Toodyay WA Visitor Guide - Toodyay History and Heritage

The History of Toodyay

Toodyay is one of the oldest inland towns in Western Australia, with a story that stretches back tens of thousands of years to the Noongar people and forward through the colonial era to the heritage streetscapes you can walk today.

The Noongar Homeland (over 45,000 years ago to 1829)

Over 45,000 Years: Duidgee, Ballardong Noongar Country

Noongar people have lived and moved through the Toodyay valley for over 45,000 years. The land belongs to the Ballardong Noongar, and the name Duidgee is still used today. Places such as Duidgee Park, Red Bank Pool and Pelham Reserve remain culturally significant.

Exploration and First Settlement (1829 to 1850)

1829: A British Colony on the Swan

The Swan River Colony is founded and Perth and Fremantle are gazetted. Within a few years the best land near the coast is taken, and settlers begin looking inland.

1830: Robert Dale Finds the Avon Valley

Ensign Robert Dale becomes the first European to reach the Avon Valley. He reports fertile country and a reliable water supply, and land grants in the Toodyay area follow over the next few years.

1834: The Name First Appears in Writing

An 1834 reference records the name as "Toodye". Maps by 1836 spell it "Duidgee", the Noongar name for the valley. The name Duidgee belongs to the Ballardong Noongar, and its exact meaning is still debated. A long-held local belief says it means ‘place of plenty’, reflecting the rich land and reliable Avon River. Noongar language sources link it to mist or fog, which suits the valley on a cool morning.

1836: The First Village of Toodyay

James Drummond, Captain Francis Whitfield and members of the Anderson family ride up from Guildford with a Noongar guide called Babbing. They find the valley, and a village is established at a bend in the Avon River. It becomes one of Western Australia's earliest inland settlements, and the original townsite is declared the same year.

1830s: Conflict on the Avon

As settlers took up land along the Avon from 1830, farms and buildings replaced Ballardong waterholes and hunting grounds. Conflict grew across the valley, including around Toodyay, and by about 1840 overt resistance had largely ended. The dispossession of the Ballardong Noongar is an important part of Toodyay's story.

1840s: Growing Pains and Early Floods

Through the 1840s the riverside village grows, with stores, inns and cottages, but it floods repeatedly, including in 1847 and 1849. By the 1850s it has three inns, two schools and a gaol.

1842: The First Building at Toodyay

The Military and Police Barracks, built in 1842, become the first public building at the original townsite, now West Toodyay. The townsite itself is surveyed in 1849.

The Convict Era (1851 to 1868)

1851: Convict Hiring Depot Established

The first ticket-of-leave convicts arrive after the convict ship Pyrenees reaches the colony, and a hiring depot is set up at the original townsite. The depot supplies labour to local settlers and begins reshaping the district.

1851 to 1856: The Pensioner Guards

Retired soldiers known as Enrolled Pensioner Guards arrive in October 1851 to supervise the convicts. They live first in straw huts, then in two-roomed brick cottages built between 1852 and 1856 on allotments at the new depot site. This "Pensioner Village" becomes the nucleus of Newcastle, and Kirk's cottage at 68 Stirling Terrace and Hackett's at 80 remain recognisable today.

1852: Depot Moves Upstream

The depot is moved to a larger site around 3 miles (about 5 km) upstream, on higher ground. This is the site of today's town centre. Culham Church, near Toodyay, is built the same year.

1853: The Agricultural Society Is Formed

The agricultural society that runs the Toodyay Show is formed in November 1853 at the Royal Oak in the original townsite, and the Society says it is the second oldest in the state. The show moved to its present showgrounds in 1890, and the 172nd show was held in October 2026, making it one of the town's oldest traditions.

1850s: Floods Push the Town to Move

Serious floods in 1857 and 1859 convince residents the original townsite is too risky. People start drifting upstream to the safer ground around the depot.

1860: Newcastle Is Proclaimed

The new town is gazetted on 1 October 1860 as Newcastle, named after the Duke of Newcastle, then Secretary of State for the Colonies. The original settlement becomes known as Old Toodyay.

1861: Moondyne Joe Escapes the Lock-up

Joseph Bolitho Johns, soon to be known as Moondyne Joe, is arrested for horse theft. While awaiting trial he escapes, making off with the horse and the magistrate's saddle and bridle, and a legend is born. He is recaptured a few days later.

1862: St Stephen's Church and Another Flood

St Stephen's Anglican Church is consecrated by Bishop Hale, with convict labour used on the building. A severe flood the same year damages James Everett's inn at the old townsite and leaves record watermarks.

1864: Newcastle Gaol Completed

A new stone lock-up on Clinton Street, later upgraded to become the Newcastle Gaol, is completed with convict labour under the supervision of a stonemason. It is built after Moondyne Joe's escape showed how weak the old lock-up was, and the police take over the building in 1865.

1865 to 1867: Moondyne Joe's Great Escapes

Sentenced to ten years for killing an ox, Joe escapes three times in four months. On the last attempt he raids Everett's Store in Toodyay for supplies for a planned overland escape to South Australia. After a final escape in March 1867 he stays free for nearly two years, until he is recaptured in February 1869, and his story becomes the most famous in Toodyay's history.

1868: The Convict Era Ends

Transportation to Western Australia ends in 1868, and many former convicts stay on as settlers. The Toodyay depot had already been downgraded to a receiving depot in 1861, and it closed for the final time in 1872, when its buildings were handed over to the colonial government for civic use.

