The suburb takes its name from the lake (27°32′46″S 152°54′48″E / 27.5462°S 152.9134°E / -27.5462; 152.9134 (Westlake)) constructed by the development project.

[2] The western part of the original land holdings that became the Centenary Suburbs were part of the Wolston Estate, consisting of 54 farms on an area of 3000 acres, offered for auction at Centennial Hall, Brisbane, on 16 October 1901.

As residential expansion occurred, the 1990s also saw the rise of community efforts to preserve riverfront bushland and encourage environmental protection of remnant natural areas.

62.8% of people living in Westlake were born in Australia, compared to the national average of 69.8%; the next most common countries of birth were England 5.6%, New Zealand 3.5%, South Africa 2.8%, Vietnam 2.4%, Sri Lanka 1.6%.

75.4% of people spoke only English at home; the next most common languages were 3.9% Vietnamese, 3.3% Cantonese, 2.6% Mandarin, 1.8% Tamil, 1.2% Hindi.