The Pilbara region of Western Australia extends from just south of Onslow north to Port Hedland/Cossack and then extends west through Fortescue, Marble Bar and Newman to the border with the Northern Territory. It is a major mining area and global biodiversity hotspot.
The following Telegraph Offices are included in this page:
Bamboo Creek | Condon | Cossack | Fortescue | Marble Bar |
Newman | Nullagine | Onslow | Port Hedland | Roebourne |
Talga | Tambourah | Warrawoona | Western Shaw |
The Port of Condon was established at the southern end of 80 mile Beach. By that time two homesteads were operating nearby:
The Port of Condon flourished from 1872 to the early 1900s when it was replaced by a bigger port at Port Hedland to service the Pilbara. The Condon Telegraph Office was opened on 9 April 1889 and it was closed in 1927. |
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A RO7-P&TO oval date stamp was issued to the Office. It is not recorded in Goulder.
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30 August 1898. Used on a pair of one penny carmine Swans (Crown over CA sideways watermark). |
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No special date stamp was issued to the Office for use with Telegraphs. Instead the usual postal date stamps would be used and these were in two formats:
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12 September 1908. |
29 July 1911. |
The Telegraph Office is listed as opening on 17 November 1885 at 8:00 am. It merged to become a Post & Telegraph Office in 1904. The first Telegraph Officer (Station Master) at Fortescue appears to have been Mr. J. J. Lawrence who had previously been at Eucla. He arrived at Bunbury on 17 October 1885 aboard the Franklin to spend time with friends before boarding the Otway to proceed north. On 10 September 1885, the vote for the Postal and Department was taken into consideration by the House and the following amendments were made after a discussion between the Colonial Secretary and the Postmaster-General: "... the salaries for the assistant telegraphist at the Fortescue £60 (a linesman was deemed to be unnecessary at Fortescue) and that of the native assistant £30 were struck out; the assistant telegraphist at the Ashburton was put down for £70 instead of £60". Various newspapers (e.g. Bunbury Southern Times 16 February 1895) reported that the general Fortescue area was struck with major rains in the first half of February 1895. Three telegraph poles and about 200 yards of wire washed away between Roebourne and Fortescue. The Perth Daily News (25 January 1895) reported that "heavy thunder storms occurred yesterday between Roebourne and Fortescue, and that at Lagrange Telegraph Station the lightening was so vivid the operator could not stop in the office last evening, having to keep his ground wire on". The building was designed to house the Meterological recording Office also. As a letter to the Editor of The Western Australian describes the building as being totally unsuitable for the Telegraph Station on the Fortescue River. In the Federal Election of March 1901, the Fortescue Telegraph Office was used as one of the Polling Places in the Swan Electorate. | |
Although no date stamp was issued to Fortescue with "Telegraph" etc, two steel circular date stamps are known used during the Telegraph Office period (1885-1904):
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28 January 1889. |
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18 November 1899. |
A rubber oval Post Office/Marble Bar date stamp (RO6-PO) was issued to the office for general use.
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12 November 1898. |
6 November 1899. Used on WC-DO-5A. |
Usual postal date stamp sometimes used on telegrams. |
Newman.
Newman is one of the main settlements in the Pilbara region. It was established by a BHP subsidiary in 1966. The privately owned Mount Newman Railway carried iron ore to Port Hedland. On 21 June 2001, a train 7.353 km (4.569 mi) long, comprising 682 ore cars and eight locomotives made the Newman—Port Hedland trip. It is listed as the world's longest ever train. The usual ore trains are over 2 km long. The Telegraph Office in Newman was a section of the Post Office which was opened on 1 February 1968. |
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A rubber oval TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamp (RO2-TO) was issued to Newman in the 1970s.
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27 September 1976. |
The Telegraph Office at Nullagine opened on 8 February 1897. It was "another isolated telegraph station. Nullagine was one of the golden camps of the early '90's and was described as having "gold all over the area".
