The bay is a nesting ground for the Fiordland crested penguin, and endemic Hector's dolphins and southern right whales can be observed from the shore on occasion.

According to the oral tradition of local Māori, Bruce Bay was where the explorer and trickster Māui first landed in New Zealand before fishing up the North Island.

This feat is recalled in the name of the headland at the western end of the bay, Heretaniwha (literally meaning "to tie up the monster").

Shellfish eaten included tuatua, and green-lipped and blue mussels, while dolphin and seal bones have also been excavated from middens.

When the angry mob arrived back at the bay, Warden Price was threatened and in the riot that night six makeshift stores were demolished and ransacked.

Weld Town, the township at Bruce Bay with a floating population of over 2000, collapsed as the diggers moved north, although there were still 300 hopefuls there three weeks later.

[1][8] Several claims were later established on the coast and inland from Ōkārito (then Westland's third port and centre) to Bruce Bay, with a total population of over 3000 and a peak output in June 1866 of over 12,000 ounces of gold.

The storm caused flooding, slips and debris that put the small hydroelectric power scheme on Flagstaff Creek (a tributary of the Mahitahi River) that supplied electricity to the mill out of action.

[16] It suffered damage during the storm in February 1945, and again in November the same year, and in July 1946 the timber company ceased making repairs to the bridge and its approaches, essentially sounding the death knell for the settlement.

Artists that contributed to the new marae include Fayne Robinson, Puhanga Tupaea, Tungia Baker and Bevan Climo.