16 In A Box

“I am not guilty of the crime with which I was charged, and I told the judge so, but he would not believe me. May the Lord have mercy on our souls. Goodbye all.” - were the last words muttered on this earth by Charles Hines before the hangman, Robert  'Nosey Bob' Howard, pulled the bolt securing the trapdoor at Maitland Gaol May 21st 1897 at 9.07am, making Charles Hines the last man hanged at Maitland Gaol.

I could think of no better place to visit on a cold blustery June weekend than a mid 19th century penal establishment, so armed with my compact Sanyo S1275 camera, rugged up against the biting winds, I ventured through the gates of Maitland Gaol, entering into a world of confinement, razor wire, barred windows and surveillance.


The Maitland Gaol, which is actually situated in East Maitland (at the time the old Government/Administrative part of the Maitland district), along with Court House, sits along the grand axis of the Sir Thomas Mitchell town plan which was drawn up in 1829. The foundation stone was laid in 1844 and the reception of the first prisoners occurred in December 1848 (although some records indicate that this didn't happen until 1st January 1849). The first stage of the prison was designed by the NSW Colonial Architect Mortimer Lewis, which makes Maitland Gaol the only remaining "Inspector's Gaols" and it is also the oldest substantially intact prison in NSW


The prison was constructed using local sandstone from quarries at Morpeth and Farley, with Messrs. Brodie & Craig awarded the contract (Maitland Mercury 11/3/1846). The cost of the first stage of construction is hard to ascertain, however it would seem that the initial contract cost £2,500 and was awarded  in 1846 (Maitland Mercury 2/9/1846), down from an initial estimated cost of construction of £6,327 (Sydney Gazette 19/6/1841) .      


The second stage of construction (1861 - 1887), which included the 3 storey 'B' Block and the  East Wing or 'C' Block (commenced in 1883) was designed by James Barnet, who was also responsible for the design of a lot of the regions Post Offices, including East Maitland, West Maitland (Maitland), Lambton and Singleton. 


In 1896 the prison also became listed as one of the Colony's principle prison for women inmates and they were housed in 'C' Block. 


It is a truly terrifying image as you wander around the site and note the harsh conditions that greeted all the inmates that were transported through the massive main gates. 


In 1972 the gaol was upgraded (electricty was added to 'B' Block around this time!) and from 1977 it became a Maximum Security institution, which eventually housed some of NSW's most notorious criminals including Darcy Dugan, Ray Denning, Ivan Milat, Neddy Smith, the Anita Cobby and Janine Balding murderers. 


The most chilling section, besides the Gallows (located at the front gate), is the clinical high security 5 Wing, which  was opened in 1993 to house the states worst prisoners and would have to be the most soul destroying part of the tour, with its segregation, the use of stainless steel and minimal human contact makes it  truly awful experience for casual observers And we were only there for 10mins, not 10 years! 5 Wing had all the charm of a dog pound and the ambiance of a morgue and although the other cell blocks were constructed in the 19th century, I would prefer to spend time in the notorious 'B' Block than be confined to the odious 5 Wing.           


The Maitland Gaol continued as a fully functioning prison up until its closure in 1998, then after 150 years of service it ceased its function as a prison as the cost of maintaining and securing a 19th century prison close to a heavily populated area was becoming prohibitive, so without fanfare the prisoners were transferred to other prisons in the system. The prison was then handed over to the community, which besides providing tourists a real insight into the history NSW's penal system, the prison also caters for a variety of events from Laser Skirmish to theatre groups and  ghost tours. 


If you do intend to visit Maitland Gaol, try and do the tour with a guide (self guided tours are available) for it is the stories that add real depth to the tour. Our guide was Peter Fraser, an ex-inmate, who was quite authentic in his descriptions of the day to day existence of prisoners at Maitland Gaol during latter part of the prisons life and his recollections of those days were enough to convince me that prison is not the place for me!


As for the '16 In A Box'  title for this post, well 16 prisoners were hanged in the prison and their mortal remains left in a box ... however it would seem that some of the departed souls decided to 'hang' around a bit longer!         
           

I'd like to thank the staff at Maitland Gaol, the online resources of the National Library of Australia & the NSW Office of Heritage and Environment for their assistance in my research for this blog. 

The Ghosts of Post Offices Past - Ingleburn (2565)

It was in 1896 that the Postal Inspector gave the fledgling town of Ingleburn this less than romantic description: " the Ingleburn community consists cheifly of fruit growers and wool carters" and while not flattering, it was probably an accurate assessment of the community at the time.


