Description
Mangawhai is a township at the south-west extent of the Mangawhai Harbour, or Mangawhai Estuary, in Northland, New Zealand. The adjacent township of Mangawhai Heads is 5 km north-east, on the lower part of the harbour. Kaiwaka is 13 km south-west, and Waipu is 20 km north-west of Mangawhai Heads.
In 2018 it was proposed to develop a new town between Mangawhai and Mangawhai Heads, called Mangawhai Central, to accommodate the rapid increase of population expected and overcome the space limitations of the existing commercial areas.
Mangawhai is the traditional Māori name for the area, referring to the stingrays which live in the harbour. In the early and mid 19th century, Mangawhai Harbour was one of the main access points for the Kaipara. Ngāti Whātua used to drag waka from Kaiwaka to Mangawhai. Later in the 19th century, settlers would travel by boat from Auckland to Mangawhai, walk to Kaiwaka, and then travel on the water again across the Kaipara Harbour. By the early 1860s, a dray road existed between Mangawhai and Kaiwaka.
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