Kincumber, 91 kilometres north of Sydney by road, is the oldest permanent settlement on Brisbane Water.

The Guringgai Aboriginal people were the original inhabitants of the area and it is from their language that the name Kincumber derives. It is most commonly translated as meaning 'towards the rising sun'.

Governor Arthur Phillip and party were the first Europeans to investigate the area. Phillip's initial investigation of Broken Bay occurred early in 1788 and he returned again the next year.

White settlers initially arrived to engage in timber getting. Other early activities included small farming enterprises and a shipbuilding industry that lasted until around WWI.

Land for the village of Kincumber was reserved in the early 1830s. Other early variations of the name include 'King Coimba Creek' (1829) and 'Kingcumba Creek' (1832). The name had changed to 'Kincumber' by 1833.

The 1841 Census refers to the settlement as 'Cockle Creek' and lists its population at seven householders.

The oldest church in the district, Holy Cross Catholic Church at South Kincumber, was built around 1842 to 1844. St Paul's Church of England was built at Kincumber from approximately 1841 to 1847. Both churches contain the graves of prominent early settlers in their graveyards. The headstone of James Dunlop, an astronomer who discovered a comet in 1833, is located in the porch at St Paul's.

Kincumber was proclaimed a village in 1885.

The 2001 Census recorded the population of Kincumber and Kincumber South as 7,324 persons.