Kumeū is an affluent rural town and suburb of Auckland situated 25 km north-west of the City Centre in New Zealand. State Highway 16 and the North Auckland Line pass through the town. Huapai lies to the west, Riverhead to the north, Whenuapai to the east, and Taupaki to the south. Governance Kumeū is part of the Local Government Rodney Ward of Auckland Council and is part of the Kumeu Subdivision of the Rodney Local Board. History The name Kumeū in Māori language originally referred to the north-east of Taupaki village, to the south of modern-day Kumeū. The name is associated with one of the earliest ancestors of the modern Te Kawerau ā Maki iwi, Te Kauea, who was of the early iwi Tini ō Toi (the people of Toi-te-huatahi). During the battle that preceded the peace accord, a wahine toa (woman warrior) pulled at her breast when calling her warriors to revenge an insult, giving rise to the name "Kume-ū" ("Pull Breast"). The traditional name for where the Kumeū village is found is Waipaki-i-rape. The area was historically important to Tāmaki Māori, as it formed a section of Te Tōangaroa, the portage linking the Kaipara Harbour with the Waitematā Harbour via the Kumeū River. The area is a part of the traditional rohe of Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara and Te Kawerau ā Maki. In the early 19th century, a small Ngāti Whātua settlement was found at Kumeū, which was seasonally inhabited until the Musket Wars in the 1820s. During early European settlement, the area was an important transport corridor between the Kaipara Harbour and Waitematā Harbour. In 1875, the Kumeu–Riverhead Section of railway was opened. Isolated from the rail networks of the rest of the Auckland Region, the line linked Kumeū to the Waitematā Harbour south of Riverhead until its closure in 1881. In July 1881, the North Auckland Line linking Auckland to Helensville opened, causing significant growth in the Kumeū area. After World War I, the district was settled by immigrants from the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, many of whom were part of traditional winegrowing families. Demographics The Kumeu-Huapai statistical area covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. Kumeu-Huapai had a population of 3,432 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 2,022 people (143.4%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 2,046 people (147.6%) since