Prior to the local body reorganisation in the 1980s Port Chalmers was made up of several suburbs, as well as the central area, Roseneath, Blanket Bay, Upper Junction, Brick Hill, Sawyers Bay, Mussel Bay, Upper Port Chalmers, Dalkeith, Careys Bay, Reynoldstown, Deborah Bay, Hamilton Bay, Waipuna Bay, Te Ngaru, and Aramoana, as well as the outlying townships of Long Beach, Purakanui and several other smaller nearby villages and farmsteads.