 South of Daylesford on the Ballan road, the town takes its name from timber splitter, W P Leonard who took up of land on the hill in the 1860s.The village first started as a saw milling settlement satisfying the demand for timber required in the mining industry in the then nearby goldfields of Daylesford, Smeaton, Allendale, Creswick and Ballarat.By the 1860s, there were four sawmills operating in the area.