The small township of Ingleburn, situated 44 kilometres south west of the Sydney CBD, grew from fairly humble beginnings, originally just a rail platform that was built in 1869 and was originally called Macquarie Fields, after a large property situated to the north of the platform. The name was changed to Ingleburn in 1883 to avoid confusion after the Macquarie Fields estate was subdivided and was gazetted as the town of Macquarie Fields.

The land around the Ingleburn platform was also subdivided into smaller town lots in 1885 and the town began to take shape. As the town grew, so did the needs of the community for postal facilities and in October 1886, Mr W.Collins, a local storekeeper, was appointed as the Ingleburn Receiving Office Keeper (ROK), which paid him an allowance of £5 p.a. ($4,100). By 1891 business had grown sufficiently for the status to be  raised to become a Post Office and Mr Collins appointed Postmaster with remuneration increased to £22 p.a., ($16,600) with a porterage allowance of £10 ($7,500) to move mail between the rail station and Mr Collins' shop. However, not everyone was pleased with this arrangement, as the Collins shop was located a quarter mile away (400 metres), on the western side of the railway line, which was away from the expansion of the town which was occurring on the eastern side of the line, according to the Ingleburn Progress Association in November 1891.


The Postmaster General must have agreed with the sentiments expressed by the Progress Association because in February 1892, arrangements were made with the Railway Department for the Post Office to be moved to the station and Herbert J. Webb was placed in charge, combining both the telegraph and post offices in the one area.

In 1900 the Postmaster General decided upgrade facilities at Ingleburn and with agreement from the Railway Department a new room was built apart from the railway office and included a 'silence' cabinet for the telephone. Miss Frances Quinn was appointed Postmistress in March 1901 on a salary of £55 p.a.($37,000) and this new arrangement also proved quite fortuitous as the Railway Station burnt down in 1901! The Post office continued to grow, with Money Order facilities offered in May 1901 and a branch of the Government Savings Bank in opened July 1901.


In 1909 the Postmistress, Miss Quinn, was transferred to Greta in the Hunter Valley and the Postal Department decided to move the Post Office to the general store owned by Mr A.B. Kavanagh, who became Postmaster in January 1910, mainly because he offered to allow out of hours access to the telephone. However, it was not a popular move according to the local residents, who petitioned to have the Post Office remain at the railway station. Mr Kavanagh sold the business in August 1912  and Mr S. McIlveen became Postmaster. In 1917 Mr McIlveen moved the Post Office to a new brick building on the opposite side of the street (Oxford St) and installed a larger swithchboard ... And of course the local residents opposed the move.


In 1933 the Post Office moved back to the other side of Oxford St and remained there until extensive renovations in October  1964, These renovations involved the complete demolishing of the old store and then rebuilding it as a purpose built Post Office. During the construction phase, the Post Office moved into 41 Oxford Street as a temporary measure and moved back to 10 Oxford Road in December 1964. In March 1970 Ingleburn Post Office finally was granted official status and at the time the Post Office had grown to employ 6 staff  (Postmaster Assistant, P/T Assistant two Postman and one junior Postal Officer)


As Ingleburn continued to grow rapidly during the 1970's so did the needs of the community for better postal facilities and so in 1977 a new Post Office complex was opened at a completion cost of $174,000 ($820,000) . It  was estimated at the time that the building would have a serviceable life of around 20 years, however, after 34 years at 34 Oxford Street Ingleburn, the Post Office continues to meet needs of it's growing and diverse community of nearly 19,000 residents. A far cry from when the Postal Inspector made his cutting remarks in 1896!  

Footnote - Local historians like to point out that the large Bunyan Pine located on the eastern side of Ingleburn Rail Station was planted near the site of  Postmistress Quinn's Post Office which opened in 1901, making that wonderful old pine 110 years old this year!         

N.B. I'd like to thank the staff at the Campbelltown City Library & the online resources of the National Library of Australia for their assistance in compiling this blog.

The Lost Post Offices of Australia - Stockton (2295)

In 1800 a gang of 15 convicts, escaping from Broken Bay in NSW, stole the colonial sloop 'Norfolk' and ran aground at the present day Stockton, thus giving the area it's first and more romantic name, Pirate Point. 

