Westie, or Westy, is slang in Australian and New Zealand English for residents of the western suburbs of Sydney, the western suburbs of Melbourne, or the western suburbs of Auckland.
The term originated, and is most often used, in relation to residents of the numerous western suburbs of Sydney, Australia, and of Auckland, New Zealand. According to the Macquarie Dictionary, the term in Australian English now refers to people from outer suburbs and a lower socio-economic background, or to the stereotypes associated with such people. It also states that the term has spread throughout Australia and may refer to people who may not live in the western part of their city.
Stereotype
"Westie" is often stereotyped as people from the outer suburbs who are unintelligent, undereducated, unmotivated, unrefined, lacking in fashion sense, working-class or unemployed. Clothing such as flannelette shirts, Ugg boots, leopard-print fabric, Adidas outfits with stripes, and blue singlets are associated with the stereotype, as are the "uniform" of black T-shirt and ripped jeans.
Auckland, New Zealand
To be called a Westie in Auckland is sometimes ambiguous as it can be both a pejorative or good natured, depending on intent. Many people from west Auckland will call themselves Westies with pride yet not meet the stereotypical criteria. Westies are stereotypically seen as being more brash and of-the-soil than other districts of Auckland. The stereotype also incorporates black jerseys and old V8 cars.
The shift from a pejorative to a societal identifier has been abrupt and in no small part due to the 1993 single Westy Gals by Auckland singer Jan Hellriegel and local comedian Ewen Gilmour's stand-up comedy act as Ewen "Westie" Gilmour between 1995 and 2000 in the premier television programme Pulp Comedy. Both of these instances gave the term national prominence. Gilmour was "unofficially appointed cultural ambassador" for Waitakere City. He was elected as councillor for the Waitakere City Council in 2004 and joins former mayor Tim Shadbolt as stereotypical westies who entered local body politics. The biography of Bob Harvey, former mayor of Waitakere City, was titled Wild Westie.
The successful television series Outrageous Fortune is set in west Auckland with the main characters being the West family, a play on the word "Westie".
The persona of the standard Auckland "Westie" continues to evolve. In November 2008 Paula Bennett defeated Lynne Pillay, the long-standing Labour Member of Parliament for Waitakere under the banner "Proud to be a Westy". Bennett is a solo mother and a former social service beneficiary who became Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand in the former National-led Government. Simon Bridges (an ex-Westie) served as leader of the Opposition from 2018 to 2020, during this time National was led by two "Westies".
As of the 2010 amalgamation of Auckland's council boundaries into one regional greater council, Waitakere City no longer exists as a distinct entity. Yet, those living within the former boundaries remain claiming themselves as Westies essentially within the former boundaries.
Sydney, Australia
The term "Westie" was a creation of the 1960s and 1970s as young, working families were encouraged westward into the newly built, rather austere public and private housing subdivisions on Sydney's urban fringe. It was a term of division and derision, and became shorthand for a population considered lowbrow, coarse and lacking education and cultural refinement. Immortalised in the 1977 social realist film, The FJ Holden, by Michael Thornhill, the classic Westie was a male of Anglo-Celtic origin who lived in the vast, homogenous flatlands west of the Sydney CBD. The checked flannelette shirt symbolised his attire and vandalism, cheap drink and hotted-up cars his behaviour.