Island Bay was a former New Zealand electorate, centred on Island Bay in the southern suburbs of Wellington. The electorate was formed in 1946 and dissolved in 1996.
The 1941 New Zealand census had been postponed due to World War II, so the 1946 electoral redistribution had to take ten years of population growth and movements into account. The North Island gained a further two electorates from the South Island due to faster population growth. The abolition of the country quota through the Electoral Amendment Act, 1945 reduced the number and increased the size of rural electorates. None of the existing electorates remained unchanged, 27 electorates were abolished, eight former electorates were re-established, and 19 electorates were created for the first time, including Island Bay. The 1946 boundary of the electorate was as follows:<blockquote>All that area bounded by a line commencing at a point on the high-water mark of Cook Strait at the south-eastern corner of Section 37, Terawhiti District, in Block XIII, Port Nicholson Survey District; thence northerly along the eastern boundaries of Section 37 aforesaid, and Section 38, Terawhiti District, to and along the eastern and northern boundaries of Section 70, Terawhiti District, and the northern boundary of Section 69, Terawhiti District, to the southernmost point of the Wellington Water-supply Reserve; thence along the eastern boundary of the said reserve to a point in line with the middle of a road reserve forming the northern boundaries of Lots 1, 5, 9, 13, and 17 of Section 14, Ohiro District; thence to and along the middle of the said road reserve, across Happy Valley Road, and along the middle of Borlase Street, Clarence Street, Mornington Road, Veronica Street, Raleigh Street, Mana Street, Krull Street, Moffitt Street, Short Street, Liardet Street, Dransfield Street, Finnimore Terrace, and Hutchison Road to a point due west of the middle of the western end of Hall Street; thence along a right line due east to the middle of Hall Street; thence along the middle of Hall Street and Mein Street and along the production of the middle-line of the last-mentioned street to the middle of Alexandra Road; thence along the middle of Alexandra Road and Crawford Road to a point in line with the eastern boundary of the Town Belt Reserve; thence southerly along the eastern boundary of the said Town Belt Reserve to a point in line with the middle of Carlton Street; thence to and along the middle of Carlton Street and Sutherland Road to a point in line with the middle-line of Lot 38, Block IV, as shown on the plan numbered 1889, deposited in the office of the District Land Registrar at Wellington; thence to and along the middle-line of that lot, and along the middle of Queen's Drive and its production to the high-water mark of Lyall Bay; thence westerly generally along the high-water mark of Cook Strait to the south-eastern corner of Section 37, Terawhiti District, the point of commencement; and including all adjacent islands.</blockquote>
The electorate was held by five MPs from the Labour Party for the whole of its existence from 1946 to 1996. Robert McKeen was the first representative; he had since the represented the electorate. McKeen was the Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1947 to 1950. He retired from Parliament in 1954.
McKeen was succeeded by Arnold Nordmeyer in the . Nordmeyer was Minister of Finance in the Second Labour Government from 1957 to 1960, and is remembered for the black budget which contributed to Labour's defeat in 1960. Nordmeyer had moved to the Island Bay electorate when the Brooklyn electorate was abolished.
Gerald O'Brien was deselected by Labour for the electorate in 1978, and ran against the new Labour candidate Frank O'Flynn. O'Flynn was Minister of Defence in the Fourth Labour Government from 1984 to 1987.
Key