This Day in History: 1961-03-27

A plan was announced at a meeting of the Toodyay Tourist Development Committee that the old Newcastle Gaol in Clinton Street, Toodyay, would be restored by the Committee in association with the Toodyay Road Board and the W.A. Tourist Development Authority. A contract of £3,085 had been let to restore the Gaol’s cell block. An agricultural museum was planned for the area behind the Gaol.  It was thought at the time that the Gaol would be the only convict gaol in the State to be restored but this building, although built by convict labour, was never used to imprison convicts, only ticket-of-leavers and ordinary offenders.

Sources:
Central districts herald-tribune, 6 April 1961, p.1.
Alison Cromb. The history of the Toodyay Convict Depot. A. Cromb, 2010, p.99