Harwood appears to have been named after Octavius Harwood, who as part of a joint venture with C W Schultze took over Wellers Rock whaling station in 1841.
Their occupants were people of Polynesian culture and descent, ancestral to modern Maori, who lived by hunting large birds, notably the now extinct flightless moa, but also seals and by fishing.
Harwood is considered to have been a permanent settlement occupied by humans since1450, following raidodating of items found in the area.