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Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
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Infrastructure
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Postal services

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Postal services

Subject

General Post Office

Transcript: Mr John Costa recalls the Green Valley post office

Postage Act 1825

Arcadia Post Office

Artarmon Post Office

Balmain Post Office

Chatswood Post Office

General Post Office

George Street General Post Office

Glebe Post Office

Hornsby South Post Office

Newtown Post Office

North Sydney Post Office/Court House/Police Station

Old Randwick Post Office

Pyrmont Post Office

Randwick Post and Telegraphic Centre site

Redfern Mail Exchange

Rozelle Post Office

Commonwealth Postmaster-General's Department

Empire Air Mail Scheme

Manly Post Office

Narellan Post Office

Newport Post Office

Brown, Harry Percy

Dargin, Angelina

Panton, George

Balmain Post Office staff don masks during the Spanish flu epidemic 1919

Bass Hill post office 1950

Blacktown post office 1901

Chatswood Railway Station and Chatswood Post Office c1905

Chatswood post office 1901

Convicts letter writing at Cockatoo Island 1849

Electric Telegraph Office, Sydney, 1860

Empire Class Flying Boats carried mail and passengers in style from Sydney to London in 1938-1939

Faith in Australia, Murawai, New Zealand 1934

GPO clock face being removed, Martin Place 14 June 1942

General Post Office building 2001

General Post Office c1900

General Post Office, George Street c1872

General Post Office, Sydney c1858-1859

General Post Office, Sydney c1890

Her Majesty's mails being helped across Sydenham Road during the late heavy rains and floods in Sydney June 1889

Macquarie Street, from 'Handbook to the City of Sydney' 1879

Martin Place c1907-10

Mortlake post office 1909

Mrs Daisy Larkin, postwoman on horse, Jannali 1954

New Post Office, George Street 1846

Notice promoting Indignation Meeting regarding removal of Rozelle postmaster February 1895

Page from letter by John Rae with drawing of his house Hilton September 1857

Post Office, Glebe, 1900-30

Postal note to Burwood resident 1947

Randwick Post Office c1910

Removal of the Sydney GPO Clock Tower 1942

Mr John Costa recalls the Green Valley post office, interviewed in 1986

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Postal services

General Post Office

From convict beginnings, the General Post Office was to re-emerge in the 1860s in Italian Renaissance grandeur when James Barnet created an enduring centrepiece for Sydney.

Transcript: Mr John Costa recalls the Green Valley post office

Mr John Costa was born in 1928 and was interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960' project. Here he recalls the Green Valley post office.

Postage Act 1825

Legislation to establish a general post office and postal service throughout the colony.

full record »

Arcadia Post Office

Local post office in Arcadia.

full record »

Artarmon Post Office

Local post office established after lobbying by local residents since 1906.

full record »

Balmain Post Office

Purpose built with courthouse and police station adjacent, which has served the community since 1887. It comprises a grand two storey building with prominent clocktower setback from Darling Street.

full record »

Chatswood Post Office

Post office that stood on the western side of Victoria Avenue, Chatswood near the railways station. It was established in 1897, replacing the first Chatwood post office on Lane Cove Road that had been established in 1879 to serve the growing population of the Willoughby area. A new Federation post office building was erected beside the original office in 1903, which was demolished in 1967.

full record »

General Post Office

full record »

Renaissance Palazzo style building in Pyrmont sandstone on the corner of George Street and Martin Place. The building was constructed on the site of the earlier George Street General Post Office in two stages from 1866 to 1892 as the headquarters of the Government's growing postal services. In the mid 1990s part of the building was sold and converted for use as a hotel, with the remainder of the building being sold to the hotel's operators Far East/Sino Land in 2017.

George Street General Post Office

full record »

Police office and customs house converted to post office use in 1830. It was given a portico façade in the late 1840s, in the Greek Temple style. By the 1860s it was too small and inefficient so was demolished in 1863 and plans were made for the present building on the site.

