It is located on the North Shore of the Waitematā Harbour, 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) northwest of the Auckland City Centre.

The origin is unknown, but it possibly stems from the geographical similarities the area has to Birkenhead in North West England, which is on the opposite shore of the River Mersey to Liverpool.

[6] The Birkenhead area is primarily uplifted Waitemata Group sandstone, that was deposited on the sea floor during the Early Miocene, between 22 and 16 million years ago.

[7] Prior to human settlement, the inland North Shore was a mixed podocarp-broadleaf forest dominated by kauri.

[12][13] 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.

[15] Boat Rock (Te Nihokiore, "The Rat's Tooth") in the Waitematā Harbour southwest of Birkenhead was a location of great significance to Tāmaki Māori.

His younger son Maraeariki settled the North Shore and Hibiscus Coast, who based himself at the head of the Ōrewa River.

[23] The focal point of Te Kawerau ā Maki on the North Shore was Te Mātārae ō Mana ("The Brow of Mana"), a headland pā at Kauri Point in modern-day Chatswood, and Rongohau ("Wind Shelter"), the kāinga below the cliffs at Kendall Bay.

[26] The pā was of strategic importance due to its commanding view of the Waitematā Harbour, and its proximity to a renowned tauranga mango, a shark fishery which brought seasonal visitors from across Tāmaki Makurau and the Hauraki Gulf in the summer,[15][26][27] including important rangatira such as Kiwi Tāmaki and later Tarahawaiki.

[28] By the early 19th century, the eastern headlands the Upper Waitematā Harbour, including along Oruamo or Hellyers Creek were some of the most densely settled areas of the North Shore by Tāmaki Māori.

[28] When Tāmaki Māori returned in greater numbers to the Auckland Region, Te Mātārae ō Mana and Rongohau were occupied again, until the early 1840s.

[28] Outside of Te Mātārae ō Mana and Rongohau, other known locations of significance to Tāmaki Māori around Birkenhead include Maunganui or Mangonui was the name of a pā located inland on the Kauri Point ridge,[25][28] and Ngutuwera, an inland pā where people would stay seasonally, to snare kākā in the wooded vallies of Tāwhiwhikareao.

The poor soil led to starvation, and the servants needing to share food with the de Jersey Grut family members, and cattle would often wander off into the bush.

Despite the poor clay soil, Hawkins became a famed horticulturalist, winning prizes for crops such as apples, plums, peas, gooseberries, strawberries.

[38] Fruit became a major industry for Birkenhead from the 1860s, notably apples, pears, and two varieties of strawberry, Marguerite and Duke of Edinburgh, which flourished well in clay soils.

In response, the Waitemata County Council lobbied the Crown to allow the country more direct control over the gum digging industry.

[51] Birkenhead was one of the largest boroughs of New Zealand in area size, and tensions existed between the township at Highbury and more rural Birkdale.

[55] Growers were increasingly frustrated with the high cost of transporting fruit, and many began establishing canning and jam production operations.

[56][57] Growers struggled with poor apple and pear crops due to codling moths, so by 1900 turned to growing nectarines and plums.

[53] The factory provided steady work for the community,[54] employing a third of the workforce of Birkenhead, and allowing farmers and orchardists stability in years with poorer crops.

[60] The ferry service brought new residents to the area who commuted to Auckland for work, although fewer than neighbouring Devonport; only three stores were located in Birkenhead in 1901.

[7] Run by British meteorologist and spiritualist Clement Lindley Wragge and his Anglo-Indian de facto partner Louisa "Edris" Emmeline Horne,[63] the gardens featured a wide range of exotic edible plants and palm trees, becoming a well-known tourist spot.

[65] In the following year, theatre company manager Henry John Hayward, who lived at Birkenhead, began showing films at Foresters Hall in 1912.

[66] By 1913, Birkenhead had grown to have 12 stores (compared to 42 in Devonport), including the 1913 Hellaby's butchery, the first building with a tiled ceiling constructed in Australasia.

[11] From 1959, the stores of Highbury began declining due to the opening of the Auckland Harbour Bridge, despite an explosion of population growth in the surrounding suburbs.

[74] During these times, the Birkenhead Borough operated an unemployment loan scheme for residents, and relief workers worked on infrastructure projects including drain digging, clearing scrubland and improving roads.

[76] In 1938 on the eve of World War II, the New Zealand Government established the Kauri Point Armament Depot at Birkenhead.

While never employed, the Home Guard dug anti-tank tranches on the Glenfield ridge, and practiced warfare at Eskdale Reserve.

From the 1970s, Samoan New Zealander and Urban Māori communities developed around Birkenhead, many of whom worked at Wairau Valley and the Sugar Refinery.

[86] In November 2010, the suburb was included into the North Shore ward, one of the thirteen administrative divisions of the newly-formed Auckland Council.