Situated less than 1 kilometre across the harbour from Newcastle, Stockton has its own unique history, which dates back to early Aboriginal occupation and was known as  "Burrinbingon" by the local Worrimi tribe. Stockton was known by the aboriginal as a gathering place of plenty as it was well stocked with oysters, pippies and plenty of fish species in the river. When Lt Shortland 'discovered' Newcastle in 1797 word got back to Sydney about the natural riches that could be found, especially the coal and cedar and it didn't take long before 18th century entrepreneurs came to take advantage to the abundant riches. One of the first  businessmen was Hugh Meehan, who in 1799 began operating a saw pit on Stockton's northern shore      

Following the establishment of the convict settlement at Coal River (Newcastle) in 1804, Stockton then became a horrendous place of punishment as convicts were sent over the river to work the lime kilns that were situated close to the former aboriginal middens that were scattered around the area.   


By 1823 the convict era had finished and so private settlements along the length of the Hunter River flourished, including Stockton. Large grants of land were issued in the 1830's and early industries quickly flourished, salt works and foundry in 1838, vitriol (sulphuric acid) works in 1853, tin smelter in 1872 and the colony's biggest textile factory (which burnt down in 1851). however the mainstay was shipbuilding, with at least six shipbuilders operating in the area by the 1860's.


With a population of over 150 permanent residents the first calls were made for the establishment of a Post Office on the peninsular in 1859, however the NSW government declined, mainly due to the high cost submitted by the contractors to convey the mail across the harbour, one tender was quoted as £60 ($10,000), which was considered to high of a cost at the time.


Not to be deterred, in November 1861 representations were once again put to the government, this time by local politician Mr James Hannell and in this instance they were successful. On the 1st February 1862, Mr Samuel Sterling became the first Postmaster of the new Stockton Post Office. A contract was also let to Mr Henry Plenglaze for £36.13.5 ($6,000) to provide a 6 day mail service from Newcastle to Stockton. According to the Parish Maps the first Post Offices seemed to be located off Fullerton Road, near what is now known as Punt St (formerly known as Factory St.). Several Postmasters followed Mr Sterling ... William Adams (1868), Edward Miner (1870) and then in 1873 the former contractor, Henry Penglaze, who held the position until his death in 1882,  then passing the running of the Post Office licence to his wife, Elizabeth.


As Stockton continued to grow, especially when the Stockton Coal Company commenced operation in 1882, so did the demands for better postal services, including the connection to the telegraph. Following an assessment by Postal Inspector Davies in 1886, it was decided to erect an 18 mile  telegraph line from Raymond Terrace to Stockton and amalgamate the Post Office and the Telegraph Office.



In 1887, Stockton at last had an official Post & Telegraph Office with Mr John Beckett appointed to the position with a salary of £124 p.a. ($130,000). On the day he opened Stockton's the new Post & Telegraph, the 27th June 1887, his first message as the official Post & Telegraph master was "I have opened the office here this morning, may I take on a Probationer to carry messages, no other person employed here but myself ", Postmaster Beckett was quick to realise the short comings of being the only employee at the Post Office! Not only was his plea for additional staff agreed to but he also gained a part time Postman as well, John Griffiths, who commenced his rounds on 1st September 1887, thus earning the distinction of being the first postman in Stockton .


In 1890 the Post Office also gained a lamp for the front of the Post Office and as this had to be lit and maintained by Postmaster Beckett, so he asked for and was granted an additional allowance of £4 p.a. ($670) to perform this task. Just another perk of the job that we have seemed to have lost over the years!  


By 1891 however calls were made by the Stockton Municipal Council for a public building be erected for a Post Office, instead of operating out of Mr Bruce's rented premises, so after much negotiating a site on Hunter Street was selected and on the 18th February 1901 at a cost of £1,219 ($815,000) , Stockton finally had a new purpose built Post Office to be proud of.


Over time technology moves on and the Post Office building in Hunter Street had outlived it's useful life which required extensive renovations just to make it habitable. So in the late 1930's it was decided to build a newer office in Clyde St (cnr Douglass St) and update the delivery and retail service. It was with little fanfare on the 6th December 1941 that the new £2,500 ($490,000) modernised Stockton Post Office opened for business. The old Hunter Street Post Office was then sold off and converted into residential flats, eventually the building was demolished and became part of the revamped Stockton foreshore. 


By the late 1990's, the Post Office structure was once again under review and as a result the retail business became an LPO (Licensed Post Office) and is now located in the newsagency at 29 Mitchell St. The old 1941 Post Office building was retained for a few more years before it  too was also sold off and in June 2001, the remaining postal staff and contractors were moved out to Heatherbrae, near Raymond Terrace. 


