Located near Horeke, in the Hokianga Harbour, it was founded in 1828 by the missionaries John Hobbs and James Stack after the first WMS mission station in the country had been sacked the previous year.

[1] The first WMS mission station in New Zealand was duly founded at Kaeo, near Whangaroa Harbour, in June 1823 by Leigh and William White.

[2] The WMS missionaries, led by John Hobbs and James Stack, relocated to the Hokianga Harbour, where the following year, the Māngungu Mission was founded.

[5] White's objective at Māngungu was to expand the reach of the WMS, and he duly established further missions at Kāwhia and Waingaroa, on the west coast of the North Island.

The colonists were upset at being disadvantaged by this tactic but White also annoyed his fellow WMS missionaries, who had to perform the saw milling work and considered it compromised their preaching.

John Hobbs, now back at Māngungu Mission, had in his youth been an apprentice carpenter and set about building a replacement, assisted by volunteers from the European population in the area.

[11] It was still a pleasant site; a visitor in late 1851 noted the presence of a windmill, a chapel, a cemetery and a number of outhouses, as well as the well appointed mission house.

[10] Among its contents is a table, built by Hobbs, on which the Treaty of Waitangi was signed by those present at the ceremony that took place at the Māngungu Mission.