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

[10][11] 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.

[13] While the poor soils around the East Coast Bays hindered dense settlement,[6] traditional resources in the area included fish, shellfish and marine birds.

[14] 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.

[18][19] 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.

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

[11][20][23] In 1841, the Crown purchased the Mahurangi and Omaha blocks; an area that spanned from Takapuna to Te Ārai.

[9] The main visitors to the area were itinerant kauri gum diggers, and small sections of land were part of cattle farms owned by the Vaughan family and by W.

[27][28] In the 1910s, Scottish immigrant and resident of Albany, John Knight, began developing the land to sell as a subdivision.

The origin of the name is unknown, but it may have come from the Scottish song "Sweet Rothesay Bay",[28] which was referenced in some of the advertising material for the suburb.

[28] During World War II, a pillbox was installed at the Rothesay Bay Esplanade,[31] and gun emplacements were constructed on the nearby cliffs.

[7] Chris Rankin who played Percy Weasley in the Harry Potter film series grew up in Rothesay Bay until he was 6 years old.