Glebe Post Office

full record »

Stuccoed brick building, built on a sandstone foundation and plinth, this Victorian Italianate style building originally housed an office and residence. A new brick L shaped wing was added in the 1920s.

Hornsby South Post Office

Formerly Hornsby Post Office, but renamed when the nearby suburb of Normanhurst was established. Postal services in the suburb now provided by a Licenced Post Office.

full record »

Newtown Post Office

Post office established to provide post, telegraph and telephone services for the rapidly expanding suburb in the 1890s.

full record »

North Sydney Post Office/Court House/Police Station

Complex built between 1886 and 1889 to a design by James Barnet.

full record »

Old Randwick Post Office

full record »

The second post office built in Randwick, it was purchased by the Eastern Suburbs Leagues Club in October 2000 to be used as the Administration Centre for the Ted Noffs Foundation in its work assisting Australian youth in crisis.

Pyrmont Post Office

Federation Free style two storey building on Union Square which reflects the development of the suburb and the combination of dwelling and communication services. Postal services had been established in the area in 1852 but with rapid population growth from the 1870s new premises were required and the building was erected at the cost of £4,347. It is now used for commercial offices.

full record »

Randwick Post and Telegraphic Centre site

Randwick's first post office was built on the corner of Short Street and Belmore Road. Before the post office was built, the first mail service had begun in 1859, when John Grice acted as postmaster from his store and inn, the Coach and Horses Hotel, on Avoca Street.

full record »

Redfern Mail Exchange

Mechanised mail centre at Redfern which became notorious for damaging mail.

full record »

Rozelle Post Office

Post office with ornate tower designed by Walter Liberty Vernon, demolished to allow the widening of Victoria Road.

full record »

Commonwealth Postmaster-General's Department

Department created at Federation in 1901 to control all postal and telecommunications services within Australia.

full record »

Empire Air Mail Scheme

British Air Ministry scheme to regain leadership of world aviation by carrying all first class mail to India, South Africa and Australia by flying boat. The first service to Australia began in 1938 but was uneconomic and overwhelmed with the public response. The scheme closed with the outbreak of war.

full record »

Manly Post Office

Postal service established by George Birch beside Willow Tree refreshment rooms on The Corso in April 1857, and operating at various locations within the commercial area since then.

full record »

Narellan Post Office

Opened in 1856 on the Great South Road (later Camden Valley Way)

full record »

Newport Post Office

Post office in Newport, on Sydney's northern beaches.

full record »

Brown, Harry Percy

Director-General PMG Department 1922-39 who introduced the world's most extensive mechanised mail handling at Sydney GPO 1930.

full record »

Dargin, Angelina

Postmistress of Randwick's first post office on Belmore Road. She died suddenly at her residence in Randwick and newspapers seized on the story reporting it as the 'Randwick Sensation'. A report in the Australian Star claimed Dargin's body was discovered by her niece, Elsie Lena Richards, who was actually her illegitimate daughter; a situation that caused controversy in the community and called into question her position as postmistress. By the end of the year Elsie Richards and her father and Dargin's brother in law, James Richards, sued the Australian Newspaper Company for libel and damages, settling for 255 pounds in damages.

full record »

Panton, George

Wharfinger or harbourmaster who was appointed coroner of the County of Cumberland in September 1819. He resigned from the position two months later when he was appointed as the postmaster of the Territory of New South Wales, running the post office from the Kings Wharf. He died in April 1829 at his home on Bunkers Hill.

full record »

Balmain Post Office staff don masks during the Spanish flu epidemic 1919

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[C4076, HN558]

Bass Hill post office 1950

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[C4077, BASS HILL]

Blacktown post office 1901

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[B5919, 4/82]

Chatswood Railway Station and Chatswood Post Office c1905

full record »

By

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[MAP Folder 42A, LFSP 583 (detail)]

