Ngunguru is a coastal settlement in Northland, New Zealand, 26 kilometres (16 mi) north-east of Whangārei.

[5] The waka Tūnui-ā-rangi, which brought Ngāi Tāhuhu to New Zealand according to traditional accounts, visited Ngunguru on its way from the Bay of Islands to Whangarei.

[8] James Busby, Gilbert Mair and W. J. Lewington bought 40,000 acres (16,000 ha) at Ngunguru in 1840, although the government disputed the sale for the next 30 years and attempted to buy the land itself from the original Māori owners.

[10][11] They established one of the earliest sawmills in the country at Ngunguru in 1840 to take advantage of the abundant kauri timber.

[12] The mill failed financially in 1844,[13] but others succeeded in the industry and Ngunguru exported timber and especially roofing shingles for many years.

[16] An attempt to sell the Ngunguru sandspit for property development in 2005 attracted considerable local opposition, and no buyers.

The Department of Conservation will administer the reserve, which is one of a small number of sand spits that are relatively intact from an ecological perspective.

Four separate assessments have ranked the spit as nationally significant[18] In October 2022 the Scotland women's national rugby team visited Ngunguru Marae in what was called a celebration of "the genealogical links between Scotland and Māori" by Te Ao Māori News.

[26] Ngunguru has a sports and recreation club, which started in the late 1970s in a leased farm paddock.