The Telegraph Offices on the first line in New South Wales constructed to the south were selected because they were important staging centres on the main "Port Phillip Road" to Melbourne from Sydney. The stage coaches were constantly carrying general supplies, people and mail between these centres.
| Albury
In addition to Albury being an important station along the twice weekly stage-coach run linking Yass and Gundagai via Albury to Melbourne, Albury was also linked from 1860 to Deniliquin via Cowra.
The Albury Post Office opened on 1 April 1843. |
A View of Albury.
A collection of houses can just be see in the open
plain in the middle distance to the right of center.
Source: Illustrated Sydney News 18 February 1871.
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| The Albury Electric Telegraph office was opened on 29 October 1858 in the building where the Bank of New South Wales had carried on business (later the building was to become the court-house). Many newspapers including the Geelong Advertiser were however soon to report " a heavy thunderstorm from the southward struck on 24 January 1859. The lightning entered the telegraph office (at Albury), struck the corner of the relay, fusing the wire and slightly stunning the line inspector who was near. The report was like a pistol going off. The communication by telegraph was interrupted both ways from here. The floods washed away a quarter of a mile of posts on the Melbourne line, and damaged the Sydney side between Gundagai and Albury. No communication with Melbourne since Monday morning and Sydney Monday night, till this morning (Thursday)". |
Albury Post Office in 1863. The sign behind the tree at the top left is "POST & TELEGRAPH OFFICE".
Source NLA C4078 N20516.
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| A year later, newspapers were reporting stories such as:
"Complaints are made that the Albury Telegraph Office affords miserable accommodation both to the operators and the public. The Border Post says that so glaring has the inconvenience become that the municipal authorities have taken the matter up and a motion had been placed on the notice paper with the view of intimating to the Government the general unfitness of the building for the purposes to which it had been applied; and the public also were getting up a memorial on the same subject".
A new building was frequently sought. In the Legislative Assembly of 4 June 1860, the Secretary for Public Works was asked "does the Government intend calling for fresh tenders for a Telegraph Office at Albury or do they intend continuing conducting that branch of business in the wooden box at present called a Telegraph Office?".
The ceremony for laying the corner stone for a new office was held on 5 November 1860.
In August 1896, the Albury Banner reported that an investigation was underway to determine the advisability of combining the Post and Telegraph offices within the context of Civil Service reductions. The amalgamation took place on 2 June 1904. |
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The building shown in these two scans was built in the Victorian Classical style and was opened on 19 January 1880. |
Two types of date stamp were issued to Albury for use with telegraphs:
- a special steel circular date stamp with TELEGRAPHS ALBURY.
Used: 11 June 1941 to 17 April 1953.
Diameter: 29 mm.
Rated: R.
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11 June 1941. |
17 April 1953.
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- A rubber circular TELEGRAPHS replacement date stamp (RC1-T) was used soon after the steel version had been withdrawn.
Used: 31 August 1949.
Diameter: 31 mm.
Rated: RR.
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31 August 1959. |
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Telegraph Offices were also opened at:
- Albury Racecourse in 1934 although it only opened on days for race meetings. It was closed by 1964;
- Albury Railway in the first quarter of 1891. The date stamp has ALBURY RAIL and is known for 1964. The Office closed sometime after that year;
- Albury Sale Yards on 6 September 1900. The office was only open on sale days. It closed in 1912.
- Albury Showground in 1934 although it only opened during the annual show. It closed by 1964.
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| Campbelltown
The Campbelltown Telegraph Office opened on 10 May 1858. It merged with the Post office on 1 January 1870.
No special date stamp with TELEGRAPHS was ever issued.
The Campbelltown post office was opened on 1 March 1828. |
Campbelltown Post Office 1860. |
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| Goulburn
The Goulburn Telegraph Office was opened on 1 May 1858. In November 1858, the Government announced that "the intended site for the Electric Telegraph Office in Goulburn is between the Mechanic's Institute and the gaol and comprises half-an-acre of ground, with a frontage of sixty-six feet to Auburn Street".
It was not however until 24 January 1901 that the Post and Telegraph offices merged.
The Goulburn Post Office had opened on 1 February 1832. |
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On 25 August 1858 in the Legislative Assembly there was an exchange about the Goulburn Telegraph Office. Mr. Paterson asked the Hon. Secretary for Lands and Works "whether the Government is aware that the inhabitants of the country districts are subjected to great inconvenience of being unable to send any telegraphic messages from Goulburn after 6 p.m. and, if so, whether any new regulation on this point is in contemplation?"
