Semi-rural suburb of Sydney about 39 km north-west of the CBD, in Hornsby Shire — a quiet acreage district of orchards and rural properties between Glenorie and Arcadia. The name supposedly comes from two brothers named Henstock and another young man named Small, who each owned a fiddle when they took up selections in the area; sandstone was once mined here and the workers lived in caravans and grew orange orchards. At the 2021 census Fiddletown had just 259 residents, with almost all dwellings separate houses on large rural lots (87.7% owner-occupied) — very low-density, semi-rural living rather than suburbia. A recent Geographical Names Board proposal to amalgamate Fiddletown into the adjacent suburb of Arcadia was unsuccessful.
At a Glance
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Region | Upper North Shore |
| Council (LGA) | Hornsby Shire |
| Postcode | 2159 |
| Distance to Sydney CBD | No rail link to the CBD: the practical public-transport route is a car trip or bus connection to Glenorie or Galston for CDC route 637 to… |
| Median house price | $2,849,886 (Cotality/OnTheHouse hedonic median house value as at 31 July 2026, on an extremely thin market — only 5 properties sold in the previous 12 months across 86 properties in the suburb) (mid-2026) |
| Typical rent | Median rent $455/week (ABS 2021 census household data via stmate) — rental stock is minimal (about 12% of dwellings rented) and mostly… |
| Price growth | OnTheHouse/Cotality reported houses in Fiddletown up 4.68% in median value over the five years to 31 July 2026… |
Transport
Fiddletown has no railway station, Metro stop or ferry wharf, and no regular scheduled bus route runs through the suburb itself — Wikipedia describes it as a quiet rural suburb accessed by rural roads, and the nearest scheduled bus services are CDC NSW route 637 along the Glenorie–Galston corridor, whose Glenorie terminus lies in the adjacent suburb of Glenorie to the west. Residents depend on private cars and school buses over roads such as Arcadia Road, with the Sydney Metro at Castle Hill reachable only after a connecting bus trip (galstoncommunity.com.au).
Schools
No school operates within Fiddletown itself. The nearest schools are in immediately adjacent suburbs: Arcadia Public School (NSW government K–6 primary, opened 1895) in Arcadia, which borders Fiddletown to the south and east, and Glenorie Public School (NSW government primary, established 1888) in Glenorie to the west. The independent K–12 Northholm Grammar School is also in the adjacent suburb of Arcadia at 79 Cobah Road (Northholm Grammar official site). Secondary students typically travel on to Galston High School and other schools further south, which are not in immediately adjacent suburbs.
Shopping & Amenities
Fiddletown has no shops or commercial centre of its own — Wikipedia's Landmarks section notes only a telephone exchange and the suburb's orchards and rural properties. The nearest shopping is Glenorie's small village centre in the adjacent suburb of Glenorie to the west, with the larger Galston village and Castle Hill regional centres further south. There is no reticulated sewerage in parts of the semi-rural area, with acreage properties on tanks and septic systems like neighbouring rural suburbs.
Parks & Outdoors
Fiddletown is a quiet semi-rural suburb of acreage lots, orchards and remnant bushland rather than parks: Wikipedia describes it as featuring 'many orchards and rural properties', a legacy of its orange-growing and sandstone-mining history. There are no major public reserves or national-park frontages within the suburb itself — Marramarra National Park lies further north beyond Canoelands, and Berowra Valley National Park to the east beyond Arcadia — so day-to-day open space is the suburb's own rural paddocks, orchards and bush gullies.
Property Market
The median house price in Fiddletown was around $2,849,886 (Cotality/OnTheHouse hedonic median house value as at 31 July 2026, on an extremely thin market — only 5 properties sold in the previous 12 months across 86 properties in the suburb) (mid-2026). See our full Sydney property price map for how the suburb compares across the city. Fiddletown is one of Sydney's thinnest house markets: 86 properties, about 5 sales a year, and often no active listings at all (stmate showed none in Aug–Sep 2026), so medians swing widely with whichever acreage holding sells. Cotality's hedonic median-house value of ~$2.85M (July 2026) is the only published tracker figure; the real range for an acreage property here is roughly $1.9M–$2.7M+ depending on land size, improvements and position, but every number should be read as indicative on this sales volume.
New Developments
Minimal — and restricted by zoning: microburbs' development data shows Fiddletown with very low density potential (average floor-space ratio of 0.20, bottom 1% of Sydney suburbs), only about two new dwellings in recent years, and 100% of its housing stock separate houses on rural lots (microburbs). The suburb remains semi-rural acreage with no estate or multi-dwelling development; building activity is limited to individual rural homes and farm structures on existing holdings.
Jobs & Local Economy
Local employment is thin and rural — orchards, small holdings and home-based rural enterprises are the main on-suburb activity, consistent with Fiddletown's semi-rural character. With 87.7% owner-occupation and high household incomes (median $2,562/week, ABS 2021 via stmate), most working residents commute out to the Hills District, Hornsby and Sydney employment centres rather than working locally (stmate; microburbs).
Nearby Suburbs
Arcadia, Glenorie, Canoelands, Forest Glen
Sources & method
Researched 5 September 2026 from named public sources — census and government records, transport authorities, council and planning documents — plus published sales data. Where sources disagree on a figure, the guide says so rather than picking one.
Sources cited in this guide:
Corrections are welcome — if something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will fix it.
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