It is quite likely that the land around Whangarei Heads has been inhabited since humans set foot on these islands. With the first Maori explorers landing somewhere along the northeast coast, it can't have been long before the plentiful supply of kaimoana of Whangarei Harbour was discovered. During the 18th century, as population increased and tribes began to feel greater pressure from their neighbours, raiding parties were not uncommon. Eventually, with the arrival of the first missionaries, these raids and skirmished accelerated into what was to become know as the musket wars.

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James Cook here on 26th November 1769,

  "At 1/2 past 7 p.m. we Anchor’d in a Bay in 14 fathoms, sandy    

   bottom. We had no sooner come to an Anchor than we caught between

   90 and 100 Bream (a fish so called), this occasioned my giving this

   place the Name of Bream Bay."

Going on to remark on the natural beauty of the area,

  "The Bay is every where pretty broad and between 3 and 4 Leagues

  deep; at the bottom of it their appears to be a fresh water River.†

  The North head of the Bay, called Bream head, is high land and

  remarkable on account of several peaked rocks ranged in order upon

  the top of it;"

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Later, in 1823, the French captain Dumont D'Urville also made anchor and climbed to the top of Manaia, commenting on the "peaks like the fingers of a hand."

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By the 1850s, the Novia Scotian Scots had established settlements at Waipu. Several families came across the bay and settled at the Heads, giving their names to the many bays; McLeod, McGregor, Munro and Urquharts. They established their school which today still operates with a role of over 100 children.

 

Many books have been written which describe these events in great detail. Anyone wanting further reading cannot go past the Northland Room at Whangarei Library.