Mr. Robertson in reply, stated that it was in accordance with regulations to shut the Goulburn Telegraph Office after 6 o'clock and that no new regulation in that respect was contemplated. He might add that the average receipts from Goulburn did not exceed £5 per week and that would not pay for the services of a night officer".
At a meeting about the erection of public buildings on 31 July 1878, a deputation was informed that plans had been prepared for a court-house, post office, telegraph office and a lock-up. The Post Office and Telegraph Office were to be built where the watch-house was located once it had been built in a new location. |
Three types of date stamps were issued to Goulburn for use with telegraph work:
- a steel circular TELEGRAPHS GOULBURN date stamp
(RC1-T).
Long date line:
Used: 3 July 1928 to 3 March 1939.
Hopson & Tobin report the TELEGRAPHS GOULBURN date stamp to have been used from 1926 to 1982.
Diameter: 29 mm.
Rated: RR.
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28 July 1932. |
10 October 1935.
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3 March 1939. |
A steel circular TELEGRAPHS GOULBURN date stamp (RC1-T).
Short date line.
Diameter: 29 mm.
Used: 10 April 1981.
Rated: RRR.
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10 April 1981.
Used on an official Australia Post envelope. |
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- a rubber date stamp with TELEGRAPH OFFICE/ GOULBURN N.S.W. (RC1-TO).
Used in red: 23 January 1950.
Diameter: 31 mm.
Rated: RRRR.
Number in the Census: 1.
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23 January 1950.
Used on AW-DO-10BB (48). |
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- a double ring rubber date stamp (RC2) with DISTRICT TELECOMMUNICATIONS/ BRANCH GOULBURN 2580.
Used: 13 August 1980.
Diameter: 42 mm.
Rated: RRRR.
Number in the Census: 1.
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13 August 1980.
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| Gundagai
Gundagai was an important place in the early Colonial days because of its strategic location on the "Port Phillip Road"
The Gundagai Telegraph Office opened on 28 August 1858. It merged with the Post Office on 1 January 1870. In late January 1872, the Police Barracks were moved to the former Byron Street Post & Telegraph Office which was in the process of having urgently needed renovations and painting.
No special date stamp indicating TELEGRAPHS was issued.
The Gundagai Post Office had opened on 1 April 1843. A newer building was opened in 1880 and it was later remodelled further. |
The building shown above was opened in 1880. It was later remodelled. |
| Picton.
The Post Office at Picton was opened on 1 September 1841 with a change of name from Stonequarry.
The Telegraph Office (maybe) opened in 1866 but it may have been in 1858-60. This office was closed in 1871. It reopened as a Receiving Office and within the Post and Telegraph Office on 2 January 1882. |
Picton Post & Telegraph Office about 1907. |
| No special date stamp for use with telegrams was issued to Picton. |
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Picton Railway Station.
A Telegraph Office opened on 14 September 1894. It closed on 30 September 1959. |
Two date stamps were used:
- a steel circular PICTON RLY STN type 2 (v) with time and NSW at the base (Hopson & Tobin).
Used to 1912.
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- a steel circular PICTON RAIL Type 3 (i) with date and NSW AUST at the base.
Used in violet: 31 December 1954 (only recorded date).
Diameter: 31 mm.
Rated: RRRR.
Number in the Census: 1.
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31 December 1954.
Used on a telegram form.
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| Yass
The Yass Telegraph Office opened on 25 August 1858. It merged with the Post Office on 17 October 1884.
No special date stamp indicating TELEGRAPHS was issued.
The Yass Post Office opened on 1 April 1835. It is one of the most historic post offices in NSW. It was from Yass that the first overland communications with Port Phillip were established. |
The Post Office building is on the right in the above photograph.
It
was opened in 1884. The clock tower and turret were added in 1888. |
On 14 October 1859, the Sydney Morning Herald carried the following Government Notice:
"Whereas it has been represented to the Government that on the night of the 8th Instant the Electric Telegraph Office at Yass was broken into by some person or persons unknown. Notice is hereby given, that a reward of £10 will be paid by the Government to any person who may, within six months from the present date, give such information as shall lead to the apprehension and conviction of the guilty parties". |