Heritage property showcase
We will be showcasing one of the many heritage-listed properties owned or leased by Australia Post on a regular basis.
Heritage properties are maintained at an extra cost, estimated conservatively at a total of $2 million per annum, with many adapted for reuse for the benefit of the local community. This cost may rise significantly as we complete a review of all owned properties for heritage values and implement a framework for management of heritage properties in accordance with provisions of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
For information on previous property showcases, visit
Archives - Heritage Property Showcase 2010
Archives - Heritage Property Showcase 2009
Archives - Heritage Property Showcase 2008
Broken Hill Post Office
Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited was established in 1885 and operated the silver and lead mines in the area. Soon after the town of Broken Hill which is located in the far west outback of New South Wales, began to rapidly develop. Before the post office was constructed, the town's first storekeeper, Walter Sully, operated a postal service from his store. In January 1886 the first post office, a small building attached to Sully's General Store, opened for business. In August 1886, a telegraph station was later established and operated out of the post office.
By the end of 1886, Broken Hill's population had risen to 3,000, and the post office building was no longer adequate for the bustling mining town. Initially, the Postmaster-General's Department was reluctant to approve the construction of a large office due to the uncertainty of Broken Hill's future. However by October 1888 the Department had accepted Broken Hill's permanency and plans were drawn up by the Colonial Architects Office under James Barnet, for a large office, with residence attached. The initial plans were rejected on the grounds of being too small and it was not until 11 November 1889 that the final plans were accepted.
In early 1890 companies were invited to respond to the tender for the construction of the post office. By May 1892, the building was completed and opened for business. The clock was installed in the tower in the early 1900s and opened in 1902.
Over a year prior to completion, on 26 February 1891, the Silver Age reported:
"Externally the most imposing feature is the tower, and this being built in the Queen Anne style, will be somewhat of a novelty in Broken Hill. There is an immense amount of workmanship to be expended on it and, being 86 feet in height, it will be altogether an elaborate affair. There will be a balcony along the front of the structure and around the tower, whilst the whole building is encircled with a verandah excepting a few feet facing Chloride Street, which is left open to admit to the stairway."
In the centre of the front to Argent Street will be a magnificent circular porch, and the central entrance door...It will be made of cedar with stained glass and panelled throughout. This door will lead to the public lobbies on their right hand of the Post Office, and on the left is the telegraph department...The front windows of the Post Office will be fitted with private letter boxes, and on the side facing Chloride Street there will be three delivery windows.
The interiors of both buildings are well fitted up, the Post Office having a stamp delivery office and a counter for Money Orders etc, whilst the window and receiving counter in the Telegraph Department will be composed of cedar. These two rooms will each by 27½ feet by 17½ feet, with a height of 16 feet. Next behind there comes a dining room and beyond a cedar stairway with oriel doorways leading into the second storey. There is also a kitchen to each department. Then comes the lavatories with shower baths etc., the battery room and a room for the night clerk at the telegraph office. On the top floor there will be 8 rooms in each department.
Hobart Post Office
The postal services in Tasmania date from 1809 but were formalised in 1813 with the appointment of the first Postmaster, James Mitchell. Initially, Mitchell operated from his home on the corner of Macquarie and Argyle Streets and later moved to premises on the corner of Collins and Murray Street. By then the first overland transport of mail in the Australian colonies had begun between Hobart and Launceston. In 1828 the Post Office Act transferred postal services to government control and regular sea mail operated between Sydney and Hobart. In 1835 a Royal Mail coach between Hobart and Launceston was introduced but was later replaced by the first Hobart to Launceston mail train in 1877. Expanded postal services were relocated to the rebuilt former Supreme Court building in 1862, on the corner of Murray and Macquarie Streets. A telephone exchange was combined with the post office and telephone exchange in the new post office building in 1905.
The Hobart General Post Office (GPO) was constructed between 1901 and 1905 on the site known as 'Lords Corner' at the Elizabeth and Macquarie Street corner. In 1892 the government acquired the site which is positioned diagonally opposite Franklin Square, a civic and administrative area laid out by the NSW Governor in 1811.
An architectural competition for the design of a new GPO was announced on 20 June 1899 and attracted nine entries. The competition brief specified post, telegraph and banking space allocations for the basement, ground and first floors and a caretaker's quarters on the second floor. By December 1899, the design submitted by a local architect, Alan Walker, was finally selected from a shortlist of two, the other being submitted by Messrs. Robertson and Marks of Sydney. On 6 July 1901 the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George V and Queen Mary) laid the foundation stone. At an earlier local ceremony the young daughter of the architect had laid the first stone to start the construction. On the Royal occasion of the laying of the foundation stone, the girl also presented a bouquet to the Duchess and received in return a small gold mallet with the date inscribed on it.
