Westleigh

Westleigh is a suburb in the Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 22 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Hornsby Shire.

Westleigh is a suburb in the Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 22 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Hornsby Shire.

Westleigh derived its name from its location, directly west of Thornleigh. Development as a residential suburb began in 1967 and was marketed by Stewart Upton a large real estate firm following the subdivision of the area bounded by Duneba and Eucalyptus Drive, and the former riding school which was situated near Billarga Road. Prior to this time the area was rural with many citrus orchards, with a small number of homes on acreage along Quarter Sessions Rd, extending north towards the former sandstone quarry near "Blackfellow's Head", which was used as a dumping ground for stolen cars of the 1940s and 1950s. The area was originally heavily timbered, so many streets bear the names of Australian trees such as Stringybark Close, Spotted Gum Road, Eucalyptus Drive, Hibbertia Place, Peppermint Gum place and Ironbark Close.Although the naming of the streets seems only vaguely related to what was there before houses arrived, and many streets named for plants contain not a single representative specimen.

Westleigh was originally a housing estate west of Quarter Sessions Road.A small parcel of land was opened at the same time on the eastern side of Quarter Sessions Rd and this include Gum Blossom Drive and Bottle Brush Road. While classified as Thornleigh West for it postal address it was given a Westleigh address in the 1980s. This parcel of land was owned by a large home unit construction firm—RDC who built many project homes in Gum Blossom Drive. This company closed and the remaining land was sold to private parties in 1968.

In 2016, the Hornsby Shire purchased 34 hectares of land from Sydney Water in Westleigh, intending to use this land as public open space for recreation.