The valley opens onto the Wairau Plain, where Renwick and Blenheim are sited.

[6] J. S. Cotterell surveyed the Wairau Valley in November 1842, and reported it contained rich land.

The dispute escalated into the Wairau Affray at Tuamarina on 23 June 1843, in which 22 settlers and four Māori were killed.

An enquiry held in 1844 by Governor Robert FitzRoy decided that the settlers were in the wrong.

[8] In November 1846, Nelson farmers Nathaniel Morse and John Cooper drove sheep into the Wairau valley[9] and established settlements.

[10] In the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake, the eastern end of the Wairau valley subsided by over a metre.

[12][13] In October 2020, the Government committed $246,418 from the Provincial Growth Fund towards renovating the marae, creating an estimated 7 jobs.

[14] Wairau Valley town is described by Statistics New Zealand as a rural settlement.