The Toodyay Barracks (also referred to at various times as the Military Barracks, Police Station or Police Barracks) and its

stable A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

s, erected in 1842, were the first buildings constructed in the townsite of

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 ...

. The Barracks were also the first government buildings within the Toodyay district. Situated on the left bank of the Avon River and a little upstream from the ford, the Barracks overlooked a long pool, which soon became known as the Barracks Pool. In the early 1840s, Toodyay Resident Magistrate John Scully had requested military protection as a means of controlling a problem with the local indigenous people. Governor John Hutt agreed at the time to temporarily station a mounted native policeman to keep order. The Toodyay Barracks were built by William Criddle, a local farmer, at a cost of 60 pounds. Completed in September 1842, they stood on what became lot L1. The main building measured and was built of rammed earth with a

thatched roof Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

. It contained two rooms with a central chimney and an

earthen floor An earthen floor, also called an adobe floor, is a floor made of dirt, raw earth, or other unworked ground materials. It is usually constructed, in modern times, with a mixture of sand, finely chopped straw and clay, mixed to a thickened consiste ...

. Each room had a door and a shuttered window. Two beds, two tables, dishes, plates, pots, buckets, an axe, shovel and such like were provided. The stables, built of wooden upright slabs with a thatched roof, measured and were considered adequate for the number of horses it would shelter. It also contained areas set aside for the storage of

chaff Chaff (; ) is the dry, scaly protective casing of the seeds of cereal grains or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material (such as scaly parts of flowers or finely chopped straw). Chaff is indigestible by humans, but livestock can eat it. In agri ...

and

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...

. At times, the Toodyay Barracks were variously referred to as the Military Barracks or the Police Station because both a soldier and mounted native policeman were stationed there. The Barracks also served as a temporary lock-up. However, the lock-up proved inadequate, as Aboriginal prisoners were able to escape with ease.

John Nicol Drummond John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

, Inspector of Native Police, visited the area regularly. During the 1840s, Edward Conlin erected a large hut type store on land between the Barracks and the ford. However, its presence is not officially recorded. In 1851, Charles Pye set up a store on what became lot L2, on the other side of the Barracks. The Barracks were first used as a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

in 1846 when operated by Mrs Pusey, the policeman's wife. Constable Pusey was a native police officer stationed at Toodyay under the supervision of Drummond. William Herbert took over the post office duties in 1848, followed by Michael Clarkson in 1849. After the coming of the

convicts A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...

to Toodyay, the Barracks were occupied by only a civil police constable and a mounted native policeman. Thereafter, the Barracks were referred to as the Police Station. The Police Station at West Toodyay closed in 1859. On 30 March 1859, the Police Station was offered for sale or let, possession available on 21 June. The police were being transferred to a number of unused buildings within the Toodyay Convict Hiring Depot, situated approximately upstream. The sale of the original Police Station did not eventuate and the building saw no further use. Lot L1 remained as

Crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

. Ruins of the original building could be seen for many years.

References

{{reflist, 30em Buildings and structures in West Toodyay