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

Toodyay, Western Australia Toodyay (, ), 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 in the 1850s, ...

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

Daniel Connor Daniel Connor (183112 January 1898) was an Irish people, Irish convict penal transportation, transported to colony of Western Australia, colonial Western Australia, who would go on to become one of the wealthiest, and most successful men in the ...

. By 1875 William Amed Demasson, a carpenter

wheelwright A wheelwright is a Artisan, 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 - as also in shipbuilding, shipwright ...

from

Guildford, Western Australia Guildford is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, 12 km northeast of the city centre within the City of Swan. Guildford was founded in 1829 as one of the earliest settlements of the Swan River Colony. It is one of only three towns in the ...

, 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 in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

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 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