This Day in History: 1909-09-06

The Newcastle Municipal Council considered correspondence from the Australian Prime Minister Alfred Deakin on the subject of renaming Newcastle to avoid town name duplication within the Commonwealth and thus reducing postal confusion. As Newcastle in New South Wales was a much larger town, it was suggested that Toodyay might be a suitable alternative for the smaller WA town. Council decided that if the postal authorities did their job more efficiently, there would not be a problem. Council, therefore, could not see its way clear to make any alterations to the name of Newcastle. However, the name change did eventually take place on 6 May 1910.

Sources:
Newcastle herald, 28 Aug. 1909, p.2; 11 Sept. 1909, p.7.
WA government gazette, 6 May 1910, p.1043.
Rica Erickson. Old Toodyay and Newcastle. Toodyay Shire Council, 1974, p.355.