Credit Facilities, Short-term Borrowings and Long-term Debt (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)	6 Months Ended						6 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended					6 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013	Mar. 31, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Mar. 31, 2013 Foreign Lines of Credit And Overdraft Facilities [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Foreign Lines of Credit And Overdraft Facilities [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Domestic Line of Credit [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Third Amended and Restated Credit Agreement [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Third Amended and Restated Credit Agreement [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Third Amended and Restated Credit Agreement [Member] Minimum [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Third Amended and Restated Credit Agreement [Member] Maximum [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Chinese Credit Facility [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Chinese Credit Facility [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 Chinese Credit Facility, RMB Denominated Loan [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013	Mar. 31, 2013 2008 Term Loan [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 2008 Term Loan [Member] Minimum [Member]	Mar. 31, 2013 2008 Term Loan [Member] Maximum [Member]
Maximum borrowing capacity							$ 200,000,000		$ 400,000,000			$ 22,700,000
Option to increase maximum borrowings to this amount									600,000,000
Line of Credit Facility, Expiration Date							Dec. 20, 2013	Jan. 04, 2017
Line of Credit Facility, Initiation Date							Dec. 21, 2012
Variable Rate Basis							prime rate or an adjusted LIBOR		LIBOR					prevailing interest rate offered by the People's Bank of China on the date of borrowing	lender's cost of borrowing rate at the date of borrowing	LIBOR
Basis Spread On Variable Rate										0.95%	1.525%			25.00%	3.00%		1.00%	2.25%
Credit facility effective interest rate on outstanding borrowing							1.12%
Cross default provisions related to the Company’s other outstanding debt arrangements in excess of this amount, the occurrence of which would permit the lenders to accelerate the amounts due thereunder									30,000,000
Debt Covenant, Minimum Consolidated Net Worth Calculation, Base Value									725,000,000
Debt Covenant, Minimum Consolidated Net Worth Calculation, Percentage of Net Income									50.00%
Debt Covenant, Minimum Consolidated Net Worth Calculation, Percentage of Net Proceeds of Issuance of Capital Stock									50.00%
Repayment of long-term debt	41,875,000	14,515,000														40,000,000
Accelerated amortization of debt financing costs recognized as interest expense																128,000
Outstanding borrowings					0	329,000	200,000,000		0			5,086,000	0
Short-term borrowings	5,086,000		329,000
Line of Credit Facility, Rationale for Classification as Long-term Debt							Woodward classified the $200,000 outstanding on the Line of Credit as long-term as of March 31, 2013 based on its intention to refinance the $200,000 using new long-term debt facilities and/or its existing Revolving Credit Facility. Woodward currently has the ability to utilize its existing Revolving Credit Facility, which matures in January 2017, to refinance the entire $200,000 outstanding balance, if necessary.
Total debt outstanding	555,086,000
Additional borrowing availability					23,659,000				393,616,000
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 54,658,000	$ 56,329,000	$ 61,829,000	$ 74,539,000