Mahurangi is the name used by our association and name of our harbour, but was at one time used as the name of all the land from Te Arai Point to the Wade River purchased from Māori in 1841. There have been several suggestions about the origin of the name but the most commonly given is the literal translation ‘rock pointing to the sky’ the name given to the rocky outcrop just offshore from Waiwera. Some say that the name was given to our area by the crew of the waka.
The Mahurangi Harbour is a drowned river system of three main inlets. On the mainland or Western side, the Pukapuka Inlet is separated from the main river or Waihē by Campbell/Oaua point. This and Scotts point and Casnell/Motu Maunganui form the inner heads. The central and most developed Te Kapa Peninsular is separated from the protective outer Eastern peninsula by the Te Kapa inlet and river. The Eastern peninsular forms the outer Heads at Sadler/Tairoa point.
The central peninsular running ending at Scott Point has become the most densely settled part of our community. Initially just referred to as Mahurangi it later became Lower Mahurangi, to distinguish it from Puhinui/Upper Mahurangi later known as Warkworth. The area was subdivided as the township or village of Mahurangi but eventually through common usage the area became just Mahurangi as a part of Mahurangi East while the mainland community across the river became Mahurangi West. Recently the community has tended to refer to the whole settlement as Scotts Landing.