Next year marks the sesquicentennial (1862 - 2012) of Post Office operations in Stockton, a Post Office that has had quite the history of being moved, updated, downsized, revamped and hopefully, will continue to serve this local community well into the future.


As for the 15 pirates from the Norfolk? Eleven of them stole another boat, but eventually all were recaptured and two of the ringleaders executed ... perhaps they just should have opened a Post Office! 

N.B. I'd like to thank the staff at the Newcastle Library, the National Archives of Australia, The National Library of Australia & the residents of Stockton for their help in compiling this blog.

The Ghosts of Post Offices Past - Wickham (2293)

Wickham Post Office- circa 1900 - NLA C4076 

The 27th Febuary 1871 would  have been quite an important day for the proud residents for the small  town of Wickam as on that day they were proclaimed a Municipality, the first in Newcastle. The new Wickham Municipality incorporated the surrounding towns of Maryville, Smedmore (Wickham North), Linwood, Islington and Tighes Hill ... quite a day indeed!

Wickham LPO 

With the industrial expansion of Newcastle in the 1860's more workers were seeking accommodation so residential land  was opened up from Blane Street (Hunter St) to Whytes Paddock on the banks of Throsby Creek with sales commencing in 1868. Due to it's unique siting, with the harbour and railway close by, industries also were also attracted to the area, with a soap and candle factory, abattoirs (Tighes Hill & Wickham), steam sawmill, Hunter River Copper Works (Port Waratah) and the coal mines situated at Bullock Island (Carrington), Tighes Hill (Ferndale Colliery) and the Maryville (located on the current Caltex refinery), all providing a varied working environment for the Wickham Municipality as the area expanded.




The early living conditions were further enhanced by the limitless supply of fresh water from the Islington sand beds, the abundance of fresh fish, eels and estuary prawns that were found in clear waters of Throsby and Styx Creek.

Tighes Hill 1938 - NLA C4076

As more people were attracted to the area the postal needs of the community also grew and one of the first deputations by the newly elected council in 1871 was to ask the Postmaster-General to establish a formal Post Office and so on the 13th September 1872, local store owner Mrs E.Blackie was appointed Wickhams first Postmistress. The Wickham Post Office grew rapidly becoming a Post & Telegraph Office (7/10/1878), a Money Order Office (MOO - 1/1/1880) and a Government Savings Bank agency (GSB -22/5/1884). Then on the 27/8/1892 the new purpose built Post Office on the Cnr Throsby & Hannell St's opened for business. This beautiful two storey building was built in the James Barnet 'country Post Office' Italian Renaissance' style (although it was completed during the time of  James Liberty Vernon tenure as New South Wales Government Architect) and cost £1897 ($1.4 million) to complete. Sadly we only have photo's of this iconic building left as the 1989 Newcastle Earthquake seriously damaged the structural integrity of the building and as a result the building was demolished. Australia Post also decided at this time to convert the Post Office to an LPO (Licenced Post Office) and this happened on the 1st December 1994.Today the current LPO stands on the former site of the Post Office, albeit now combined with a newsagency.

former Tighes Hill PO

It is also interesting to note that Tighes Hill began operations on the 13th September 1872, the same day as the Wickham Post Office with J.Kilgour appointed Postmaster and like Wickham, the Post Office grew as the population expanded. It became a Money Order Office (22/9/1872), Telephone Service (31/1/1890), GSB (15/10/1894) and then eventually became an Official Post Office (3/11/1914). In 1937 the Post Office moved into a new building at 4 Elizabeth St and stayed there until 1997, when Australia Post closed this wonderful example of an Art Deco Post Office for good.
       

Islington PO - 1951 - NLA C4076

Islington Post Office was promised to the residents by the Postmaster-General for many years prior to its opening on the 1st January 1893 with S.Proctor appointed the Postmaster. Again it quickly grew with a Telephone Service (18/11/1899), MOO & GSB (9/6/1900) and then finally a Official Post Office in 1941. A new Post Office was built in 1974 for $101,520 and housed the postmen for the Wickham/Islington area, as the then PMG began to restructure mail delivery. This building was then eventually sold in the 1990's and the delivery operations were moved to new larger premises in Hudson St  Hamilton (now itself closed and the operations haved now moved to Warabrook). The retail side of the Islington Post Office itself was closed and the licence sold off. As a result Islington became a Licenced Post Office, another LPO located within a newsagency and with that, the town lost some of its rich postal history.

