Alfred Durlacher

Alfred Durlacher (1818 – 1869) was the fifth resident magistrate to be appointed to Toodyay, Western Australia, serving between 1861 and 1865.

Durlacher was born on 30 May 1818. As a young man equipped with a sound education, he left for the Swan River Colony on the Shepherd, arriving at Fremantle in 1838. He was immediately employed with the Survey Office, and worked as a surveyor until 1841, then again in 1843. In that year he led the Lefroy brothers, Gerald de Courcy and Anthony, who were searching for unleased pastoral land, on an expedition to the Moore River district. He then left the civil service and tried various occupations, including a failed attempt to join the Anglican ministry. When he applied to be a candidate, Archdeacon John Ramsden Wollaston placed him under Reverend Charles Harper at Toodyay. However Wollaston found him unsuitable:

his faults were "mental rather than moral, for he has always led a correct life, but never was able to settle his mind to any one pursuit" ... his aim was more for "displaying the ability he supposes himself to possess".

In 1851 Durlacher returned to work for the government, being variously employed as a clerk in the governor's office, working in the Finance Department and as registrar of deeds. In May 1853 he married Christina Slade, the daughter of Frederick Slade, a former resident magistrate of the Toodyay district. By 1856 the couple had five children. Durlacher rose in the ranks of the public service becoming acting Registrar General and clerk to the Finance Board, and a justice of the peace. In 1860 his wife died giving birth to their sixth child, who did not survive.

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