Toodyay Post Office

Toodyay Post Office

Photograph of the post office from the north-east, showing the main entrance.

Toodyay Post Office
Former names Newcastle Post & Telegraph Office
General information
Address 115 Stirling Terrace
Town or city Toodyay
Country Australia
Coordinates 31°33′01″S 116°28′01″E / 31.5502°S 116.4669°E / -31.5502; 116.4669
Construction started May 1897[1]
Completed 1897
Renovated 1970
Design and construction
Architect George Temple-Poole
Main contractor Herbert Parker
References
Toodyay municipal inventory

The Toodyay Post Office and residence is located in Toodyay, Western Australia on the corner of Stirling Terrace and Duke Street North.

It was designed by colonial architect George Temple-Poole and was part of a scheme by the Public Works Department. Over 100 post offices were built to a standard design during the late 1890s; the Toodyay Post Office is one of the few remaining examples.[2][3]

Postal services began in Toodyay in 1842.[4][5][6]

Victory Day decorations at Toodyay Post Office, 1945

The telephone was connected in 1907, and by 1949 the Toodyay (telephone) Exchange serviced about 120 local connections. At this time the staff comprised three postal assistants and four telephonists. Nine mails were despatched weekly to Perth and ten were received via a taxi service ("Miss Toodyay" operating out of the Toodyay Garage) or by rail.[7]

Some weather measurements were taken at the post office in Toodyay in the 1940s.[8]

It was added to the State Heritage Register in 1995, with the listing noting that the building was "a fine example of both turn-of-the-century Public Works architecture and civic architecture of George Temple-Poole".[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Toodyay Notes.". Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954) (Perth, WA: National Library of Australia). 14 May 1897. p. 47. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  2. ↑ Living History. Shire of Toodyay.
  3. ↑ Toodyay Post Office decorated with palms during Victory Day Celebrations, 1900, retrieved 17 January 2014
  4. ↑ Heritage Council of Western Australia, Heritage Assessment, retrieved 28 February 2014
  5. ↑ Pope, B.; Bush, F.; Broomfield, W.; Kelsall, D. (1993), Historical and Architectural Assessment of Post Offices in Western Australia owned by Australia Post (for the National Trust of Australia, WA), p. 62
  6. ↑ Erickson, R. (1974), Old Toodyay and Newcastle, Shire of Toodyay, p. 355
  7. ↑ Thomas, Alf (1949). A History of Toodyay. Western Australia: Toodyay Road Board. p. 29.
  8. ↑ "FLOODED SWAN.". Kalgoorlie Miner (WA : 1895 - 1950) (WA: National Library of Australia). 26 June 1945. p. 1. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  9. ↑ "Register of Heritage Places - Toodyay Post Office and Residence". Retrieved 8 January 2014.

External links

Media related to Toodyay Post Office at Wikimedia Commons

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