The Lost Post Offices of Australia - Cessnock (2325)

In the winter of 1891, quite a spirited debate broke out between the citizens of Cessnock and it was played out publicly in the local newsapaper, The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser, over whether Cessnock would be better served by the existing telegraph or by the new fangled invention .... the telephone.


The genesis of this debate focused on the then Postmistress, Mrs Margaret Gouldsbury and whether she could be trusted to handle the privacy of telephonic communication. When the telegraph arrived in Cessnock in August 1888, it was placed in the Court House, directly opposite the Post Office. This was quite common in the early days of the colony and was not unusual, even though it necessitated the employment of a skilled telegraph operator, Mr Joseph Lord (paid a salary of £75), to perform the task.Later that year, a Postmaster-General inspector recommended that the two offices be combined to alleviate the cost of running two separate offices. This idea was ignored until the Postmaster-General decided to upgrade Cessnock to the 'new' telephone system.


Then all hell broke loose!


The first shots of the debate were fired in June 1891 when Mr Francis Stewart, in Maitland District Court, sued  Margaret Gouldsbury and John Gouldsbury (official letter carrier and Margaret's husband) for alleged negligence in the delivery of a registered letter posted on the 24th January, it was not picked up by Mr Stewart till the 2nd February of that year. Plaintiff claimed £30 compensation (that would be around $24,000 in today's money!). As all mail was picked up from the Post Office at that time, the judge decided that the Post Office was under no obligation to inform Mr Stewart of the arrival of the letter and dismissed the case.

In July 1891 a public meeting was convened to insist to the NSW Government that Cessnock was entitled to have a new Post and Telegraph Office built, that the existing  telegraph be retained and the Postmaster-General employ the services of a suitably qualified civil servant to run the new venture. Although never publicly stated, but framed in innuendo, was that Mrs Gouldsbury should lose her position to a person, who was civil, courtesy and obliging (a pre-requisite for employment in the postal service at that time). This colonial soap opera was played out in the newspaper, between June till August as each side openly slandered the other.


On the 12th September 1891, following an investigation by Mr O'Connor, the Postmaster-General and several local MP's, it was decided that a telephone would indeed replace the telegraph equipment and that it would be placed in the existing Post Office. However, Mrs Gouldsbury stepped aside as Postmistress and her 17 year old niece, Miss Agnes Lappan, would assume the duties of the Postmistress (Agnes had already served as Assistant for many years previous). The Post Office building was still owned by the Gouldbury's.


The above story represents how passionate locals were about the Post Office and the important role that the Post Office played in Australia's early history.

The early history of postal services to Cessnock is in itself quite a colourful read as the town struggled to establish itself and become a thriving independent community. The towns big problem was that it was situated on The Great North Road , (then the only road to NSW's northern districts) between the two major inland towns of Wollombi and West Maitland. In September 1863, the residents asked that a Post Office be established, however due to the costs involved their request was denied (mail for Cessnock was dropped off at the local Inn by the passing mail service). Then in August 1864 another petition with 50 signatures was submitted to the Postmaster-General and in this instance they were successful, with local storekeeper Mr James Melville  being appointed Postmaster. An interesting fact is that for the next 43 years a relative of James Melville ran the Cessnock Post Office from the same site (now the site of the Holden dealership) and Miss Agnes Lappan, was quite possibly the youngest ever official Postmistress, quite a feat indeed!


Mail for Cessnock from Maitland arrived Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 2 pm. It then arrived from Wollombi on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1pm. All mail at this time was picked up from Mr Melvilles Post Office as there was no home or business mail deliveries.    


It wasn't till 1908, with a population of 5,000 and residents demanding better postal services, that Cessnock attained the prestigious status of an official Post Office. In addition to the Postmaster, there was also a permanent assistant and a messenger attached to the new office. Also by July 1908 a twice daily letter delivery service was in place (delivered by contractor). It appears that the Post office was still run from the original Gouldsbury site as the new Post Office wasn't yet completed. 

The Vincent Street building was eventually completed in 1909 (but not commencing operations until 1910) for a  total cost of £1,200 ($800,000) and was designed during the Walter Vernon  (NSW Government Architect) period and featured the favoured Federation Bungalow style of the time. Unfortunately the Vincent Street site went through numerous changes, including a couple of 'new' facades to keep the building looking modern and fresh, however those changes obliterated the wonderful Vernon design. Examples of Federation Bungalow Post Office style can still be found at Weston and Kurri Kurri.The Cessnock council was forever asking the PMG Department for new premises, including in 1964 when deputations from local MP's could only illicit a vague promise that something would be done in 10 -15 years! That promise only achieved another remodelling, with a $24,000 refit and according to the District Postal Manager, Mr K.Frost "  ... has been designed to suit the needs of the people in Cessnock for many years to come".      


