Murrays Bay is regularly serviced by buses which go to Takapuna and the Auckland city centre.

[7][8] Prior to human settlement, the inland Murrays Bay area was primarily a northern broadleaf podocarp forest, dominated by tōtara, mataī, miro, kauri and kahikatea trees.

[11][12] 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.

[14] While the poor soils around the East Coast Bays hindered dense settlement,[7] traditional resources in the area included fish, shellfish and marine birds.

[16][17] 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.

[21][22] 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.

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

[12][23][26] In 1841, the Crown purchased the Mahurangi and Omaha blocks; an area that spanned from Takapuna to Te Ārai.

Murrays Bay was the site of one of the largest gum diggers camps in the North Shore.

[10] 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.

[10][31] 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] After the Murrays Bay Wharf was constructed in 1916,[10] the area became a popular spot for holidays and day trippers from Auckland, who arrived by ferry.

[34] Housing began to be built shortly after the area was subdivided, but due to the outbreak of World War I, construction was paused for five years.

[10] During World War II, pillboxes were constructed at Murrays Bay, at the beach and on the clifftops to the north of the suburb.