The Hobart GPO was one of the first public buildings in Tasmania to be completed after Federation although the Commonwealth refused to fund its clock tower. The building was officially opened at 10pm on 2 September 1905. When the Inspector of Public Buildings ordered the removal of the barriers a frenzied rush ensued to post the first letter. The clock and chimes were installed in the course of the following year and was started at 2.15pm on 22 June 1906 by Lady Edeline Strickland, wife of the Governor. ₤1,465 (pounds sterling) was raised by public subscription to cover the clock fixtures and fittings. The building's opening provided Tasmania with a centre to direct its rapid expansion and has remained with minimal alterations to the exterior.
Goulburn Post Office
Goulburn is a provincial city in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, 190 kilometres south-west of Sydney on the Hume Highway.
Postal services were established at Goulburn in 1832 with mail delivered by mounted police, once a week, between Sydney and Goulburn via Liverpool, Campbelltown and Bong Bong. In 1859, two of the first four country mail receivers (postboxes) were located in Goulburn. Plans were drawn up by James Barnet, colonial architect, for a new post office to replace the existing post office operating from rented premises. The Goulburn Post Office was completed in1881 by F Horn and was officially opened by Postmaster General, Francis Bathurst Suttor. A public holiday was proclaimed in Goulburn to celebrate the opening. The post office cost £16,000 (pound sterling) to construct. In addition, the Goulburn Telephone Exchange was opened in 1891.
Goulburn Post Office is located in Auburn Street (former Hume Highway) in a precinct framed by other notable public buildings. The frontage to Auburn Street is symmetrical, dominated by a five-storey clock tower, flanked by two double-height arcades and terminated at each end with three-storey flanking pavilions. At each end there are two-storey wings covered in concrete tiles and fronted by a plain Italianate porch, which is set back from the pavilions. These provide additional entrances to the complex.
The tower has a central arched street entrance surrounded by rusticated stucco banding with a sculpted head of Queen Victoria, rusticated flanking voussoirs, a stepped reveal and battered base. It is topped by a plain frieze entablature with signage for the post office. A cornice indicates the first floor line and this is followed at the first tower floor level by a blind parapet moulding, broken by a balustrade of grouped circles below a central window. Evidently a central driveway to the rear yard went through the main arch in the clock tower's ground floor level, which has been replaced by part of the public hall.
Launceston Post Office
A decade after the city was established, Launceston gained its first overland mail service from Hobart in 1816. It is claimed that this was the first overland mail delivery service in Australia. From the 1820s, the post office service was operating in four private houses:
- 1820s - first recorded Postmaster Arundel Wright, conducted business from the corner of York and St John Streets.
- 1830s - post office relocated to a cottage on the corner of Paterson and St John Streets.
- 1839-59 - post office relocated to 27/53 George Street.
- 1859-89 - post office relocated to Government Offices on St John Street opposite.
In 1856 a telegraph service was established in Launceston and the first mail train services to and from Hobart commenced in 1877.
Located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Cameron and St John Streets, Launceston Post Office was built on the former site of the Royal Olympic Theatre, which was part of the London Tavern. It was designed by the Tasmanian Government Architect W. Eldridge who had inspected the site in January 1885. Eldridge had also recently completed a design for the Hobart Supreme Court buildings from 1884 to 1887. On 23 November 1885, the building contract was awarded to James Hill. On 24 March 1887, the contract was transferred to John and Thomas Gunn who completed most of the construction by 1889. By February 1890, the architects Corrie and North undertook alterations to the original design, including that of the large corner tower. On 22 December 1890 the telegraph office was opened and in January 1891, postal services were transferred from the government offices.
When opened, the building was not well received by the local community; the external patterning and colour was considered controversial, as was the interior arrangement of the mailroom and the incomplete form of the corner tower turret. Some asserted the design "to be the last and grossest insult to the people of Launceston" and called for its demolition. Further, by error, the tower was constructed without provision for a clock as originally intended.
The matter of the clock resurfaced during the 1906 centenary celebrations and the Launceston Clock and Chimes Committee was formed to initiate a public subscription push to fund its installation. The committee raised an estimated 1,339 pounds sterling for the clock and re-dressed the issue of the upper tower, seeking assistance from the Commonwealth Department of Home Affairs Works Division. The Division had taken over responsibility for post office design following the passage of the Commonwealth Post and Telegraph Act in 1902. In January 1908, Inspector-General Colonel Percy Owen of the Commonwealth Department presented two bell tower options to the committee. Their preferred design was selected and an order placed with Gillett and Johnston of Croydon (Surrey, England) for the clock and bells. The design for the Italian inspired tower top was by Hedley Westbrook, possibly under the supervision of the Commonwealth Senior Architect JS Murdoch and working drawings were prepared by May 1908. The clock and bells were installed in October 1909 and the tower completed in 1910.
Any queries regarding heritage properties should be directed to John Zanin - National Heritage Asset Manager