Bardoc.

A Post and Telegraph Office was opened at Bardoc on 10 July 1896. It was downgraded to an Admnistrative Office on 1 August 1908.

There is no record of a special date stamp for use with Telegraphs being allocated to this Office.

Bardoc is situated between Kalgoorlie and Menzies along the Goldfields Highway - abut 45 kms (30 miles) from Kalgoorlie. The town's name is Aboriginal in origin and is taken from a hill close to town. The word barduk means near or close in the local dialect.

Beverley.

A Post & Telegraph Office was opened on 6 December 1877. A Post Office had already been opened at Beverley on 1 May 1858.

The Office was issued with a rubber oval POST & TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamp (RO7-P&TO):

Used: ??

Size:

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 0.

On 10 July 1897, the Government Gazette listed amongst the reserves that had been set aside that included 7 acres in Black Flag for Police, Post and Telegraph, Warden's Office, public utility and the Weslean Church.

The Post & Telegraph Office was opened on 18 July 1896 - presumably encompassing the previously listed area.

The Office was closed on 4 April 1907 but re-opened on 1 July 1907 but then closed permanently on 24 February 1908.

The two largest mines in the area - Black Flag and Lady Bountiful - had closed in 1906-1907 and so the town closed down soon after.

Used: 29 August 1896.

Size: 30 × 49 mm (e = 0.79).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1

Bonnievale.

A Post & Telegraph Office was opened at Bonnievale on 23 December 1897. It was downgraded to an Allowance Office on 1 September 1909.

The Office was issued with a Post & Telegraph Office oval date stamp (RO6-P&TO):

Used in blue: 2 May 1899.

Size: 27 × 44 mm (e = 0.79).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1

Used in violet: 16 March 1907.

Size: 27 × 44 mm (e = 0.79).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1

Cover with the Bonnievale Oval - used 16 March 1907..

3d red-brown registration envelope )indicium on reverse flap used from Bonnievale to Malhausen, Germany. Has 1d and 4d adhesives added on the front. On the reverse side, there is an oval "Registered/Perth, WA" date stamp in blue.

The Telegraph Office was opened on 24 September 1894. The Post & Telegraph Office was then opened in 1902.

Boorabbin is about 65 miles (100 kms) north west of Coolgardie.

Used: 12 June 1906, 21 Dec 1912, 12 June 1914, 10 August 1914
and 27 Jan 1913.

Diameter: 30 mm.

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the census: 5.

12 June 1914.
Ace March 2021 Lot 1154.

The Post & Telegraph Office was opened on 12 April 1897.

1. a rubber oval POST & TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamp
   (RO6-P&TO).

Used in violet: 22 June 1904.

Size: 29 × 48 mm (e = 0.80).

Rating: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

2. a rubber oval POST & TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamp
   (RO7 - TO).
   Includes W.A.

Use: 18 January 1911 and 31 March 1914.

Size: 25 × 42 mm (e = 0.80).

Rated RRRR.

Number in the Census: 2.

3. a rubber oval TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamp (RO7-TO).
   Excludes WA.

Used: 31 August 1916.

Size:

Rated RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

4. RO2-TO:

Used 1944-47.

5. RO2-T with postcode.

Used: about 1976.

Broad Arrow was established as the Kurawa Receiving Office on 16 July 1896. The name was changed to Broad Arrow when the Post & Telegraph Office was established in 1898.

This office closed on 30 April 1971.

The office was issued with two types of rubber oval POST & TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamps.

1. RO2 - P&TO.

Used: 1901 to 1 November 1902

Size: 26 × 41 mm (e = 0.77).

Rated: RRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

2. RO4 - P&TO.

Used: 6 April 1918.

Size: 25 ×

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

A Post Office was opened on 1 January 1896 and it was upgraded to a Post & Telegraph Office on 10 July 1897. It was downgraded to an Allowance Office on 13 December 1904.

Bulla-Billing is about 30 km (20 miles) west of Coolgardie.

A rubber oval Post & Telegraph Office (RO7-P&TO) was issued to the Office for use with telegraphs:

Used: 23 May 1898 - Feb 1899.

Size: 21 × 44 mm (e = 0.88).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 3.

The Post & Telegraph Office opened on 1 February 1896. Bulong is east of Coolgardie.

The Office was apparently issued with two formats of rubber oval date stamps for telegraph matters:

Telegraph Office.

No information recorded.

Used in blue: 31 May 1899.

Size: 29 × 45 mm (e = 0.76).

Rating: RRRR.

