Mairangi Bay (Māori: Te Whanga o Oho Mairangi)[3] is a coastal suburb of North Shore, Auckland, located in the northern North Island of New Zealand, on the south-east-facing peninsula forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour.

[6][7] Prior to human settlement, the inland Mairangi Bay area was primarily a northern broadleaf podocarp forest, dominated by tōtara, mataī, miro, kauri and kahikatea trees.

[9][10] The North Shore was settled by Tāmaki Māori, including people descended from the Tainui migratory canoe and ancestors of figures such as Taikehu and Peretū.

[4] The warrior Maki migrated from the Kāwhia Harbour to his ancestral home in the Auckland Region, likely sometime in the 17th century.

His younger son Maraeariki settled the North Shore and Hibiscus Coast, who based himself at the head of the Ōrewa River.

[19][20] By the 18th century, the Marutūāhu iwi Ngāti Paoa had expanded their influence to include the islands of the Hauraki Gulf and the North Shore.

[22] The earliest contact with Europeans began in the late 18th century, which caused many Tāmaki Māori to die of rewharewha, respiratory diseases.

[10][21][24] In 1841, the Crown purchased the Mahurangi and Omaha blocks; an area that spanned from Takapuna to Te Ārai.

[26][27] In 1880, the land was sold to English settler Thomas Murray, from Newcastle upon Tyne, who converted the mānuka and harakeke scrubland to a sheep and cattle farm, and planted crops including corn, wheat and English grasses.

Murray was a lifelong bachelor and devout Christian, who taught Sunday school classes in Takapuna.

[28][29] Murray sold kauri gum as an additional source of income, constructed a windmill at the site of modern-day Scarboro Terrace, and developed orchards to supply the Auckland market with fruit.

[32] The Mairangi Bay post office opened in 1930, and the first shops and local services began operating from the 1930s and 1940s.

[32] During World War II, pillboxes were constructed at Mairangi Bay in various locations: at the beach, on the clifftops to the south of the suburb, in the modern-day Mairangi Bay School grounds, Elizabeth Place and on Kowhai Road.

[36] Since 2004, Mairangi Bay and the adjacent beaches have undergone civil works projects since 2004 to improve stormwater management.

[51] Rangitoto College is a large secondary school in Windsor Park, to the west of Mairangi Bay.