This Day in History: 1899-04-12

The memorial stone (as against a foundation stone), made of polished Victorian bluestone, of the uncompleted Newcastle Municipal Chambers (front section of current Toodyay Memorial Hall), was laid by the Lady Mayoress, Hannah Emily Leeder (Mrs. William George Leeder). The architect was Charles H. Whiteford, of Northam. James Donegan, the senior Municipal Councillor present, presented Mrs. Leeder with an inscribed silver trowel behalf of the Council and the architect. She also received an inscribed mallet made of jam and sheoak wood, from the architect. The trowel had been made by Alfred Ivimey, a Northam jeweller. The builder was A. Stewart & Co., York. Some of the walls of the building on New Road, Newcastle, had been completed at the time of the ceremony.

Sources:
West Australian, 8 Mar. 1899, p.5; 15 April 1899, p.5.
Northam advertiser, 22 April 1899, p.[3]; 26 April 1899, p.[2].
Rica Erickson. Old Toodyay and Newcastle. Toodyay Shire Council, 1974, p.319.