The Sanderson family were the first European settlers at Okupu, buying in 1864 for a sheep and dairy farm. The Allom family purchased in 1866 but did not move to the land. The Ryan brothers also purchased land in the area, possibly buying some from Allom. Charles Werner was another early settler, running a store at Okupu from 1884. Richard Smith set up a shipyard south of Blind Bay from 1867 to 1879, where he built three schooners and two cutters. A wharf was built at Blind Bay in the 1860s to support the central part of Great Barrier. It was in use until a wharf was built in 1900 at Whangaparapara to the northwest. Okupu Wharf was replaced in the 1930s as part of a sea wall construction.
Gumdiggers operated in the area in the 1890s. There was a post office at Okupu Bay in 1894. Two
pigeon post companies competed to carry messages to Auckland from Okupu/Blind Bay from 1897 to 1908, with 800 messages carried by one company in the first two years. Gold and silver were mined at Okupu. The Iona Mine included a tramway,
stamping battery, accommodation and a school. It operated from 1901 to 1906, but was abandoned by 1908. The Sunbeam Gold and Silver Company built a stamping battery in 1906 but it stopped operations the following year as it was not profitable. Ngatiawa Gold Mining Company built a tramway, water race and battery for its own mine, but that closed in 1908. A school opened in the 1920s for the children of the Sanderson family. It shared a teacher with the
Tryphena school. A fish packing plant opened at Blind Bay by Bill Owen in the 1960s and was sold to Halma Holdings in the 1970s. It later closed. ==Demographics==