Mangawhai Harbour

The Mangawhai Harbour is situated five kilometres south of Paepae-o-Tū / Bream Tail, a major headland in the Northland Region.[1] The central section of the Mangawhai Harbour is called the Mangawhai Estuary.[2] It is fed by a number of tributaries, including the Mangawhai River, Bob Creek and Tara Creek.

A large sand spit forms the mouth of the harbour.[3] This sandspit is a 245 hectare nature reserve, known as the Mangawhai Government Purpose Wildlife Refuge Reserve.[4]

The sandspit at the mouth of the harbour has spinifex and pingao, and is a home for many migratory bird species, such as Caspian terns, New Zealand fairy terns, Variable oystercatchers and New Zealand dotterels.[3]

The Mangawhai Harbour is a part of the rohe of Te Uri-o-Hau, a tribal group either seen as an independent iwi, or as a hapū of Ngāti Whātua.[5] The name refers to Te Whai, a historic rangatira of Ngāti Whātua, who shares his name with the Short-tail stingray, whai, found in the harbour.[5] Te Whai had a fortified pā at Mangawhai Point, a central headland in the harbour.[5] The harbour was an important connection between the east and west coasts of Northland, as it was a part of the Ōtamatea portage, a place which allowed waka to be hauled overland between the Mangawhai Harbour and the Kaipara Harbour, via the Kaiwaka River, Hakaru River and Otamatea River.[6][7] 41 archaeological sites have been identified around the harbour.[5]

The Mangawhai Harbour was purchased by the Crown in 1858, with European settlers using the harbour from 1859, primarily for the kauri logging and kauri gum industries.[5] As these industries dwindled, dairy farming and sheep farming became the main industries around the harbour.[5] Two European settlements developed around the harbour, Mangawhai to the south-west and Mangawhai Heads to the north.

In 1864, Three Brothers, a British schooner hit the sandbar at the mouth of the Mangawhai Harbour. Two passengers were washed overboard and drowned.[8]

Sand mining began at the Mangawhai Harbour entrance pre 1940.[9] In 1978 the collapse of sand dunes, believed to be caused by sand mining,[9][10] closed the harbour for five and a half years.[11] Commercial sand mining ceased in 2004.[12]