The 3rd and current Post Office site is now located in Cessnock Marketplace shopping centre and is a pleasant, functional enough shop front with easy access for postal services, but it does lack the panache of of a Federation Bungalow style building . Also, when Australia Post moved from the Vincent Street site, they split the postal functions as well, with the sorting and delivery functions moved to a purpose built site in South Avenue.


So Cessnock has grown from one letter a week from Wollombi in 1863, to be the dominant postal provider in the area and will be for the foreseeable future..I suppose we are lucky that we are no longer sued for late mail deliveries!       

I'd like to thank the Newcastle Library Local History section and the online resources of the National Library of Australia for their assistance.

The Lost Post Offices of Australia - Lambton (2299)

It must have seemed like an exciting time for the residents of Lambton, when in 1950, the then Postmaster-General , Mr Anthony advised the Lambton community that they would soon have a brand new Post Office, with modern delivery facilities and amenities  to replace the aging existing building that was opened in 1884. To assist in the transition, the burgeoning mail sorting and deliveries would be handled from the front room of the Lambton Mechanics' and Miners' Institute in Elder St.


The new building never eventuated.


The deliveries and mail sorting were eventually transferred to the Broadmeadow Mail Centre , then  later to Hamilton Delivery Centre and now to Warabrook Delivery Facilty. The Post Office itself would eventually succumb to Australia Posts property rationalisation programme and in May 1996 this wonderful building was listed for sale. With the sale completed in 1997 the postal facility was downgraded to LPO status and now resides in the newsagency in Elder St.


However, the postal history of Lambton is still a rich one and can be traced back to the mid 1860's, even well before the establishment on the township in 1870! Actually the area is another Hunter town that came into existance on the back of a coal mining venture, this time initiated by the Scottish-Australian Mining Co., in 1862.


As with most of these towns, due to the influx of miners who settle close to the pits, they quickly flourish, and once you have residents, one of the first thing they demand is a reliable postal service to satisfy the needs of their community and Lambton was no different. On the 1st March1865 Lambton had their first Postmaster when Mr Daniel Jones was appointed, a position he held for six years. Mr Davies became the next Postmaster and ran the Post Office from his house in Grainger Street. It was during his tenure that the magic of the telegraph arrived in 1875, Lambton was certainly a town on the move!


In 1880 the first approaches were made to the NSW Postmaster-General to upgrade the Post Office to  official  status and erect a purpose built Post and Telegraph office to better serve the community. The deputation produced figures to show that over 48,000 mail articles had been posted and revenues were around £400. The Postmaster-General initially baulked at the idea, however by 1882 the NSW Colonial Government had committed to building a new Post Office  in Dickson St.

So on the 27th June 1884, the good citizens of Lambton were finally greeted with their new £1848 ($1.5 million) Post Office, which also incorporated the Telegraph Office and the Government Savings Bank. Once again the Post Office was constructed in the style of the day for country Post Offices, that being of Victorian Italianate 2 storey design, cement rendered over brick, with a front veranda and iron roofed, much in the style favoured by James Barnet, who was NSW Chief Architect at the time (it should be noted however, that Barnet was not listed as the architect on this project, which, for the period was intriguing!). Due to the slope of the land this building also had basement constructed from Pyrmont sandstone which bought up from Sydney. Another feature that was later added to the font veranda wall was the Lambton Post Office Roll of Honour in memory of those locals who had laid down their lives in World War 1 and was erected by Lambton Ladies Anzac Club in 1916.  


The current owners, Hann Insurance Brokers, have beautifully restored this wonderful building to its original late 19th century grandeur and is a credit to them and the Lambton community.


I think the Newcastle Morning Herald summed up my feelings about this beautiful building when on the 27th June 1884 they wrote " The building, as a whole, is one of the most handsome and substantial of its class in the Northern District, and, to all appearances, will stand for centuries." ..... Unfortunately not as part of Australia Posts' shrinking property portfolio.   
      

I like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of The Newcastle Family History Society Inc. (The Story of Lambton - a Suburb of Newcastle, NSW) and the Newcastle City Library in the research of this article.

Romancing The View

I was up in the Cessnock wineries the other week and so once again I armed myself with my 'go anywhere' camera, the Sanyo 1275s.


