Mahurangi Harbour is a natural

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. It is located on the north-eastern coast of the

Auckland Region Auckland () is one of the 16 regions of New Zealand, which takes its name from the eponymous urban areas of New Zealand, urban area. The region encompasses the Auckland, Auckland metropolitan area, smaller towns, rural areas, and the islands o ...

near the town of Warkworth, and empties into the

Hauraki Gulf The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,drowned river valley A ria (; , feminine noun derived from ''río'', river) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea. Definitions Typically rias have a dendritic ...

. Approximately 17,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Period when sea levels were significantly lower, the freshwater Mahurangi River flowed into the vast coastal plain that existed where the modern Hauraki Gulf exists. The river met the

Waitematā Harbour The Waitematā Harbour is the main access by sea to Auckland, New Zealand. The harbour forms the northern and eastern coasts of the Auckland isthmus and is crossed by the Auckland Harbour Bridge. It is matched on the southern side of the city ...

(then a river) east of Kawau Island, and flowed north-east between modern day

Little Barrier Island Little Barrier Island, or Hauturu in Māori language, Māori (the official Māori title is ''Te Hauturu-o-Toi''), lies off the northeastern coast of New Zealand's North Island. Located to the north of Auckland, the island is separated from the ...

and

Great Barrier Island Great Barrier Island () lies in the outer Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand, north-east of central Auckland. With an area of it is the sixth-largest List of islands of New Zealand, island of New Zealand. Its highest point, Mount Hobson, Great Barrier ...

, eventually emptying into the Pacific Ocean north of Great Barrier Island. The modern harbour formed approximately 7,200 years ago at the end of the last glacial maximum, when the forested valley was flooded by rising sea levels.

Land use Land use is an umbrella term to describe what happens on a parcel of land. It concerns the benefits derived from using the land, and also the land management actions that humans carry out there. The following categories are used for land use: fo ...

within the harbour's

catchment basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, th ...

has been changing, and models predict an increase in

sedimentation Sedimentation is the deposition of sediments. It takes place when particles in suspension settle out of the fluid in which they are entrained and come to rest against a barrier. This is due to their motion through the fluid in response to th ...

. A number of settlements are found along the shores of the harbour: Mahurangi West, Pukapuka, Pohuehue, Snells Beach and Scotts Landing. The major town of Warkworth is located along the Mahurangi River, a tidal estuary of the harbour. The Mahurangi Regional Park is located at the headlands on either side of the entrance to the harbour.

History

The Mahurangi Harbour was settled by the Ngāti Rongo people of

Ngāti Whātua Ngāti Whātua is a Māori iwi (tribe) of the lower Northland Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island. It comprises a confederation of four hapū (subtribes) interconnected both by ancestry and by association over time: Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa ...

/ Te Kawerau descent, between the 17th and 20th centuries. Te Muri, to the south of the harbour's mouth, was a major settlement of Ngāti Rongo until the death of rangatira Te Hemara Tauhia in 1891. Sea captain John Sullivan moved to the area in the 1870s, settling at Otarawao and marrying Merehai Kaipuke, a Ngāti Rongo woman of high birth. Their family farmed the area for over a century. After being extensively hunted in the 19th century,

southern right whale The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20� ...

s have returned and can again sometimes be seen in Mahurangi Harbour.

References

{{Rodney Local Board Area Warkworth Subdivision Geography of Auckland Rodney Local Board Area Ports and harbours of New Zealand