[3] The Westgate Shopping Centre on Hobsonville Road next to the north-western motorway and NorthWest Shopping Centre (which opened in October, 2015) to the north of Hobsonville Road are north of Massey.

The area is within the traditional rohe of Te Kawerau ā Maki, and is the location of Pukewhakataratara, a mountain known as Redhill to European settlers.

[5] In pre-European times, the bush-covered hill was a natural obstacle for people attempting to access the Waitākere Ranges from the Waitematā Harbour.

[5] The area was purchased by the Crown for European settlers in August 1853, as a part of the Mangatoetoe Block.

[4] The first known settlers on record were the Nicolas family, who were awarded a government land grant in 1882.

[6] From the 1890s until the early 1910s, the south-west Massey area was known for the camp of Don Buck, a Portuguese immigrant to New Zealand who employed ex-convicts in the gum digging trade.

[6] The area experienced growth in the 1960s, after the Poultrymen's Association opened a branch in Massey in June 1960.

In terms of regional governance, Massey falls within the Waitākere ward and subsequently under the Henderson-Massey Local Board area [18] of the Auckland City council.

The Henderson-Massey local board area covers the suburbs of West Harbour, Massey, Ranui, Te Atatū Peninsula, Te Atatū South, Lincoln, Henderson, Western Heights, Glendene, and Sunnyvale and contained a population of 107,685 in the 2013 census.