Old Wollongong East Post Office

About

Old Wollongong East Post Office is a heritage-listed former post office, telegraph office and telephone exchange at 91 Crown Street, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by the NSW Colonial Architect's Office and built from 1890 to 1892 by Messrs Banks and Whitehouse. Prior to 1968, it was also known as Wollongong Post and Telegraph Office or Wollongong Post Office. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 24 January 2003.

The first official postal service in Australia was established in April 1809, when the Sydney merchant Isaac Nichols was appointed as the first Postmaster in the colony of NSW. Prior to this, mail delivery was neither secure nor reliable as it was distributed directly by the captain of the ship on which the mail arrived. In 1825 the colonial administration was empowered to establish a Postmaster General 's department, which had previously been administered from Britain.

In 1828, the first post offices outside Sydney were established, which included offices in Bathurst, Campbelltown, Parramatta, Liverpool, Newcastle, Penrith and Windsor. By 1839, there were forty post offices in the colony; more post offices opened as settlement spread.

During the 1860s, the advance of postal services was further increased as the railway network was established throughout NSW. In 1863, the Postmaster General, W. H. Christie, noted that accommodation facilities for postmasters in some post offices were quite limited, and stated that it was a matter of importance that "post masters should reside and sleep under the same roof as the office".

Electric communication came to NSW in 1858 when the first telegraph lines were opened in Sydney; lines connecting the Sydney GPO to the South Head Signal Station and to Liverpool. Further development in NSW was slow compared to other states, with the Government actively concentrating on the development of country offices before suburban offices.

In 1862, James Barnet was appointed Acting Colonial Architect. His appointment coincided with a considerable increase in funding to public works programs, many of which included the construction of new post and telegraph offices. Indeed, between 1865 and 1890, the Colonial Architect's Office was responsible for the construction and maintenance of 169 post and telegraph offices throughout NSW.

In 1870 the postal and telegraph departments were amalgamated, after which time new post and telegraph offices were constructed to include both services. The first significant telephone experiments in Australia were conducted in Sydney in January 1878, with three tests being carried out between La Perouse and Sydney. The Sydney Morning Herald of 14 January 1878 wrote: 'Our readers are probably aware that a discovery has been made in the art of telegraphy which when fully developed may lead to an entirely new and simple system of communication.' It wasn't until 1 November 1880, however, that what is claimed to be the first telephone service in NSW was established between the Exchange and the Government woolsheds at Darling Harbour.

On 11 October 1881, the first telephone exchange was opened in Sydney and, following the establishment of the switchboard, the Electric Telegraph Department took over the telephone system and relocated it to the GPO. From this point onwards, the growth of telephone lines expanded rapidly and, by March 1883, the exchange had become important enough to warrant a twenty-four hour service.

As with the telegraph, the telephone system soon began to extend into the country areas, with telephone exchanges appearing in NSW country towns from the late-1880s onwards. Again, the post office was responsible for the public telephone exchange, which further emphasised its place in the community as the provider of communications services.

The construction of new post offices continued throughout the 1890s Depression years of the late-nineteenth century under the leadership of Walter Liberty Vernon, who held office from 1890 to 1911. However, while twenty-seven post offices were built between 1892 and 1895, funding to the Government Architect's Office was cut from 1893 to 1895, which caused Vernon to postpone a number of projects.

Following Federation in 1901, the Commonwealth Government took over responsibility for post, telegraph and telephone offices. The Department of Home Affairs Works Division was made responsible for post office construction. In 1916, construction of post offices and telephone exchanges was transferred to the Department of Works & Railways, after which the Department of the Interior became responsible during World War II.

On 22 December 1975, the Postmaster General's Department was abolished and replaced by the Post and Telecommunications Department, resulting in the creation of Telecom Australia (later Telstra ) and Australia Post. In 1989, the Australian Postal Corporation Act established Australia Post as a self-funding entity, heralding a new direction in property management, including a move away from the larger more traditional buildings, towards smaller, shopfront-style post offices. With the advent of new digital technology requiring smaller spaces, Telstra (originally Telecom) also took a new direction in property management by withdrawing from larger telephone exchanges and former post offices, to smaller, more cost-efficient premises.