Because I have done quite a few photographic essays up in that beautiful region, including a pretty comprehensive look at the wine industry with my "Last of the Summer Wine" entry, I decided to use a Photoshop post production 'watercolour' effect and see if I could achieve a different take on this beautiful region. I have used this effect before, so I thought this would be a great way to get in some more practice and give the wineries a different perspective. If you are interested in using this effect it can be found for free at;


http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/watercolor-painting/

The above photo was taken from Robyn Drayton Wines carpark (Cnr of McDonalds and Pokolbin Mountain Roads, Pokolbin. Phone: 02 4998 7523) and looks back toward the Ivanhoe Wines Cellar Door. In this photo I deliberately went out to capture the advisory sign, the fence and the gum trees, which I thought would perfectly capture the rural scene.

The gum tree to the right was taken from Mt View Estate Winery (Mt View Road, Mt View. Phone: 02 4990 3307). I know this may sound a bit weird, but I have always found this tree intriguing and is representative of the Australian landscape. It has a wonderful look and texture to the bark, which stands out against the vivid colours of the vineyards behind. Unfortunately a lot of native vegetation was cleared by the early pioneers of the Pokolbin district and now due to the care on the current owners (& government legislation), we have more trees of this type in the vineyards. It gives the wineries a truly a wonderful iconic Australian vista.

This is a wonderful view back to Cessnock and Kurri Kurri from the Petersons Wine Cellar Door (552 Mount View Rd. Mount View. Phone: 02 4990 1704). I love this shot because of the clouds, which were threatening rain all day, but as often is the case in Australia, never delivered.

Ivanhoe Wines (Marrowbone Road, Pokolbin. Phone: 02 4998 7325) is such a special winery in the Hunter Valley, mainly due to its spectacular location, nestled on a hillside and surrounded by vineyards. I have never, in all my time up in the wineries, ever seen this winery in anything less than picture perfect condition. Is that a red Australia Post truck in the shot? 

Mt Pleasant Estate Wines (401 Marrowbone Road Pokolbin Phone: 02 4998 7505) is one of the oldest wineries in the Pokolbin area, with the first vines planted 1880. The Mt Pleasant Estate winery, at the foot of  the spectacular Brokenback Range, was established in 1921 and continues operations to this day


I'd like to thank all the wineries for providing the wonderful backdrop to the blog. If you are ever in the Hunter Valley wineries, make sure you pack your camera, marvel at the wonderful views and enjoy some of Australia's best wine. 

Things That Go Bump In The Night

I have covered a lot of the early history of Campbelltown (NSW) when researching the Post Office history for the Lost Post Offices of Australia series. However, surprising as this may seem, there is more to Campbelltown history than the former Post Office and the city is steeped in its own unique, some would say, ghostly, history!


While a ghost story is intriguing, what is more amazing is how many of Campbelltown's historic building are still in existence today, especially in and around the southern end of Queen St.


Commercial Banking Company of Sydney - 263 Queen St - built 1881
Campbelltown Town Hall - 297 Queen St - built 1862
(This building is also the former Temperance Hall, purchased by the council in 1884. It is also thought to be haunted by the ghost of Frederick Fisher).
Fire Station - next to Town Hall - built 1891 

Dredge's Cottage - 303 Queen St  - built early 1870's
Fieldhouse Store - 317 Queen St - built 1853 
Emily Cottage - Cnr Camden and Old Menagle Rd - built early 1840's 
Farriers Arms (Airds Cottage) - 320 Queen St - built early 1840's
Coaching House - 298 Queen St - built 1840's
Bursill's Shop (used as the Post Office in the 1850's) - 292 Queen St - built 1842
Railway Hotel (but nowhere near the railway?) - 288 Queen St - built 1840's 
McGuanne's House - 286 Queen St - built 1840's
St Peter's Anglican Church - Cordeaux St - built 1823
Campbelltown Railway Station - Platform 2 - built 1858
Campbelltown Court House - Queen St - built 1888


What makes Campbelltown stand out from other historical areas in Australia, would be not only be the age of the buildings, some dating as far back to the 1820's, but also the variations, from Churches, banks, hotels, shops, toll booths, Post Offices, Fire Stations, Town Hall, Railway Station and general residences, most are intact and still in use to this very day.


Of course no look at the rich vein of Campbelltown history would be complete without mentioning poor old Frederick Fisher. On the night of June 17, 1826, poor old Fred, after a night of drinking with George Worrall, disappeared and a legend was born. Now the ghost story goes that George Worrall claimed that old Fred had decided to head back to England to avoid a forgery charge and Frederick had sold him all his worldly belongings, just lucky for George. However when George tried to sell the property, it was noticed that the sale papers were forgeries On the strength of this information, Police arrested Worrall on the 17th September on the suspicion of Frederick Fishers murder. Here the story deviates, so going with myth, it is then reported that respectable local farmer John Farley whilst walking home from the pub in October of that year, observed the ghostly apparition of Frederick Fisher sitting on a bridge side rail pointing down the creek line to a paddock and then faded away. The body of Frederick was found on October 26, 1826, where the apparition had pointed and George Worrall was then charged with his murder, convicted and hung on the 5th February 1827.


