Township along both banks of the Waikato River, at the north-western foot of the Taupiri Range, within the North Waikato, on State Highway One, 8km south of Ohinewai, 13km north of Ngaruawahia, 98km south-east form Auckland.

Here they have Primary Schools, a High School, Police Station, Fire Station, District Court, Public Hospital, Hotel, Motel, Museum, Huntly Power Station and an AA Branch Office.

Huntly is an important coalmining centre within the northern part of the Waikato Coalfield, with underground and opencast mines, some distance from the town centre at Pukemiro, Glen Afton, Rotowaro. Closer to hand, opencast workings on the drained portions of the bed of Lake Kimihia about 6km to the north-east. Local coal is used for the coal-fired Huntly Power Station. There is also extensive farming on the fertile land, dairying, sheep and cattle raising, with some fruitgrowing and grapes.

Industries: Carbonettes from slack coal, bricks and fire clay products, agricultural and earthmoving machinery, quarrying, sawmilling, joinery, fibrous plaster. The main recreation area is the Huntly Domain on the West Side of Lake Hakanoa, usual sports facilities, and boating club.

The first European settlement in Huntly took place in the 1830s with the establishment of a mission station on the west bank of the Waikato, by the Anglican missionary, Benjamin Yates Ashwell. It is believed that Ashwell was the first to use coal from the local ourtcrops for fuel. In 1857-1859 in the course of the world-wide Novara Expedition of scientific exploration, Austrain geologist Dr Ferdinand von Hochstetter examined coal deposits in 1859, on his extended surveys of the lower Waikato - Waipa basin.

The coalmining industry was established on a commercial basis in 1876. Huntly was constituted a town district in1908, and a borough in 1931. Huntly was named after the town in Aberdeeshire (now Grampian Region), eastern Scotland, the birthplace of Alexander Henry who originally owned the land on which the present town still stands.