Demasson's House and Shop is situated on Stirling Terrace in

Toodyay, Western Australia Toodyay (, nys, Duidgee), known as Newcastle between 1860 and 1910, is a town on the Avon River in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, north-east of Perth. The first European settlement occurred in the area in 1836. After flooding i ...

. It was constructed in two stages. The shop was built around 1872 for

Daniel Connor Daniel Connor (1831–12 January 1898) was an Irish convict transported to the colony in western Australia, who would go on to become one of the wealthiest, and most successful men in the region. Daniel Connor was born in County Kerry, Ireland ...

. By 1875

William Amed Demasson William Amed Demasson, a carpenter and wheelwright by trade, was one of Toodyay's citizens who made a substantial contribution to the civic life of the town. Among the many organizations that he belonged to, he is particularly associated with the ...

, a carpenter

wheelwright A wheelwright is a craftsman who builds or repairs wooden wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the word "wright", (which comes from the Old English word "''wryhta''", meaning a worker or shaper of wood) as in shipwright and arkw ...

from Guildford, Western Australia, had added a dwelling with a connecting door to the store, which was at the time run by his wife. In 1886 Demasson purchased the store from Connor. Land titles show the Toodyay Road Board purchased the dwelling from Amy Twine in 1945. When the doctor's residence and surgery in Lincoln Street were demolished for the

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

railway in 1963, this dwelling was rented to Dr. P. O'Reilly and the shop became his surgery. Mrs O'Reilly was given life-time occupancy of the dwelling after her husband died in 1977; she remained there until at least 1999. The building is still commonly referred to as Mrs. O'Reilly's Cottage. In 2010 the

Royalties for Regions Royalties for Regions is a political policy formulated by the National Party in 2008 which involves the redirection of Western Australian state government spending from the major population centres, particularly Perth, into the rural areas of the ...

programme was able to fund renovation works to the building. In recent years portions of the premises have been used as a gallery, the Toodyay Society/ Toodyay Historical Society headquarters and as a home for

Shire of Toodyay The Shire of Toodyay is a local government area in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, beyond the north-eastern limits of the Perth metropolitan area. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of government is the town of Toodyay. Hi ...

employees.

References

Buildings and structures in Toodyay, Western Australia Commercial buildings completed in 1872 Stirling Terrace, Toodyay Houses in Western Australia {{Australia-struct-stub