It is a population centre within the Central Coast Council local government area.

The double name is a corruption of the indigenous term apparently taken from the local Darkinjung Aboriginal people, and reputedly means 'big lagoon' or 'much water', referring to the deep tidal channel adjacent to the town centre.

[citation needed] In December 1948, there were private enterprise plans announced to develop 1259 acres of light industrial land, 800 acres of accompanying housing, a railway connection with the existing main line and the conversion of the World War II era airstrip at Ettalong Beach into an airport.

If the concept had proceeded all costs would have been covered by the developer, including water, sewerage and other amenities.

Woy Woy comprises 34,000 square metres of commercially zoned land of which 60% consists of retail businesses together with a mix of professional services and major supermarkets including Deepwater Plaza and Peninsula Plaza.

The "Brisbane Water" Oyster Festival was inaugurated in 2000 and is organised by the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce.

Performances are generally based on strict plays rather than devised or improvised theatre forms and have been doing so since 1962.

[15] From February 2007, aged 107, she started an internet blog and also appeared in a number of YouTube videos.

[16] Her last post was made on 26 June 2008, two and a half weeks prior to her death on 12 July, aged 108.

It is a major commuter hub which moves significant numbers of local workers into Sydney and Newcastle each day.