Toad Hall, Pambula

The building now known as Toad Hall (55 Toalla Street, Pambula) is one of the most recognisable heritage structures in Pambula. It has been used over the years as a post and telegraph office, general store, saddlery, accommodation house, fisheries inspector's office, mining warden's office, and gift shop.

The original single storey portion of the building was erected around 1880 for John Behl, an immigrant from Bavaria who became the licensee of Pambula’s Forest Oak Inn. He was described as ‘an enterprising townsman’ and was responsible for erecting a number of other notable buildings in the town including the Commercial Hotel and the Pambula branch of the AJS bank. He also donated the land on which the School of Arts was erected.

Behl provided the building to the telegraph department rent free for two years to ensure a telegraph office would be established in the township.

The main two-storey section of the building was not erected until about 1884, from which time the building became known as Behl’s Two Storey.

The building received its present name – Toad Hall - in the 1970s from its then-owner whose two home towns had been Frog’s Hollow and Rocky Hall.