Toongla

DESCRIPTION

NameToonglaTypeBuildingResidenceGeolocation^[1] Last edited by: Will Chittick

Description'Toongla' is a colonial bonded brick home believed to be built by Maurice Scanlan in 1875, after he purchased the property from solicitor William Billyard in 1873.

In 1898 the homestead was purchased by William Moles.

William arrived in Shellharbour in 1841 when he was about 12 years old, with his parents Alexander and Jane, and sister Margaret. The Moles family farmed on a clearing lease near what is today Killalea State Park. Killalea Lagoon is marked on old estate maps as Moles Lagoon.

In the 1850s, William married Mary McGill, daughter of famous Illawarra Shorthorn cattle breeder Andrew McGill. They had eight children, seven girls and one boy, all raised on a farm at Tongarra near the foot of Macquarie Pass. Due to his wife’s ill health William moved the family to 'Toongla' closer to the Albion Park Township in 1898.

William was an important community member serving as Alderman on the first Shellharbour Municipal Council in 1859, Justice of the Peace, Lay Preacher and Magistrate. He was held in the highest regard and the community felt a great loss when he died in 1911 after a bout of influenza and pneumonia. On Williams’s death, he ensured all of his children were looked after, including his unmarried daughters to whom he left 'Toongla'. William also owned land at Tongarra and Mount Kembla which was to be mortgaged in the event of their marriage.

A memorial plaque to William Moles erected after his death, lies in St Andrews Presbyterian Church at Albion Park. It notes his 46 years as an elder of the congregation and his work as a lay preacher in the absence of church minsters.

External LinkSuperior Dairy Farm and Homestead 1897Mrs W Moles 1900An Albion Park Wedding Louisa Moles - Paterson Johnston Moles 1900The Late Miss Sarah Moles 1901Illawarra Weddings Maggie Walker (Moles) 1902Mrs James Walker Death 1905Marriages Paterson Johnston - Mary Moles 1912Death Louisa Johnston (Moles) 1907Obituary Mrs Paterson Johnston 1907Farm to Let 1914To Let By Tender 1928Heritage Act 1977 Permanent Conservation Order 1987Mrs P Johnson (Mary Moles) 1952