The wakaTūnui-ā-rangi, which brought Ngāi Tāhuhu to New Zealand according to traditional accounts, visited Ngunguru on its way from the Bay of Islands to Whangarei. The area was named by Puhi, captain of another waka, Mataatua. In pre-European times, there was a substantial Māori population in the area. The Ngunguru sandspit was the scene of a battle between southern tribes and Te Waiariki in 1838. The first chart of "Nongodo" was drawn by Captain N. C. Phillips of in 1836. James Busby, Gilbert Mair and W. J. Lewington bought at Ngunguru in 1840, although the government disputed the sale for the next 30 years and attempted to buy the land itself from the original Māori owners. They established one of the earliest sawmills in the country at Ngunguru in 1840 to take advantage of the abundant kauri timber. It was water-powered. The mill failed financially in 1844, but others succeeded in the industry and Ngunguru exported timber and especially roofing shingles for many years. The Melanesian Mission ship was wrecked in Ngunguru Bay in 1860. A bullock track was built to Whangarei in the 1860s. In 1892, coal was discovered at Kiripaka, at the headwaters of the Ngunguru River. were mined until 1921. The beach settlement developed after roading was improved in the 1950s. An attempt to sell the Ngunguru sandspit for property development in 2005 attracted considerable local opposition, and no buyers. In August 2011 the government purchased the spit from the Todd Property Group. The Department of Conservation will administer the reserve, which is one of a small number of sand spits that are relatively intact from an ecological perspective. Four separate assessments have ranked the spit as nationally significant
Demographics
Ngunguru had a population of 1,164 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 246 people since the 2013 census, and an increase of 285 people since the 2006 census. There were 468 households. There were 558 males and 606 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.92 males per female. Of the total population, 267 people were aged up to 15 years, 135 were 15 to 29, 525 were 30 to 64, and 240 were 65 or older. Figures may not add up to the total due to rounding. Ethnicities were 87.6% European/Pākehā, 18.0% Māori, 2.3% Pacific peoples, 2.6% Asian, and 2.8% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 21.9, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people objected to giving their religion, 61.6% had no religion, 25.5% were Christian, and 4.4% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 222 people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 153 people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $29,500. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 411 people were employed full-time, 168 were part-time, and 21 were unemployed.
