Coondle, Western Australia facts for kids

Coondle is a special farming area in Western Australia, located in a place called the Shire of Toodyay. It started a long time ago as a big piece of land bought by the government to help more people become farmers. This was done using a special law called the Agricultural Lands Purchase Act from 1896. Coondle was one of the first places developed under this law. It was near a town that used to be called Newcastle, but is now known as Toodyay.

Coondle was originally given as an "immigrant grant." This meant that to encourage people to move to the Swan River Colony and develop the land, they were given land based on how much money or effort they invested in the colony.

How Coondle Began

Early Explorers and Owners

In 1836, three explorers named George Leake, George Moore, and Richard Brown explored the areas around Toodyay and Bolgart. They were looking for good land for George Leake.

The very first land title for this area, called Avon Location 1, was given to George Leake in 1836. He named his new property Coondle. When George Leake passed away in 1849, the property went to his nephew, George Walpole Leake. He died in 1895.

The Leake family never actually lived on the Coondle property. Instead, they leased it out to several important local people. These included Charles Ferguson, who later bought some of the land, James Drummond Jnr, and the Dempster family.

Government Buys the Land

In November 1897, people in Newcastle (now Toodyay) wanted the government to buy the Coondle Estate. There were rumors of new gold discoveries nearby, which made land prices go up a lot.

The government's Land Purchase Board bought the entire Coondle Estate from the Leake family. It was a huge area, about 7,800 acres in total. They paid £7,015 9s 8d for it.

Dividing the Land for Farmers

In 1898, Coondle was surveyed by Leeming, Crowther, and Rutherford for the Crown Lands Department. The land was divided into two main parts: Avon Location 1 and Avon Location 15.

Avon Location 1 was released in April 1898. This part covered about 7,000 acres. It was then split into smaller blocks of land, ranging from 20 to 567 acres. The price of the land varied from 10 shillings to £5 per acre. The price depended on how good the land was for different types of farming already happening in the area.

Getting Around and Water Supply

The Coondle Estate already had a road running through its center. This road connected Newcastle (Toodyay) to Bejoording. It made it easy for farmers to get to Newcastle and the goods sheds for the railway.

An old path to Chittering was improved and became a permanent road, now called Julimar Road. This road gave access to the western side of the estate. Another road, now called Church Gully Road, was built along Church Gully to provide access to the eastern side.

Water was important for farming. Toodyay Brook, a smaller stream that flows into the Avon River, provided a constant water supply. However, the water could be a bit salty (brackish) during the summer. A well provided fresh water, and people knew from past experience that more wells could be dug successfully.

Avon Location 15 was the other part of the estate. It was about 800 acres and was next to the old Newcastle town site. This part was partly cleared but not divided into smaller blocks.

A Successful Experiment

The sale of Avon Location 1, the Coondle Estate, was seen as a test. People wanted to see if the Agricultural Lands Purchase Act would be successful. The Western Australian Government watched closely to see how it might affect future land policies.

The land was officially released for sale on April 13, 1898. Just over two weeks later, by April 30, 1898, reports showed that more than half of the estate had already been sold!

By 1905, an official check of the Coondle development showed great success. All of the land had been sold. Almost all of the land, except for one 100-acre block, had been improved by the new farmers. These improvements included building homes, digging wells, putting up 66 miles of fences, and planting crops on 1,800 acres of land. One farmer even had 8 acres of orchards, 20 acres of other crops, and 200 beehives. From these beehives, he had about 13 tons of honey stored!