[1] It is also used to refer to the whole larger headland stretching about five kilometres from Murimotu Island westwards to Kerr Point and including the Surville Cliffs.

Sand deposited by ocean currents eventually formed a tombolo known as Waikuku Flat, which joined the island to the rest of the Aupōuri Peninsula.

An electrified fence was erected in 2000 to create a mainland island by excluding the possums, feral pigs and semi-wild horses of the area.

Hikurua / de Surville Cliffs is the northernmost point of the mainland of New Zealand, located at the tip of North Cape.

The first European discovery of the cliffs was made by Jean-François-Marie de Surville in December 1769, when he sailed his ship St Jean Baptiste to New Zealand to find a safe anchorage to care for sick crew.