1974 Islington PO site

Islington LPO 

The last of the area's Post Offices was the Wickham North Post Office located in Downie Street Maryville. It was called Wickham North because there was already a Maryville in Victoria and the authorities didn't want any confusion! When the name was proposed a few old time locals preferred the name Smedmore to reflect the original name for the area, however the PMG stuck to their guns and it remained known as Wickham North Post Office. This little Non Official Post Office (NONO) first opened in 1951 with J.G. Power appointed licensee and it closed in 1971. It reopened in 1972, however by 1978 it had once again closed, never to reopen, although the street posting box (SPB) remained in place until it too was relocated to Hannell Street.

Downie St Wickham 

So one day if you are walking through the streets of the former Wickham Municipality and you feel the hair on the back of your neck rise up, don't be afraid, it is probably just the ghost of a Post Office past looking for some proper closure.


I'd like the thank the invaluable assistance given to me by the NCC Library, Newcastle Family History & Historical Society, the National Library of Australia & Doreen Cummins of the Honeysuckle News & Post (Wickham LPO) in putting together this blog. 


As a footnote it should be understood the name Wickham is actually a corruption of the original spelling of the town of  Whickham, which is located a few miles from Newcastle upon Tyne in north east England   

Fading Into Night

One the magical things you can do on Newcastle Harbour is to organise a dinner cruise and take in a different perspective of our wonderful city.


I've been on a few of these type of cruises before, one on Lake Macquarie and a couple on Sydney Harbour, but what really sets Newcastle apart is the fact that it is a working harbour. While some may scoff at the idea of cruising a working port, Newcastle is spectacular as you wend you way along the row of ships loading/unloading all kinds of products and produce, although coal is still our main export.


Although I was aching to take the Canon 400D, once again I had to content myself with the Sanyo 1275s, as I correctly predicted that the boat would be pretty full of diners and the bulkiness of the Canon would restrict where I would be able to move around. So armed with the compact Sanyo 1275s we departed Newcastle Marina at Wickham just before sunset. The day itself wasn't a typical Newcastle summers day, which is normally warm and clear and usually tempered with a nor' easterly in the late afternoon, this day had a lot of cloud, with a light southerly, which was, initially, a bit disappointing..


But as they say, every cloud has a silver lining!


The cloud cover wasn't 100% and so as the sun sunk, the broken cloud reflected this wonderful event, changing from purple, to a spectacular golden glow, then finally to the most intense display of orange I have seen in quite some time. It was truly amazing and although I only had the little Sanyo, it picked up every colour nuance perfectly.  


As the sun slowly sunk away into the west taking its wonderful display with it, the harbour then took on a different perspective as the arc lighting begin to take effect and began reflecting off the water in shimmering hues of orange, red, silver and blue. As well as all this there were also the lights of Newcastle itself  including Christ Church Cathedral, Fort Scratchley, Nobbys, Queens  Wharf and the lights of the CBD all glittering like a thousand jewels on the shoreline.


So if you ever want to see a different side of my wonderful city, book a dinner cruise with either Moonshadow Cruises - http://www.moonshadow.com.au/ or Nova Cruises - http://www.novacruises.com.au/ and enjoy a wonderful night on our very special harbour.


Oh, and as I always say .... make sure you take your camera!  

When memories are enough

In 1993 after 10 years of serving with the Australian Army, I decided to elect discharge and seek my fame and fortune in the civilian world. However, seven of those years were spent in Sydney and six of them we were living in Leichhardt, a suburb of Sydney's inner west, so it is understandable that the family shares quite a bond with that cosmopolitan part of Sydney.


During our time there our kids went from Primary School to High School, our son played his junior rugby league on some of rugby leagues most hallowed turf (Leichhardt & Birchgrove Ovals), our daughter swam competitively at Leichhardt Pool, the local rugby league team the Balmain Tigers contested consecutive Grand Finals (1988 -89, losing both) and I think it was the first time that our family felt part of a community, so our bonds with the area remain strong.


So on a recent trip to Sydney, Jude and I went back to Tiger Town to see how the place has fared since we left in the summer of 1993.

This is our place at Unit 6/64 Charles Street. The palms I planted in our small courtyard seemed to have grown quite a fair bit since we left! Charles Street was a great place to live, with Leichhardt Oval only a 15 minute walk away & some of Sydney's best restaurants even closer!

 I was quite surprised to see that our local corner shop is still operating and is still owned by Charlie after all these years. In a fast paced world where the landscape is dominated supermarkets and 7/11's, there is still a place for local business's to grow and thrive. Charlie also saved me the newspaper headline leader about Canberra's amazing win in the 1989 Grand Final.

