This Day in History: 1956-06-26

Snow fell in Toodyay, as well as in other places such as Goomalling, Wongan Hills, Northam, Clackline, Chidlow, Bakers Hill and further afield at the Stirling Ranges.  The fall did not exceed those in 1923. A photo taken at the time by Lance Messenger of Nunyle was reproduced in the Toodyay Herald in 1996. Bus driver Terry McGrath reported that a blizzard stopped his bus for 5 minutes on the Clackline-Toodyay Road near Nanamoolan. The snow “plastered itself all over the bus” and was piled “inches deep” on the road.

Sources:
West Australian, 27 June 1956, pp.1, 2 (photo).
Central districts herald, 28 June 1956, p.1; 5 July 1956, p.7.
Toodyay herald, Aug. 1996, p.16 (photo).
Wally Chitty. Toodyay – the good old days. Hesperian Press, 2004, p.130.
Conversation with Hector Wood (April 2008).