Number in Census: 1.

Used in violet: 3 July 1899.

Size: 29 × 45 mm (e = 0.76).

Rating: RRRR.

Number in Census: 1.

The Post & Telegraph Office opened on 22 July 1894.

The original location of the Post Office - opened in September 1893 - is not known.

The position of Messenger at the Coolgardie Telegraph Office (held by Mr. E. C. Harper) was abolished and gazetted on 5 August 1926.

The first section of Coolgardie's Public Buildings, which included the Post & Telegraph Office, was completed on 3 May 1895 at a cost of £7,060.

There were mixed opinions of the design - the Coolgardie Miner of 31 March 1896 noting as follows:

"We have with amused interest watched the erection of the ghastly structure, and frequently speculated as to the purpose for which it was erected. Externally and internally, it is conceivably ugly, atrociously so, and reminds us of a very bad cross between a second-rate stable and an ancient West Australian gaol. It does not possess one solitary redeeming feature, and if it went off to Woolgangie through the exertions of a willy-willy, or suddenly disappeared into the earth, there would be tumultuous rejoicing".

The building was altered several times over the next few years.

The Coolgadie Telegraph Office was issued with four types of rubber oval office date stamp which were used on telegrams between the early 1900s and the 1940s:

• RO6 - TO used about 1906 (rated RRR);
• RO7 - P&TO used 1911-14 (rated RRR);
• RO7 - P&TO used 1916 (rated RRR);
• RO7 - P&TO used 1940 (rated RR);

Coolgardie Railway Station.

The Telegraph Office at the Coolgardie Railway station was also issued with an oval date stamp The Office opened in September 1895 and closed on 19 May 1896.

The Western Mail of 13 March 1896 reported:

"The new railway station is rapidly approaching completion, and has a striking appearance. The best endeavours have apparently been made to make the extension and station buildings as convenient as possible. One omission, however, from the station is a verandah, which will be much required during both winter and summer. Let us hope that the Works Department will cause this error to be rectified, and the very necessary addition made before the completion of the contract.

It is a great pity that the much desired extension could not have been carried out without so great a disfigurement to our main street. I allude to the huge banks of earth standing in the railway yard, obstructing the view and proving decidedly unsightly. From a first view, the station building presents a rather a pretty and inviting appearance, certainly much more so than the old shanty that does service as a station at the present time, and which I feel has been the cause of so much adverse criticism on the town, giving visitors at once a bad impression".

There are five recorded examples of the date stamp RO6 - P&TO - all used in early 1896 (rated RRRR) before the opening of the Railway Station.

Coolgardie Railway Post & Telegraph Office.
2 January 1896.

Prestige Philately August 2010 Lot 506.
ACE Auctions, July 2018 Lot 898.

Coolgardie Railway Post & Telegraph Office.
9 January 1896.

Previously considered that only this part strike existed.

Prestige Philately August 2011 Lot 535.

Prestige Philately December 2010 Lot 542.

Coonanalion or Coonalion.

In the Goldfields, a Receiving Office was opened on 1 January 1995 25 miles from Kalgoorlie - and hence became known as 25 Mile. It was intended that this Office would be renamed Coonalion but instead it was renamed Kunnanalling on 15 November 1895. For further discussion and history of 25 Mile, 25 Miles Mines.

A personal note written by Robin Goulder indicates that the Postmaster General's Annual Report for 1895 shows the spelling as Coonalion and that this spelling was also used in PMI. The 1896 Report shows the spelling as Kunanalling (late Coonalion).

A RO6-P&TO oval date stamp was issued to the Office - presumably in 1895. It is incomplete and has the spelling as COONANALLI(NG). Goulder observes that the spelling in this date stamp "is more consistent with KUNANALLING and was presumably ordered before the name change. Either way, this is the first postal marking for Coonalion/Coonanalion".

Used in violet: 1895 (?).

Size: ??

Rated: RRRRR.
PMI states "no marking known".

Number in the Census: 1.

Diorite King.

The mine is located about 30 kms north of Leonora. The town was later renamed Kurrajong.

The Post & Telegraph Office opened on 17 July 1897 - two days after the line had been completed. It was then closed on 31 May 1901 but reopened as a Receiving Office on 17 June 1907.

On 8 September 1897, the party who constructed the telegraph line to Lawlers (via Diorite King) passed through on their return to Coolgardie. Three hundred camels were expected through the following day on their return after taking loading to Lawlers. Snell Brothers of Menzies, had commenced the erection of a store - making the third in the town.