Blackmore Oval was the home of the mighty Leichhardt Wanderers. Mick later left the Wanderers and went to play with the Balmain Police Boys. Both clubs are steeped in rugby league history and both played on some of Sydney's most iconic rugby league grounds. 

I don't think there is anything better than an Il Cugino pizza. Il Cugino's are still located on Norton Street and are still serving the best pizza's in Sydney. A couple of times each month during our time in Leichhardt we made sure we visited this family owned pizzeria to take home a family treat    

Kegworth Public School was the second school we enrolled the kids at, they first went to Leichhardt PS, but we had to change schools due to 'difficulties' with the Headmistress. The kids then settled in well at Kegworth with Sheryl becoming School Captain and Mick becoming a Prefect, a pretty impressive achievement! My Aunties also attended Kegworth PS in the late 1930's, so we really had a strong family connection with the school!

 26 Marlborough St Leichhardt was home to 1 Amenities Unit, where I served two postings, 1987 - 89 and also 1991 - 93. The building itself was originally a fire station and then became an army drill hall around the time of  WWI. It was eventually sold off by the Department of Defence in 1994 for I believe around $60,000!. Although the street frontage hasn't changed at all, the building has been extensively renovated out the back and is now a private residence. I still have some very happy memories from that little obscure army unit!

It is sometimes pleasant to go back to an area that holds so many happy memories for us as a family, to walk around the old landmarks and reminisce about the happy times we had. Whilst it was fun, and I still do so love Leichhardt, I'm more than happy with my life choices. Although it was hard for the kids to break their bonds with the area, I'm glad we did, initially moving to the Central Coast and now to our home at Newcastle. 


Leichhardt is now a memory, not a destination. 

However, seeing what property is fetching in Leichhardt these days and what I could have bought it for in 1986 ... I too could be driving a Ferrari!

        

  

The Lost Post Offices of Australia - Newcastle (Watt Street)

I have previously covered the iconic former Walter Vernon designed Newcastle Post Office located on the Cnr of Hunter & Bolton Streets, however, as I mentioned in that post, Newcastle's postal history goes back a lot further than 1904.


Newcastle's first Post Office began operations at the former Court House on the cnr of Church  and Watt Street in 1828, commencing operations on the 1st March, with Mr D.F. McKay appointed as Postmaster. Now there is some controversy as to who and on what date the Post Office started operating in Newcastle, with some stating that Mr John Erskine was appointed deputy Postmaster in 1827. However, while I accept that there may have been an informal postal system in place operating from the Commissariat Store (in Watt Street) prior to 1828, I concur with the official Post Office history that clearly states that Mr McKay was the first appointed Postmaster for Newcastle in 1828. The Post Office remained in the former Court House until it burnt down in 1851 and then the Post Office moved to a government owned cottage in Watt St.   

One thing is for certain is that the Post Office continued to grow as the city grew from its early convict heritage, becoming an Official Post Office (01/09/1862 - W. Thompson, Postmaster), Money Order Office (01/01/1863) and then a Government Savings Bank (01/10/1871). The telegraph arrived in Newcastle in January 1860 and was initially housed in the railway station, however in 1861 it moved into a purpose built office in Hunter St next to the Police Station (built in 1840), however the Post Office remained on the old Watt Street site. 


As the 1860's came to end, there were increasing demands made in the local newspaper, 'The Newcastle Herald & Miners Advocate' for better postal facilities with demands such as;


"a cottage in Watt St with accommodation hardly sufficient to swing a cat, much less to conduct our postal business' and,


" the 2nd city in New South Wales boasts a Post Office hardly fit to be opened as a lolly pop shop"


These demands were finally heeded by Sydney who asked James Barnet to come up with design for a new Post Office to be located on the Cnr of Hunter and Watt Streets, next to the Telegraph Office. On the 16th March 1872 local builders Lang & Wylie put in the successful bid of £2139/4/3 ($2.1 million) and were awarded the contract. The building was finally completed and officially opened for business on the 20th June 1873 by local MP Mr George Lloyd at 12pm. During his opening speech Mr Lloyd also promised that he would press for a  verandah to be added to the Post Office ASAP. That addition didn't happen till 1886 at a cost of £3101/3/7 ($2.9 million) and as not to inconvenience the public during the additions, cast iron street posting boxes in were installed. It is also interesting to note that the Telegraph Office and the Post Office didn't amalgamate until January 1901 when Mr R.W. Arnott took over both duties, even though they were operating next to each other for 28 years! It was also around this time that the verandah was removed, a portico between the buildings added and then both buildings rendered to give a the 'new' Post & Telegraph Office a common look (originally both were bare brick but were of a different colour & style)


As Newcastle continued to grow, so did the requirement for a larger Post Office and so in August 1903, the Post and Telegraph Office moved to its stately Walter Liberty Vernon designed building on the Cnr of Hunter and Bolton Streets.


