Central Coast properties

Aboriginal people have lived in the Central Coast region for thousands of years. The Kuringgai people of the area were the first Aboriginal people to meet British settlers. Early colonists referred to Kuringgai-speaking people as the "Pittwater tribes" and "Broken Bay tribes". The Kuringgai are one of the Aboriginal groups of the region.

Awabakal lived around Lake Macquarie. Darkinyung people lived inland, on the western side of the Mooney Mooney Creek. The languages of these groups, Kuringgai (Guriŋgai), Awaba and Darkinyung, are related to one another, though they differ from the Dharrug and Sydney languages spoken south of the region. Disease, disruption and war after settlement greatly reduced Aboriginal populations.

Bungaree, an Aboriginal man from the region, was one of the most prominent people in the early settlement of New South Wales. He learned English early, among the first Aboriginal people to do so. He became friends with Phillip, King and Macquarie, the early governors.

Bungaree sailed with explorer Matthew Flinders on a voyage around Australia. Macquarie later gave Bungaree the title "The King of the Broken Bay Tribes".

In 1811, Lachlan Macquarie, then Governor of New South Wales, made the first land grant in the region. The grant went to William Nash, who had been a marine on the First Fleet. The area did not see another land grant until 1821.

In the south the region is generally considered to be bounded by the Hawkesbury River. To the west it is generally considered to be bounded by the Watagan Mountains. Lake Macquarie is generally considered another boundary. Subtropical national parks and forests cover parts of the region, and its coastal waterways include Brisbane Water, Tuggerah Lakes and southern Lake Macquarie. Inland there are fertile valleys, farmland and wineries, with the Watagan Mountains also in the hinterland.

The region is a group of towns joined in recent years by growing suburban development. The main urban cluster sits around the northern shore of Brisbane Water. It includes Gosford, the Coast's largest population centre, and reaches east to Erina's retail centre. The Coast also has commercial "centres" at Wyong and Tuggerah, at Lakehaven, and at Bateau Bay, The Entrance, Terrigal and Woy Woy.

Coastal towns such as Terrigal, Woy Woy and Budgewoi, as well as The Entrance, Ettalong Beach and Bateau Bay, are among the region's better-known places. These places have resorts and holiday parks, wide beaches, lagoons used for surfing, and coastal tracks, with scenic views. Gosford serves as the main commercial hub and entry point for the region.

In 1988, Laycock Street Community Theatre opened in Wyoming, next to Gosford, with a proscenium arch configuration and seats for 396 patrons. In 2005, the Central Coast became officially recognised as a region in its own right, no longer an extension of Greater Sydney's metropolitan area or of the Hunter Valley. The state government changed the area's classification to Regional.

The Art House in Wyong is the largest theatre in the region. It opened in May 2016, taking the place of the old Wyong Memorial Hall. The weekly Central Coast Express Advocate ceased printing in 2019. The Central Coast Mariners were A-League champions in 2023 and again in 2024. The team plays at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford, which holds 20,059 people and is the region's largest stadium.