Toodyay Herald

Sean Hefferon
FARMERS’ Markets are no longer a novelty.

Photo: Toodyay Farmers Market crowd.

In Toodyay, as in the rest of Australia, they have become a preferred route to market for many food producers and a popular place for people to buy fresh produce.

They are also a place where local artisans get a start with their creative idea before perhaps moving to a more traditional shopfront.

The Toodyay Farmers’ Market ticks several boxes including offering a range of products as well as a place for local groups to raise funds or public awareness of their group.

The market is where the Herald caught up with the Toodyay Lions who had set up a stall down at Stirling Park.

Other groups out on what was a sunny August day for the farmers market included the Toodyay Agricultural Show, a mainstay of the community.

Sunshine, live music, good food and an abundance of stalls to browse in makes for a relaxing way to while away an hour or two in Toodyay.

RSL Toodyay Sub Branch
Geoff Brown, President
ON WEDNESDAY July 9 members and guests of the Toodyay Sub-branch of the RSL travelled to Nungarin to visit the Nungarin Heritage and Army Museum.

The museum has a wide range of military memorabilia, including a rare Dingo scout car, General Grant and Stuart tanks, armoured cars, searchlights, half-tracks, trucks and an anti-aircraft gun.

During World War Two there was a limited supply of tractors.

 

At the end of the war tanks like the General Grant and the Stuart were sold and used for clearing farms.

There is also a display of Army uniforms, badges and photographs, and an impressive 10th Light Horse collection.

Read more

Julimar Conservation and Forest Alliance
Max Howard
NINE bat species occur in the south-west of Western Australia and, of these, eight have
been recorded in the Julimar forest area.

The two species highlighted in this article are the White-striped Freetail Bat and the
Gould’s Wattled Bat.

Both of these species are found throughoutAustralia. The White-striped Freetail Bat is one of only a few bats in Australia whose calls are audible to the human ear.

Read more

A Toodyay sunrise looking down onto the race course.

Photo: C.Rae

 

LAST month’s council meeting saw a change to the Public Question Time Procedure with all questions required to be submitted to the shire prior to the meeting.

This changes a longstanding practice where questions without notice from the floor could be asked.

After question time the council considered a range of matters including receiving the audit report from the Officer of the Auditor General.

The report gave a Disclaimer of Opinion in relation to the 2023/2024 financial year as the ‘financial report was submitted for audit purposes without complete and accurate underlying records’.

The draft Audit Opinion is available in the June meeting attachments.

The shire’s current leadership team were employed in the 2024/2025 financial year and the council in its current form started in October 2023.

VBFB Coondle Nunile
Aurelie Zimmermann, Secretary

THE RECENT wet weather has provided much-needed relief over the past weeks.

Not only for the landscape but also for those of us on the frontline.

While the downpours have slowed the pace, they haven’t stopped the calls.

Between two drops of rain, we have dealt with trees set alight by smouldering burns,
escaped burn-offs that didn’t go quite to plan, and even vehicle fires.

Each callout reminds us that while the fire danger may ease, the job is never done.

Despite the warmth of the fires, the cold weather sometimes got the better of us, making
it a challenge during those early morning calls.

By Sean Hefferon

Shane, Jayden and Corbin Hansord.

DRAGON boat racing and the Wheatbelt may seem like a bit of an odd couple.

Not at first blush, fitting together.

But they do and the Hansord family from Morangup are making sure of that.

And for that the youngsters in the family can thank Nan (Susan).

It was Susan that first got into dragon boat racing – and at 68 years-of-age she is still paddling strongly.

VBFB Coondle- Nunile
By Aurelie Zimmermann, Secretary

WE HAVE been very busy since the end of the restricted burning period.

Escaped burns not being sufficiently prepared are the biggest danger at this time of the year and we have tackled a range of small and large incidents across the shire.

This shows how important it is to remain vigilant and have the right equipment including
a reliable source of water when burning off.

By Sean Hefferon

ANOTHER Moondyne Festival saw the centrepiece of the show run free.

And not for the first time.

This in spite of the learned judge exclaiming on the stage outside Toodyay’s Victoria Hotel
that Joe is…
Guilty.
Guilty.
Guilty.

Cue the banging of the judge’s gavel and the jeers of the partisan (Joe) crowd.

Joe invariably escapes anyway.

So it came to pass that at the 2025

Moondyne Festival Joe did just that – absconded again.

Which is pretty well what happened with the real Joe back in the day.

By Rashelle Predovnik

NUNILE property owners are ramping up efforts to have their protest heard with a
petition to council opposing the shire’s plans to build on public open space, create smaller
lots and include social housing in the mix.

In March, the Toodyay council voted to release a scheme amendment for public
comment, that would allow the shire to unlock 4.3ha of land for housing on a part
of Lot 9508.

The shire owned lot is currently zoned as public open space, with the part to be rezoned
bounded by Drummond St East, Murray Walkway and Jarratt Pass.

Read more