Lets just leave the story there as I think it is more romantic and I think even Fred would be happy with that.


The stories from around the Campbelltown area are a wonderful insight into our colonial past and is well worth a visit. Just make sure you take your camera, for you never know who just might tap you on the shoulder and say .... boo!
  

I'd like to thank the staff and online resources of Campbelltown City Library and the Campbelltown Visitor Information Centre. 

Fairground Attraction

One of the big events in Newcastle (NSW) is the Annual Newcastle Regional Show, an event that each year keeps on growing and gives support to the local rural industries and farmers from around the region. Also, much to the dismay of the local Newcastle Chamber of Commerce, the Friday is gazetted as a public holiday for residents within the Newcastle LGA (this was originally done so schools could organise excursions to the show and show city kids where our produce comes from). 

The show has been icon on the local calendar since 1902 (although the first  Newcastle and District Agricultural Horticultural and Industrial Association was formed in 1899) and except during 1916 (WW1, used as a Military Camp), 1919 (influenza) and 1941 - 45 (WW2 Staging Area), the show has been delighting Novacastrians with all the colour and excitement that a regional show can bring.  

This year the Newcastle Regional Show was once again a tremendous place to spend a day and enjoy the unique atmosphere. In fact I actually spent two days at the show, one day with the grand - daughter and the next with my wife (so we could visit all the boring exhibits, lol). The weather was perfect, the grounds were immaculate and the place had a real vibe, a real sense of community, something you don't seem to find in the bigger capital city Agricultural Shows.

Once again, for convenience, I armed myself with the go anywhere Sanyo 1275S camera and tried to capture some of the colour and excitement. It wasn't a hard task. In the main ring there was jousting, stunt motor bikes, the V6 Hi-Lux Heroes stunt drivers, there was cattle judging, the strength of the woodchoppers on display, the excitement of Sideshow Alley (with the spruiking call of the carnies), in the Hall of Industries there were displays of handicraft, cakes, paintings, wrestling demonstration, model train displays and of course the ubiquitous showbag concession stands, with their overpriced, tacky, tooth decay inducing offerings, which of course I had to buy! 

You could, if you so desired, have a Chinese massage or even get your future told in an area I called Shonky Alley and  this year, there was something that I had never seen before, dancing dogs, believe me a tacky, surreal, experience not to be missed! 

I really do hope that the Newcastle Regional Show continues to operate in its current format and continues to provide an important link between our rural and city communities.

See you again in 2011

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.

    

Keeping The Tradition

It is not surprising that sometimes when you look at your job you think, 'this job really sucks!', without looking past the present. Now this isn't uncommon and I think we tend to look at what is happening in our own bit of the cosmos as a benchmark and never take the the time to really look back at times past.

I have been looking into my working past quite a fair bit during my research into the 'The Lost Post Offices of Australia' series and I'm finding that there is very little that is new in my work as an Australia Post driver. We still have to contend with vagaries of the weather, the mishaps on our journey, irate customers and dare I say it, ineffective management.


Now my research isn't just going back a couple of years, or even a couple of decades, but as far back as the 1830's! The stories reflect how tough it must have been in those pioneering times with roads impassable, the stoic coach horse dying from exhaustion and the mailman sleeping on the side of roads until the tracks dried out sufficiently, sometimes for up to sixteen days (as was the case in 1852) before they could complete their journey.


So once again I followed I track that I have travelled before, this time armed with my new take anywhere friend , the Sanyo S1275 camera and followed the back tracks from Branxton to Maitland, passing through sleepy Hunter Valley localities such as Windemere, Gosforth and Luskintyre. This time I looked at the landscape through the eyes of not someone who was driving a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van, but as someone who had to traverse the area on horseback.


It was a stunning vista, low early morning cloud, lush rolling fields and babbling brooks to visually take your breath away with each new turn of the corner. It wasn't until I came to a Hunter River crossing called Melville Ford, that the realities of how harsh this stunning area can be, for at Melville Ford there are the battered remains of two former bridges, each standing as a silent testament to how ferocious this river can be when in flood.      


Yes, I'll continue to whine about how tough work is, however I know that I won't be sitting at Melville Ford Bridge for 16 days watching my horse die from starvation.


Sort of brings our working life back into perspective.