Toodyay, Western Australia
town in Western Australia
Toodyay (, Nyungar: Duidgee), known as Newcastle between 1860 and 1910, is a town on the Avon River in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, 85 kilometres (53 mi) north-east of Perth. The first European settlement occurred in the area in 1836. After flooding in the 1850s, the townsite was moved to its current location in the 1860s. Initially Toodyay was located in what is now West Toodyay before repeated flooding caused the town centre to migrate to the area around the Newcastle convict depot creating the town of Newcastle. After approximately 50 years of confusion the name of Newcastle was changed to Toodyay and the original Toodyay became known as West Toodyay.
It is connected by railway and road to Perth. During the 1860s, it was home to bushranger Moondyne Joe.
History
Origin of the name Toodyay
The meaning of the name is uncertain, although it is probably indigenous Noongar in origin. In an 1834 reference it is transcribed as 'Toodye' while maps in 1836 referred to Duidgee The Shire of Toodyay's official website says that;
[t]he name Toodyay is believed to be derived from an Aboriginal word "Duidgee" which means "place of plenty", referring to the richness and fertility of the area and the reliability of the Avon River [...].
This meaning appears to be a long-standing belief in the local community, but may be based on an interpretation of an explanation by an Aboriginal guide about the value of the location rather than the literal meaning of the word.
“Toodyay, Western Australia” enters the record as town in Western Australia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Toodyay, Western and Australia can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Toodyay, Western Australia” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Toodyay, Western and Australia provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3531970. VIAF identifies the subject as 168564302. The Library of Congress control number is n85286814. Authority coordinates are -31.550, 116.450. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1860, 1910, 1836 and 1834.
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This entry incorporates text from “Toodyay, Western Australia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.