Today it is the Bolton Street Post Office gets all the kudos while the  former Watt Street Post Office, although beautifully restored and situated only a couple of metres down Hunter Street has been quickly forgotten, fading from our collective memory with the passage of time. 

I'd like to thank the staff at Newcastle City Library, The Newcastle Family History & Historical Society and The National Library of Australia

The Lost Post Offices of Australia - Waratah (2298)

What an honour it must have been for 17 year old John Banfield to be appointed the Postmaster at the Waratah Post Office when the Post Office achieved its official status on the 23rd June 1877. Initially he was paid a salary of £52 per annum ($46,000), but what he wasn't so pleased about  was that the Postmaster-Generals Department was charging him £1 per week for board and lodgings!


Reluctantly, the Postmaster-General did eventually agree to double his wages after young John made representations to him about how the low wage was making it hard to make ends meet.

Waratah was another one of our Hunter towns that was basically founded on the coal boom of the 1800's (the town did exist as early as the 1820's with small scale mining and brickmaking being the main employment) . The colliery at Waratah (established 1862) was made more attractive when the railway from Newcastle arrived in March 1858 making it easier to use that infrastructure to transport the black gold to Newcastle wharves and also to their own coal loaders located at Port Waratah.   


As was the fashion of that period the Postmaster-General on the decided to place a Post Office at Waratah Station with station master, Mr Pat Dwyer, appointed the first Postmaster on the 1st February 1860. For his extra postal duties Mr Dwyer was paid £12 per annum ($13,000), plus commission on stamps sold, not a bad little earner even today!


Although the mine wasn't a real success in tonnage, Waratah began to thrive as a residential suburb and when Mr Thomas Grove opened up the new Hanbury Estate, both area's, Hanbury and Waratah started to boom as people took advantage of property close to Newcastle with easy access to the railway. As the town grew so did the Post Office, with the addition of money order facilities (1868) and a Government Savings Bank facility (1871).

In 1877 after the then station master (and Postmaster) Mr Mattingley was transferred, the Postmaster-General decide to amalgamate the Telegraph and Post Offices to save costs. The telegraph which arrived in 1863, initially was separate from the Post Office and so in 1877 the Post Office was moved into the Telegraph Office located in Cross Street (now named Tighe Street), with young John Banfield, the former Telegraph Operator, now appointed as Postmaster. The building was cramped and the accommodation deemed unsuitable, when the next Postmaster, a family man, Mr William Harris became the next Postmaster in November 1878 (this was a position he held for the next 35 years!). New rented premises were then obtained in High Street in January 1879 as an interim measure whilst a brand new purpose built building was constructed.


The site selected was on the Cnr of Turton Road and Station Street and Government Architect James Barnet designed the single storey building of a simple design with cement rendered walls and hipped corrugated iron roof (which dismayed the local council), at a cost of £1050 . The contract was awarded to W.H. Galbraith and on the 1st March 1881, Waratah welcomed it own, purpose built, Post Office (the mail room addition occurred sometime in 1901)    

Waratah Post Office, after 115 years of service eventually became part of Australia Posts property rationalisation and in 1996 this wonderful 19th century building was sold off with the Post Office transferring operations to the Waratah Village Shopping Centre and becoming just another retail shop, albeit a very busy one,  in another bland shopping centre.


The bond between the Post Office and they community they serve becomes severed with every one of these asset disposals, with the memory of past deeds and tribulations lost, while we pursue the lure of the easy dollar. It may surprise some to learn that Waratah Post Office turned 150 years old this year, but on Monday the 1st February 2010, this momentous fact passed unnoticed by everyone and so it became just being another day in a suburban shopping centre.

Congratulations to Waratah Post Office on celebrating their Sesquicentennial this year.

Many thanks to the Newcastle Library, the Ralph Snowball Collection & the Newcastle Family History & Historical Society 
          .

