On the southern shore of the Waitematā Harbour, this former peninsula is by road about 6 kilometres (4 mi) west of the city centre.

Prior to the arrival of Europeans in Auckland, Westmere and the surround suburbs of Herne Bay, Coxs Bay and Grey Lynn were frequent transit points for those journeying through Auckland and places with abundant local food sources and access to freshwater.

[4] Additionally, Māori harvested flax from the wetlands of Coxs Bay (Opoutukeha or Opou) for processing elsewhere into rope and other fibres for clothes.

[12] However, it lacked approaches and it became merely a low tide trail connection facing ultimate removal.

[9][16] Alongside the farms and market gardens in Westmere, from 1877 to 1908, there were several abattoirs and business working with meat by-products established.

[17][18][19] In 1908, with the opening of a new city abattoir at Ōtāhuhu and considerable pressure on the council, this facility in Westmere closed.

[31] The causeway, later West End Road, created a lake-like body of water at Coxs Creek.

The southern part of the peninsula, an older area, was considered the western portion of Richmond, until the mid-1920s, when the Westmere designation became more common.

[32][33][34] The northern part, launched in 1916,[35] often used its estate name and misidentified the location as Herne Bay,[36] until the early 1930s,[37] when Westmere became the norm.

[41][42][43] That year, the West End Rd causeway was widened, footpaths added, and the one-lane wooden bridge replaced by a two-lane concrete structure.

[44][45] In 1927, when St Cuthbert's Anglican Church Hall, 8 Faulder Ave, opened, the Sunday school soon numbered 104 children.

[52] Later that decade, scattered state housing was built, and reclaiming the harbour at Westmere was considered for an airport site.

In the late 1980s, the post office closed as part of the sweeping changes to postal services.

The Meola Rd landfill continued until 1970, but the road connection was completed in 1950, linking Westmere to Point Chevalier, and the western suburbs with the city, and later that decade, with the new Auckland Harbour Bridge.

The reserve features a boardwalk through the mangrove swamps, sports fields, and children's playgrounds.

[citation needed] In 2016, Westmere had the most expensive state house in the country, valued at $2.54 million.

[65] Occupying two adjacent sections, 20 Rawene Ave was on the market intermittently for more than four years, before a 2020 sale by owners Tenby Powell and wife Sharon Hunter.

[67] The most expensive NZ home sale that year was also in Westmere, when Andrew Adamson sold his mansion to Anna Mowbray and Ali Williams for $24 million.

[80] Consequently, the student body would have been drawn from that side, the school faced northeastward, and a wide curved pathway connected the building with that street.

Over the next decade, rooms were added on the northwest side of the school and two classrooms were erected near the original Larchwood entry gate for the infant students.

[83][84] Pasadena Intermediate School in Point Chevalier is well within walking/cycling distance for students transitioning from primary to secondary.

[90][91] During the following years, trams either ran from the Grey Lynn or zoo terminus to the city and on to Herne Bay.

[94][95] In 1925, a bus route was implemented from the junctions of Garnet Rd and Old Mill Rd to Kotare Ave and West End Rd.

[101] Incorrectly set points sent a zoo-bound tram onto Garnet Rd in 1935, where a collision occurred with a city-bound one.

[106] In 2016, Auckland Transport proposed changes to Westmere, Point Chevalier, Arch Hill, and Grey Lynn, which include the creation of cycleways, new bus stops and shelters, and the addition of pedestrian crossings.