(Detail of 'The Havilah Estate, Chatswood, Hugh Duff & Co, auctioneers, 109 Pitt St & at Chatswood c1905')

Chatswood post office 1901

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[B5919, 4/223]

Convicts letter writing at Cockatoo Island 1849

full record »

By

Phillipe de Vidors

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a928881 / SSV/39]

(Mitchell Library)

Electric Telegraph Office, Sydney, 1860

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Mitchell Library)

Empire Class Flying Boats carried mail and passengers in style from Sydney to London in 1938-1939

full record »

Contributed By

Qantas Heritage Collection

[Image 3, Qantas advertising]

Faith in Australia, Murawai, New Zealand 1934

full record »

By

Charles Thomas Phillippe Ulm

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a1269012 / Pic.Acc.5116, 65]

GPO clock face being removed, Martin Place 14 June 1942

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[C4078, N1914D]

General Post Office building 2001

full record »

By

Gary Deirmendjian

Contributed By

City of Sydney Archives

[021\021022]

General Post Office c1900

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[C4078, N7163/1]

General Post Office, George Street c1872

full record »

By

Charles Percy Pickering

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Mitchell Library)

General Post Office, Sydney c1858-1859

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

General Post Office, Sydney c1890

full record »

By

Contributed By

Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences

Her Majesty's mails being helped across Sydenham Road during the late heavy rains and floods in Sydney June 1889

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Australian Town and Country Journal, 8 June 1889, p27)

Macquarie Street, from 'Handbook to the City of Sydney' 1879

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[JAFp BIBLIO F11540]

Martin Place c1907-10

full record »

Contributed By

Private collection

Mortlake post office 1909

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[C4076, HN6206]

Mrs Daisy Larkin, postwoman on horse, Jannali 1954

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[C4078, N5539]

New Post Office, George Street 1846

full record »

By

Edward Winstanley

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a128977 / DG SV1A/22]

(Dixson Galleries)

Notice promoting Indignation Meeting regarding removal of Rozelle postmaster February 1895

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[C4076, HN472]

Page from letter by John Rae with drawing of his house Hilton September 1857

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[MLMSS 6998, p802]

(John Rae - Letterbook, 1840-1854, Letter to his mother, 1 September 1857)

Post Office, Glebe, 1900-30

full record »

Contributed By

National Museum of Australia

[1986.0117.5461]

Postal note to Burwood resident 1947

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[C4078, N2926E]

Randwick Post Office c1910

full record »

Contributed By

State Archives & Records New South Wales

[4346_a020_a020000005]

Removal of the Sydney GPO Clock Tower 1942

full record »

By

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[C4189/1]

Mr John Costa recalls the Green Valley post office, interviewed in 1986

full record »

Mr John Costa was born in 1928 and was interviewed in 1986 for the 'Looking Back at Liverpool: An Oral History of the Liverpool Region 1900 to 1960' project. Here he recalls the Green Valley post office.

Transcript

JOHN: This property then belonged to a chap by the name of Mr Owens, he had a post office up here in Green Valley, oh well the post office was a house and a little room. I can never forget that because his post office, his shelves were made out of tomato boxes. Tomato boxes in those days were about thirty inches (76 cm) long and there was a dividing section in the centre. I'll never forget it. He had them all up against the wall, painted white and he had these pigeon holes to put all the mail in. The room was only about eight or ten-foot (2.4-3 metre) square and the floor was only dirt. We used to go there and pick our mail up and we finished up buying this property off Mr Owens and he left the post office.

Contributed By

Liverpool City Library

(Excerpt from interview with Mr John Costa, from the 'Looking back at Liverpool : an oral history of the Liverpool region 1900-1960' conducted in 1986 by Liverpool City Council, editor and project co-ordinator Catherine Johnson ; researchers Angela Imbrosciano, Verica Miiosavijevic, Kathleen Smith)

Communications