Two date stamps are recorded as having been issued to Nullagine for use with telegraphs. |
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4 August 1897 (6 months after opening). |
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5 June 1899. |
10 September 1900. A second block is also known - see Abacus Auctions, April 2019, Lot 1513. |
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Incomplete strike. Possibly April 1899. |
Incomplete strike. |
Incomplete strike. |
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16 April 1901. |
A Post & Telegraph Office was opened in 26 October 1885 when Ashburton was renamed. A Post Office had been established at Ashburton on August 1884 and reclassified as a Post & Telegraph Office on 28 July 1885 after the telegraph line had been completed to that stage . The Office soon handled telegrams for places further north. The Daily Mail of 13 August 1885 "reminds our readers of the notice posted at the Telegraph Office to the effect that telegrams for Cossack and Roebourne, to be forwarded by horse-express from the Ashburton extension, will be received up till eight o'clock this (Thursday) evening". |
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Two formats of a rubber oval date stamp (RO6-TO) were issued to the Onslow Office.
Format 1: has large separation dots between upper and lower inscriptions below the level of the date.
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24 January 1898. Used on a post card to New Zealand. Has a very late used 15 bar '3' cancel. |
Format 2: has separation marks between the upper and lower inscriptions of two lines above the level of the date.
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1 August 190?. |
Port Hedland.
Port Hedland is one of the main settlements in the Pilbara region. The original Telegraph Office was opened as Boodarrie on 17 August 1892. The Gazette of 15 July 1892 noted Mr C. J. Efford had been appointed as a linesman at Boodarrie. In July 1897, it was proposed that the telegraph station at Boodarrie (located inland) be removed to Port Hedland. That office was moved to Causeway Bay on 9 November 1897 - possibly as a temporary measure. Tenders were also let for a new Post & Telegraph building at Port Hedland in July 1898. The combined office opened on 28 November 1898. The improvement was expected to be more convenient in view of the increasing importance of Port Hedland and the construction of a jetty at a cost of about £10,000. Port Hedland is now the base for FMG operations. |
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Port Hedland Post & Telegraph Office about 1940. |
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Four date stamps have been recorded as having been issued to Port Hedland for use with telegraphs. The first two issued had the rare TELEGRAPH STATION inscription.
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20 May 1899 (earliest recorded date). |
25 October 1899. |
2 December 1899. |
11 December 1899 (latest recorded date). |
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27 September 1904 - only known example. |
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Postal date stamps were also used for telegraphic purposes. The date stamp at the right might be considered to have been used to pay transmission charges although that use is almost certainly impossible for telegrams as the 1893 Post and Telegraph act allowed revenue stamps and postal stamps to be interchangeable only to an amount of 1/-. |
Port Hedland on 2/6 fiscal. 10 September 1900. Prestige Auctions, Sale 175, Lot 509. |
Tambourah is south of Port Hedland. It replaced Talga Talga. The Telegraph Office was opened on 6 December 1897. It was, according to official records, reclassified as a Post & Telegraph Office on 1 July 1901 and was closed on 31 December 1903. The date stamps here show that it was a Post & Telegraph Office by 6 September 1899. |
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A rubber oval date stamp (RO2 - P&TO):
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6 September 1899. |
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19 April 1900. |
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Incomplete date. |
Salgash is a long forgotten goldfield about 20 kilometres south south-east of Marble Bar. The general impression is that the initial gold discoveries made on and near the surface were incredibly rich, but they didn't extend at depth to any great extent. Salgash was also a town, although a writer in 1899 states it had two hotels, a bush telegraph office and little else, although one hundred men were working the surrounding goldfield at this time. In 1898, the inhabitants of Salgash insisted the town's name be changed to the indigenous Warrawoona. (mindat.org). Mining in the Salgash continues in 2022 through the exploration company Calidus. A Telegraph Office had opened at Salgash on 1 August 1898. It was renamed Warrawoona on 22 September 1898. On 10 August 1902, the office was downgraded to an Allowance Office. |
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A rubber oval date stamp was issued to the P&T Office for use with telegram matters.
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23 September 1899 - the only recorded example. |
Two separate strikes of the date stamp - but possibly the same 23 September 1899 date. |
The Pilbara Goldfield News of 1 October 1897 reported :
The Telegraph Office opened on 15 January 1898. It closed on 25 July 1898. |
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