[3][4] Mount Hikurangi is a volcanic dome rising 365 metres (1,198 ft) to the west of the town.

It is 1.2 million years old, and part of the Harbour Fault which also includes Parakiore, near Kamo, and Parihaka in Whangarei.

The land was considered desirable because it contained mature timber and high quality flax, and transport routes were established.

[7] The area became a timber milling centre with the establishment of a road to Whangarei in 1875, and the first of several sawmills soon after.

During a nationwide coal-miners' strike in 1931, the Wilson Colliery Company closed their mine and deliberately flooded it.

The miners formed a company and bought the mine, but it closed two years later because there were few orders for coal during the Great Depression.

It established a dairy factory and operated a fleet of trucks to collect cream but also to deliver fertiliser and general goods to farmers.

[14] The Hikurangi association football team competed in the early years of the Chatham Cup.

The results were 72.1% European (Pākehā); 48.9% Māori; 5.2% Pasifika; 2.7% Asian; 0.2% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 2.3% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander".

The school was built on the current site at Valley Road in 1922-1923 and has been enlarged numerous times over the years.

[24] The site of the former school on View Road was sold to Mr and Mrs Robert Cherry.