 Some historians claim it was after a parish of that title; others that Surveyor-General Sir Thomas Mitchell decided to commemorate Sir James Willoughby Gordon, under whom he had served in the (Iberian) Peninsular War and who was the quartermaster-general in England when the First Fleet sailed for Botany Bay.The municipality of Willoughby was incorporated in 1865, when the area was still rural.An early Council concern was construction of roads and bridges.