the Bay of Moselle and the Bay of Lemons.
It was named in different ways: first the English Bay and then Bayonnaise bay.
This bay finally takes its current name from the reception center set up by brother Louis Antoni. This place was run between 1866 and 1884 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny who took care, on top the conventional orphans of public assistance, of the "wards of the Eugenie Empress," (women sent from mainland to New Caledonia to marry in order to repopulate the colony).
In the early twentieth century, a leprosy epidemic raging, the orphanage was then transformed into a clinic to greet the sick. A few years later, ot became the refuge of Javanese workers employed in the mines.
Today, it is a popular residential area.
Formerly home to several industrial activities including smelting of nickel in Chaleix workshops, “Orphelinat” Bay is now mainly a very nice residential area that also includes South Port Marina. The waterfront has been recently converted to a pedestrian and bicycle path lined with palm trees for athletes and families to tour the bays.
Continuing the walk up Mount Coffyn overlooking the bay, one cannot miss the Cross of Lorraine, inaugurated in 1973 in memory New Caledonia rallying free France from 1940.
Another memory of the Second World War is an anchor that belonged to the US military installed in the country in this period. It now sits in the middle of the main roundabout in the neighbourhood, bay front, and took the name of “crossroads of marine anchor”.