History of West Pennant Hills

Shire of Baulkham Hills Location: 25 kilometres north-west of Sydney west of the junction of Castle Hill Road and Pennant Hills Road

Situated west of Beecroft and south-west of Pennant Hills station on the northern railway line, West Pennant Hills has become a suburb in its own right. The area was originally covered with thick forest, and its houses today are still set in natural bushland in an area that retains a rural atmosphere.

West Pennant Hills includes Thompson's Corner, named after Andrew Thompson (1773-1810), a convict (see Scotland Island), who received a grant of 100 acres in 1796 opposite the signal station in Pennant Hills. Workmen on the railway from Strathfield to Homsby established a camp and stores depot there in about 1890.

During Lachlan Macquarie's governorship (1810-21), a timbersawing establishment stood near today's Thompson's Corner. In those early days the pit-sawyers roamed the countryside, and the saw pits were set up at various places close to forest areas. One of the great stands of cedar grew in the Pennant Hills area, and this beautiful, glowing wood was mostly cut by the pit-saw, a large rip saw, about 2 metres long, with a handle at either end. Tree trunks were hauled or rolled into position onto a platform built over a large square-cut hole in the ground, and an old colonial verse describes the action that followed: "Top sawyer above on a log, below / His mate in the pit in the sawdust flow".

Reference: The Book of Sydney Suburbs, Compiled & Edited by Frances Pollon, published by Angus & Robertson Publishers 1988