Hornsby Shire is a local government area situated on the Upper North Shore as well as parts of the Hills District, of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

The shire stretches from the M2 Hills Motorway in the south to the Hawkesbury River town of Wisemans Ferry, some 53 kilometres (33 mi) to the north, making it the largest local government council in the Greater Sydney Metropolitan region by total area.

[9] The second proposed a merger of parts of Parramatta, Auburn, The Hills, Hornsby, and Holroyd to form a new council with an area of 82 square kilometres (32 sq mi) and support a population of approximately 215,725.

The NSW Government also gave in principle support for the Hornsby Shire suburbs north of the M2 to amalgamate with Ku-ring-gai Council.

These provide large areas of natural parkland that form a green belt running from Sydney at the south to the Hawkesbury River at the Shire's northern end.

The northern half of Hornsby Shire remains a semi-rural area, retaining a number of farmlands and market gardens.

The southern half of the Shire is urban, forming part of Sydney's suburbia on the North Shore and Northern Suburbs.

The major commercial centres of the Shire, apart from Hornsby's central business district, are the suburbs of Pennant Hills and North Epping.

With 4, Hornsby Shire is home to half of the Junior Rugby League teams in the North Sydney District, the Asquith Magpies, the Berowra Wallabies, the Northwest Hawks (Based in Dural) and the Pennant Hills-Cherrybrook Stags