Duffys Forest buyers agent

About the suburb

Duffys Forest at a glance

Duffys Forest sits about 28 kilometres north of the city, in Northern Beaches Council, at the far end of the Forest District. It is named after Patrick Duffy, who was granted land here in 1857, cut timber, and cleared a track through the bush to a stone wharf on Cowan Creek. Duffys Wharf and Duffys Track still carry his name.

It is a small community of houses on larger bush blocks, with almost no apartments, and most homes are lived in by their owners. Couples with children are the largest household group, and the most common age group is 50 to 59.

Bush is the defining feature. The Duffys Forest Ecological Community is a listed endangered ecological community of the Sydney basin. Waratah Park, the heritage-listed former wildlife park, was the film set for Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, and much of the set remains.

Life here is quieter and more spread out than in the rest of the Forest. The suburb has one school, AGBU Alexander Primary School, and day-to-day shopping and services are in nearby Terrey Hills. A local history of Terrey Hills and Duffys Forest was written for the bicentenary in 1988.

The trade-offs are worth saying plainly. Bush blocks need a bushfire check, and protected vegetation can limit what you clear and build. Most trips need a car. And because few houses change hands here, treat the figures in the statistics box as a guide, not a price.