It is on the Hibiscus Coast Highway about 40 kilometres (by road) north of the city centre.

[4] By the early 20th century, the Sykes family had bought land on southern slopes.

[4] In the latter 20th century, prime minister Robert Muldoon lived at his family's bach in Hatfields Beach, which had been built by his father in law in 1959.

[10][4] The Auckland Unitary Plan proposes that the block to the north of Hatfields, between State Highway 1 and the Hibiscus Coast Highway, and south of the Waiwera River, which at the time the plan was produced was a mixture of native bush and marginal farmland, be redeveloped to include clusters of rural lifestyle blocks with protected areas and a walking trail to Waiwera.

The results were 89.7% European (Pākehā); 11.7% Māori; 3.2% Pasifika; 6.2% Asian; 0.6% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 4.0% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander".