Watanobbi, New South Wales

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = Watanobbi
city = Central Coast
state = nsw


caption =
lga = Wyong Shire
postcode = 2259
pop = 3585 (2006 census)
area = 1.9
est =
parish = Munmorah
stategov = Wyong
fedgov = Dobell
dist1 = 3
dir1 = N
location1= Wyong
near-nw = Warnervale
near-n = Warnervale
near-ne = Wyong
near-w = Wyong
near-e = Wyong
near-sw =
near-s = Wyong
near-se =

Watanobbi is a suburb of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Wyong Shire local government area, and is part of the Warnervale development precinct.

Although many believed the name's origin was Aboriginal, with the Wyong Shire originally claiming it meant "hills surrounded by water", the Geographic Names Board later confirmed there was no Aboriginal significance to the name, with the two most likely sources being a corruption of the Japanese surname Watanabe, ascribed to a friend of well-travelled pioneer Albert Warner, or a comment made by early landowner Allan Chapman about the "nobby" shape of the surrounding terrain, have been suggested. Landowners, claiming they were the butt of rude jokes and that the suburb's house prices had remained static relative to other areas, attempted unsuccessfully to have the name changed to Chapman Gardens in early 2002. [cite news|title=Jokes aside, Watanobbi here to stay|last=Scala|first=Mark|work=The Daily Telegraph|page=16|date=11 May 2002] [cite news|title=Residents vote on new name|work=Central Coast Express|page=30|date=5 December 2001]

Watanobbi in the last 15 years has seen the removal of grazing livestock and horses to make way for the local Community Centre. Watanobbi also used to hold two legs of the locally famous Watagan Stages car rally; now modern housing occupy those dirt roads. During its most popular days as "the largest Home Show outside of Sydney" Watanobbi boasted outside public toilets, a Commonwealth Bank lending office and as many as 5 different home builders offices on site. These included Masterton Homes (now ceased trading) and A.V. Jennings Homes (when A.V. Jennings was alive).

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