[2] The river's catchment covers 29 square kilometres (11 sq mi) and includes all or part of Te Atatū South, Glendene, Kelston, Titirangi, Titirangi North, Green Bay, New Lynn, Glen Eden, Avondale, Blockhouse Bay and Mount Albert.

The catchment consists of clay, sandstone and mud and was formed 20 million years ago when the land was raised from the sea.

This is remembered in the name for Portage Road, which runs alongside the Avondale Stream,[1] and it is known that seasonal Māori settlements existed at the mouth of the river.

[4] In 1852, the first brickworks in West Auckland were opened on the Rosebank Peninsula by Dr Daniel Pollen on the Whau River.

Boats carried the products of local industries including brickworks, a leather tannery, a gelatine and glue factory and firewood cutting.

The last commercial vessel to use the Whau was a flat-bottomed scow the Rahiri, which carried bricks and manuka firewood from the area until 1948.