JohanOvera

From the earliest days of European settlement, colonists were eager to move into the area we now refer to as the Central Coast. However, the dramatic landscape and richly forested bushland that attracted settlers also - quite literally - repelled them. With nothing more than a rough track to connect it to Sydney until well into the 1800s, the area remained inaccessible to all but the most determined settlers. Those who did move to the region were well-rewarded. The Central Coast’s fertile soils and dense forests provided enterprising settlers with incomes from farming and forestry. Still, the pace of local development was slow until the late 1800s when the train line between Gosford and Sydney opened, and with it a railway station at Lisarow. Suddenly Lisarow – then a tiny settlement – was easily accessible to holiday makers from the south. The pristine forests and nearby waterways drew an ever-increasing number of tourists looking for respite from the noise and crowds of Sydney. Of course, contemporary Lisarow has changed in the last hundred years. Today, Lisarow is a highly sought after residential suburb with a large retail precinct still - fortunately - surrounded by gorgeous bushland.