The Lost Post Offices of Australia - East Maitland (2323)

In August 1971 the No.1 song on radio station 2HD was 'Eagle Rock' by local Australian group Daddy Cool and GMH had just released the iconic HQ Holden . If you were driving down Lawes Street East Maitland in your new HQ, listening to Daddy Cool on the AM radio you may have witnessed the passing of an era when Australia Post  (actually it was still called the PMG then) opened its brand new, purpose built East Maitland Post Office and left its stately 95 year old Day Street premises.

East Maitland has a long history which can be traced back to 1829 when the  NSW Colonial Government Surveyor, General Mitchell, laid out town to serve as the 'Government' centre for the Maitland area. Since the area was separated by Wallis Creek the towns quickly became known as East and West Maitland. West Maitland had a longer history, first settled in the 1820's and it was also the site of the first Post Office in the region. The mail was originally was transported to Sydney via Newcastle, Morpeth and Raymond Terrace utilising the main transportation corridor, the river system. However, it was also very prone to flooding, due to its proximity to the Hunter River and so it was overlooked in favour of East Maitland as the 'new' administrative centre.  

It wasn't long after East Maitland began, that there were calls for its own Post Office to be established so locals wouldn't have to cross Wallis Creek to access postal services and they would not have to deal with the vagaries of a sometimes irregular mail delivery. However these calls fell on deaf ears in Sydney Town.

It wasn't until the 1st May1840 that the Postmaster General, James Raymond decided to co-locate the East Maitland Post Office with the Court House in Melbourne Street and use the Clerk of the Magistrate Court as the postmaster. This was a quite common practice in the early days of the colony, as such arrangements were already in place in West Maitland and Campbelltown. When the Court House moved in 1860, it appears that the Post Office stayed in the Melbourne Street premises and continued operations.

In the 1870's  the local East Maitland council made successful representations to the NSW Postmaster General for the establishment of a purpose built Post Office and with that James Barnet was commissioned to do the architectural work, with costs not to exceed £1,000. This commenced a great deal of anguish for the local council who were insisting that the Postmaster General select a site in Melbourne Street and were horrified when the Day Street site was selected as the preferred option. Day Street was selected due to it's proximity to the Great Northern Railway and the fact that the mail trains were able to stop at the newly constructed East Maitland Railway Station and Parcel Office. To be able to deliver all the mail for the whole district, including West Maitland, from Day Street, must have been seen as the most logical and prudent choice by the Postmaster General at the time . This didn't pacify the local council, as reports from the East Maitland Council meetings regularly contained the dismay of the local councillors in the selection of the Day Street site (as reported in the Maitland Mercury newspaper). Also when the plans were  revealed comments such as;

 "There is nothing in the building which entitles it to much credit in the score of architectural beauty, to which indeed it makes no pretensions, not being in Sydney. A country town wants no ornament, of course" - Maitland Mercury 18th March 1875

Despite all the internal council wrangling, in 1876 the East Maitland Post Office was finally opened for business. Following James Barnet's well used formula for such buildings, of being a cement rendered brick construction in the favoured Victorian Italianate 2 storey style. However, it did miss out on the usual slate roof and instead was constructed with a corrugated iron roof. What is also so special about this wonderful building is that even today , it still retains the original horse stables, unique sandstone front veranda and hitching rails.

This building was another property that was destined to never celebrate its centenary with Australia Post as it ceased to operate as a Post Office on the 3rd August 1971 and then became a recreation and meeting room for the Maitland branch of the Australian Postal Institute. On the 12th May 1986 Australia Post notified that the building was to be sold off and a piece of Australia Post history once again fell into private hands.

Although the Day Street site is a wonderful building, it did have major drawbacks such as high maintenance costs and isolation, especially when the commercial centre had moved to the less flood prone area of Lawes Street, leaving the old Post Office hanging around like the proverbial wallflower at the school dance ... 

"Now listen,

Oh we're steppin' out.

I'm will turn around,

Gonna turn around once and we'll do the Eagle Rock".

So if you are ever in East Maitland, take the drive down Day St and give the old girl a tip of the hat. I'm sure she'll appreciate it. 

P.S. This year also celebrates 170 years of continuous postal operations in East Maitland, also quite a proud achievement for Australia Post. 
P.S.S. The former jewel in the crown of East Maitland now, as of 2010, has a new owner, The Spastic Centre. The building has been thoroughly renovated and tastefully redecorated, both inside and out, highlighting the uniqueness of James Barnett's architectural style.  
I'd like to thank the staff at Maitland Library for their help in providing the resources to compile this article and to the State Library of NSW for the use of their historical photographs.