Penrith City Local History - Places - Suburb profiles - Leonay
BREADCRUMBS_LEONAY
Leonay
Leonay
Leonay is located on the western side of the Nepean River, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. This suburb is bounded by the M4 Motorway, the western railway line, and the Nepean River. Once the vineyard of Leo Buring, Leonay is now a residential suburb nestled on the Blue Mountains Escarpment. The landscape rises sharply from the river which has fostered the development of individually designed homes. A main feature of Leonay is the golf course which meanders through the suburb. The shrill sound of bellbirds echoes over this secluded suburb to create a harmony of modern living and nature.
Leonay on Google Maps.
Although the area was known locally as Leonay it wasn’t officially gazetted as such by the NSW Geographical Names Board until ca 1974 after a poll of residents in 1973. The alternative suggestion by the Emu Plains Progress Association of Emu Ridge was rejected.
Leonay
Leonay was the home of Australian wine grower Hermann Paul Leopold Buring – better known as Leo Buring – and his wife Ida –nicknamed Nay. They built a house on this 376 acre property in 1920 and combined their names to call it Leonay. In 1938 they built a private golf course which later became the Leonay Golf Course. Although the area was known locally as Leonay it wasn’t officially gazetted as such by the NSW Geographical Names Board until around 1974 after a poll of residents in 1973.
Photo by Chapman Real Estate
Photo by Chapman Real Estate
Edinglassie
Edinglassie was located near what is now Lapstone Place, Leonay and was the home of Sir Francis and Lady Amelia Forbes. The stones from the house were used in the construction of the Methodist Church in 1860. Edinglassie was demolished in 1920.
Watercolour by Conrad Martens. Courtesy of the Dixson Library, State Library of NSW
| 1818 | 15 November | Sir John Jamison, Lieut. Johnston, John Wentworth and Thomas Jones discovered and named Glenbrook Creek at its entrance into the Nepean River at Leonay |
| 1826 | 6 October | Land grant to Francis Forbes, Chief Justice of the colony of 120 acres at Emu Plains (now Leonay) which he named Edinglassie |
| 1851 | 30 hectares of the Jamison estate at Emu Plains (now Leonay) sold to W. Russell. House from on the estate is now located in Bunyan Road | |
| 1914 | 18 June | Leo and Nay Buring purchase the Edinglassie Estate (376 acres) for 2200 pounds |
| 1920 | Leo and Nay move into their home naming it Leonay | |
| 1923 | First wine produced at Leonay | |
| 1931 | First commercial vintage wine produced | |
| 1940 | 8 February | Nepean Times reported that the Leonay Golf Club had been formed at a meeting in Penrith, with the support of the Buring's who had a 19 hole golf course designed on their property |
| 1946 | Golf Club reforms after the war | |
| 1961 | 29 September | Leo Buring dies aged 85 and the bulk of the property is sold to developers Barnay Pty Ltd |
| 1961 | October | A development application was lodged for the residential development of the land |
| 1963 | 1 November | The whole area named Emu Plains is transferred from Blue Mountains Council to Penrith City Council |
| 1964 | The Golf Club now renamed Penrith transfers to new premises | |
| 1965 | March | Leonay subdivided for residential development |
| 1968 | Leonay Golf Club reformed | |
| 1969 | April | The Emu Plains Sporting & Recreation Club began trading |
| 1973 | Leonay rather than Emu Ridge is chosen in a poll of local residents to be the name of a new neighbourhood within Emu Plains | |
| 1974 | Geographical Names Board officially gazettes the neighbourhood name Leonay | |
| 1987 | 4 April | Leonay Sporting Complex opened |