The Kumeū River valley was an important transport node between the Kaipara and Waitematā harbours, due to a portage called Te Tōangaroa, where waka could be hauled overland.

[4] Hanlon and Green applied the name to an area of 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) north of Kumeū, which their company Northern Fruitlands Ltd. developed into apple and pear orchards.

Urban West Auckland suburbs are located 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) to the south-east of Kumeū, including Westgate and the NorthWest Shopping Centre.

[11][12] By the early 18th century, Ngāti Whātua tribes had settled the southern Kaipara Harbour and Kumeū River valley areas.

[13][14] During the Musket Wars of the 1820s, Ngāti Whātua and Te Kawerau ā Maki vacated the area, returning in the late 1820s and 1830s.

[7] During modern times, the area is considered parts of the rohe of Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara and Te Kawerau ā Maki.

[15] Ngāti Whātua sold land in the hope that this would lead to Europeans settlements developing and stimulate the economy of the area.

[7] Sheep and dairy farmers were increasingly drawn to the Kumeū area from the 1880s, as land was gradually cleared of forest, kauri gum and flax.

[5] The first sections were sold in 1914,[24] and new institutions came to the area, with Huapai School established in 1919,[25] and St Chad's Anglican Church in 1925.

[26] Gradually Yugoslav, Croatian and later Dutch communities joined the primarily British and Australia/New Zealand people of the Kumeū River valley settlements.[27].

[30] Winemaking was established at an industry at Kumeū and Huapai in the early 1940s, led by Croatian families such as Nick and Zuva Nobilo, and Mick and Katé Brajkovich.