The Town Takes Shape (1870 to 1904)

1870: Connor's Mill Is Built

George Hasell builds a steam-powered flour mill for Daniel Connor on Stirling Terrace. It becomes the most successful of Toodyay's mills, and later serves as a power station and private residence.

1871: Toodyay Gets Local Government

The Toodyay Road District is declared in January 1871 and holds its first election in February. In 1877 the Newcastle townsite splits off as its own municipality, and the two merge again in 1912.

1879: Newcastle Gaol Upgraded

The lock-up is upgraded to full gaol status. It remains in use as a state prison until 1909.

1887: The Railway Arrives

A narrow-gauge spur line from the Eastern Railway at Clackline reaches the town. It opens up new markets for wheat and wool, and serves the district until 1966.

1888: Victoria Hotel Opens

J. T. Woods converts his store into a licensed hotel, the Victoria. Its adjoining billiard saloon follows in the 1890s, and the hotel is still a Stirling Terrace landmark.

1897: The Old Post Office

The Old Post Office is built to a standard design of the late 1890s, and is now a heritage-listed building.

1890s: The Goldfields Boom

Gold is discovered in the colony in the late 1880s and the 1890s bring a dramatic population surge. Toodyay district farmers benefit from supplying provisions to the goldfields, and in 1908 the town is connected to the Goldfields Water Scheme pipeline.

A New Name for a New Century (1905 to 1950)

1905: Stirling Terrace Is Named

Newcastle Municipal Council votes to name the main street Stirling Terrace, after former Governor Stirling. The vote is split three to three, and Mayor Henry Davey casts the deciding vote.

1907 to 1909: A New Lock-up, and the Gaol Closes

A new lock-up is built in 1907 and the Newcastle Gaol closes as a state prison in 1909.

1909 to 1916: A Noongar Burial Ground Recognised

In 1909, while a railway bridge is built beside the recreation ground by the Avon River, human remains are uncovered. An estimated 100 people were buried there, and in 1916 an Aboriginal (Noongar) cemetery is gazetted at the site, now beside the Showgrounds.

1910: Newcastle Becomes Toodyay

To end the long confusion with Newcastle, New South Wales, the town is renamed Toodyay after a local referendum. The original townsite becomes West Toodyay.

1914 to 1921: Toodyay and the Great War

Many young men from the district enlist, including in the 10th Light Horse, and local production suffers from the loss of workers. The Toodyay Soldiers Memorial is unveiled in December 1921 by the Governor. Locals chose a granite obelisk instead of building an operating theatre at the hospital.

1920s: A Tourist Town Is Born

By the early 1920s Toodyay is being recognised for its potential as a visitor destination, with accommodation, the Newcastle Gaol and the Moondyne Joe legend as drawcards. Connor's Mill, meanwhile, has been the town's power station since 1917.

1939 to 1945: The Second World War

The district again sends many servicemen. On Pelham Reserve above the town, a World War II bunker complex, believed to have been built for a planned signals unit, survives, and the remnants of an older rifle range, believed to date from World War I, can still be walked. A District Honour Roll for the war is unveiled in 1954.

Preserving the Past (1950 to today)

1961: Shire of Toodyay

The Toodyay Road Board becomes the Shire of Toodyay on 1 July 1961. It is one of only a small number of local governments in the state that kept their original name since 1871.

1962: Newcastle Gaol Opens as a Museum

After falling into disrepair, the gaol is restored and opened as a museum. The police stables are restored in 1975.

1966: Standard Gauge Railway

A standard gauge railway is built along a new route through the Avon Valley, and Toodyay becomes part of the main eastern line. The old narrow-gauge line closes.

1970s: Mill Saved, Town Recognised

Connor's Mill is saved from demolition in the 1970s, and in 1975 the Shire protects it and opens the Toodyay Tourist Centre there. Restoration continues over the following decades, and the mill is now part of the Toodyay Visitor Centre. In 1977 the National Trust classifies the Stirling Terrace streetscape, recognising Toodyay as one of the state's best-preserved historic towns.

1974 to 1984: Telling the Story

Rica Erickson's book Old Toodyay and Newcastle is published by the Shire in 1974 and becomes a landmark history of the district. The Toodyay Historical Society forms in 1980, and in 1984 the first Moondyne Festival is held, now a colonial festival that has run for over forty years.

2009: The Toodyay Bushfire

On 29 December 2009 a bushfire destroys 38 homes, damages 137 properties and burns about 3,000 hectares east and south of town, though no lives are lost. A later investigation traces it to a fallen power pole. The community's recovery, and the volunteer firefighters' response, become part of the town's story.

2010: Archaeologists Find the Convict Depot

A 2010 archaeological excavation uncovers the remains of the old convict hiring depot.

Today: Heritage That Lives On

More than a hundred places of historical significance are recognised in and around Toodyay. The Moondyne Festival, held on the first Sunday of May, re-enacts Joe's escapades each year. The Newcastle Gaol Precinct and Connor's Mill are open as museums, and the Living History Walk Trails guide visitors past 36 historic sites.

Toodyay's Story in Short

Toodyay's story is one of change and continuity along the Avon. Noongar people knew this valley as Duidgee for tens of thousands of years before settlers arrived in 1836. Repeated floods pushed the town upstream, and convicts and Pensioner Guards built the foundations of the streets we walk today. The town became Newcastle, then reclaimed its Noongar-derived name in 1910.

Nearby Northam grew into the regional centre, while Toodyay developed more slowly and kept its built heritage. That is why Stirling Terrace, the gaol, the mill and the pensioner cottages still stand, and why a walk through town offers one of the clearest views of colonial Western Australia you can find.