For much of its history, the post office has been responsible for a wide variety of community services including mail distribution, an agency for the Commonwealth Bank, electoral enrolments, and the provision of telegraph and telephone services. The town post office has served as a focal point for the community, most often built in a prominent position in the centre of town, close to other public buildings, creating a nucleus of civic buildings and community pride. Over the last 150 years, telecommunications has played a central role in developing lines of communication within Australia, has been important in eliminating Australia's isolation from the rest of the world, and has therefore played a major role in the development of the local, regional and national economies.

Wollongong's first government post office was constructed in c. 1864 in Market Street, formalising the postal service that had been operating in Wollongong since 1832 when the first postmaster began working in the town. Early offices were commonly operated out of the business premises of the postmaster, the post being a part-time occupation for most early country postmasters. The building was an extension of the then telegraph office. The telegraph had arrived in Wollongong in 1862 and an office had been built in Market Street on land purchased by the Government to accommodate the telegraph office. Following the amalgamation of the post and telegraph departments in 1870, it was decided to combine both facilities in the same building. So it was then, in the mid-1870s, that the telegraph building was extended to house the post office as well. In 1882 the Market Street office was effectively rebuilt, with the addition of a new facade and a second storey.

In December 1888, the local MP, Francis Woodward ( Illawarra ), suggested to the Postmaster General that the existing building be sold and a new office be built in a more central position. The Postal Inspector agreed to the proposal valuing the current building at £2,000 and estimated a cost of £3,300 for the purchase of a suitable site and the erection of a new office in Wollongong. The site chosen was adjacent to the Wollongong Town Hall in Crown Street, which was purchased for £900 in October 1889 after protracted negotiation with a reluctant Public Instruction Department as the vendor.

Tenders for the construction of the new office were called; the lowest, from Messrs Banks and Whitehouse, for £2,953, was accepted. The Colonial Architect James Barnet finalised plans in 1890 and work on the construction began soon after. The two-storey office building was completed on 28 October 1892 under the reign of Government Architect Walter Liberty Vernon. The ground floor area included a covered entrance vestibule leading to the postal office, money order office and telegraph office. Behind the main office area was the battery room. A dining room, kitchen, scullery and laundry occupied the right wing of the building. On the first floor was the main living area for the postmaster, with five bedrooms, a drawing room and bathroom.

One of the functions of the post office was timekeeping. Each day, a telegraph signal was sent from Sydney to the post office and a metal disc located on the roof over the centre of the front facade was lowered in response. The lowering of the disc was observed from Flagstaff Hill and the one o'clock cannon would be fired. The disc mechanism has since been removed and there is a flagstaff in its place.

In 1914, the left wing of the building was extended to make way for the inclusion of a new telephone exchange, which involved the relocation of the battery room. In the front of the building, the rooms were reconfigured with a new public area in the former money order office, and a mailroom replaced the telegraph office on the eastern side. In 1918, more work was done on the front portion of the office. The public entrance was moved forward eliminating the vestibule area. Inside, the general office space was rearranged to accommodate a longer counter parallel to the front of the office. One internal wall was removed to create a large general office area and public space. The mailroom was moved to the public area from the 1914 design. An awning was installed at the front of the building at the same time.

In c. 1940, an annexe was built adjoining the post office to house new public telephones. In 1968, a new building was erected in Upper Crown Street to serve as Wollongong's main post office; the study site was re-classified as Wollongong East Post Office.

In 1988, Australia Post spent $250,000 restoring the Wollongong East Post Office. The project included the removal of the 1918 awning, which was replaced by a smaller canopy over the front entrance. Internally, the counter was moved back to allow for more public space, while an extra 300 private mail boxes brought the total to 800 for the office. The Post Office continued to operate until October 2000, when it was closed as an office, and was replaced by a shopfront office within the IBM Arcade off the Mall.