Gosford is a city located on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about 76 km north of the Sydney central business district. The city is situated at the northern extremity of Brisbane Water, an extensive northern branch of the Hawkesbury River estuary and Broken Bay.

The city is the administrative centre of the Central Coast region, which is the third largest urban area in New South Wales after Sydney and Newcastle. Gosford has been designated as an important growth centre under the NSW Metropolitan Strategy. The suburb's population was 3,392 in the 2011 census.

Until white settlement, the area around Gosford was inhabited by the Guringai peoples, who were principally coastal-dwellers, and the Darginüng people that inhabited the hinterland. Along with the other land around the Hawkesbury River estuary, the Brisbane Water district was explored during the early stages of the settlement of New South Wales. In the early 19th century some pioneering European settlers began occupying the land, for timber-cutting (mainly ironbark and Australian red cedar), lime production and grazing.

Gosford itself was explored by Governor Phillip between 1788 and 1789. The area was difficult to access and settlement did not start before 1823. By the late 19th century the agriculture in the region was diversifying, with market gardens and citrus orchards occupying the rich soil left after the timber harvest. The road between Hawkesbury (near Pittwater) and Brisbane Water was a cart wheel track even in 1850.

Convicts once lived and worked in the Gosford area. In 1825, Gosford's population reached 100, of whom 50% were convicts.

East Gosford was the first centre of settlement. Gosford was named in 1839 after Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford – a friend of the then Governor of New South Wales George Gipps. Acheson's title derives its name from Gosford, a townland (sub-division) of Markethill in County Armagh in Northern Ireland.

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