The office was issued with a rubber oval POST & TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamp (RO7-P&TO):

Used: in 1901.

Size:

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 0.

Dundas.

A Post & Telegraph Office was opened at Dundas (below Norseman) on 3 June 1896. Unfortunately the Office was destroyed by fire on 19 May 1895.

A straight line DUNDAS handstamp is recorded but the date stamp was presumably destroyed in the fire.

Fimiston is located just to the east of Boulder.

The Post & Telegraph Office opened in 1902.

1. has WA at base.

Size: 26 × 48 mm (e = 0.84).

Used: 15 (2) and 16 December 1905.

Rating: RRRR.

Number in Census: 3.

16 December 1905.

2. has WA at base.

Size:

Use: about 1931-33.

Rating: RRRR.

Goongarrie.

The Post & Telegraph Office opened on 26 November 1895 when 90 Mile changed name to Goongarrie.

It had originally been named 90 mile because of its distance from Coolgardie. Gold was discovered in May 1893 by a prospector named Frost.

1. with a RO6 - TO format and stars at both ends:

Used in violet: 5 March 1896 - 30 January 1897;

Size: 28 × 44 mm (e = 0.77).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 3.

2. with a RO2 - P&TO.
   Two digit year.
   Separation dots at both ends.

Used in red: 17 March (19)02.

Size: 27 × 45 mm (e = 0.80).

Rated: RRRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

The Telegraph Office opened between 1903 and 1915.

Gwalia is located just below Leonora (see article below).

Size: 25 × 42 mm (e = 0.80).
Rated: RRRR.

Only one recorded use.

The Post & Telegraph Office was established with the name of Kalgoorlie on 21 August 1894. Previously, a Post Office with the name of Hannans had been opened on 11 February 1894 but it changed name to Kalgoorlie on 18 June 1894.

In September 1895, tenders were called for the construction of a "wood and iron" Post & Telegraph Office at Kalgoorlie.

Hannan Street, Kalgoorlie showing the extensive use of telegraph wires.
The Post & Telegraph Office can be seen to the right of centre.

"These remarks bring the writer (in the WA Record of 18 July 1896) to the amazing rate at which Kalgoorlie for some time has been progressing. Seven or eight months ago the town was little better than a miserable collection of bag shanties. The warden's court and offices, the Post and Telegraph offices, the police quarters and many of the leading business establishments were of hessian.

Since then a wonderful metamorphosis has been effected and Hannans has now grown into a town which its inhabitants view with pardonable pride. The bag shanties have long since all disappeared, the presence of hessian in buildings being condemned by a by-law of the Municipal Council.

Many magnificent hotels have been erected, and a visitor may now be as well accommodated in Kalgoorlie as in almost any city in Australia. The business places would not discredit any goldfields town in the colonies and the Government buildings, though a considerable advance on the bag shanties, are perhaps the only institutions that have not kept pace with the town's progress.

The Post Office, for instance, when commenced was considered much too large for the business ever likely to be done in the town, but the number of letters, telegrams and money orders passing through the establishment at present exceeds that of any other office outside of the metropolis, with the result that the buildings are not nearly sufficiently commodious".

Four rubber oval date stamps appear to have been issued to the Kalgoorlie Telegraph Office:

1. A RO2 - P&TO.

Used in violet: September 1899.

Size: 26 × 41 mm (e = 0.77).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 2 (both doubled).

Double strike on a block of 6 1d red Swans.

2. A RO2 - TO.

Used in red: 29 June 1903.

Size: 26 × 54 mm (e = 0.88).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1 (only one example recorded).

3. A RO6 - P and TO.

Used in red: 4 September 1903.

Size: 29 × 49 mm (e = 0.81).

Rated: RRRR

Number in the Census 1: (only one recorded in red).

4. A RO6 - P&TO.

Used in blue: 18 January 1904.

Size: 29 × 49 mm (e = 0.81).

Rated: RRRR

Number in the Census 1: (only one recorded in blue).

Used on a Postal & Electric Telegraph Department receipt for telephone rental.
ACE Auctions, July 2018, Lot 934.

5. A RO4 - P&TO.
   Has separation dots at each end.

Used in violet: 3 October 1912.

Size: 24 × 46 mm (e = 0.85).

Rated: RRRR

Number in the Census 1:
(Not listed elsewhere).

6. A RO4 - P&TO.
   Has no separation decorations.

Used in violet: 30 June 1914.

Size: 25 × 42 mm (e = 0.80).

Rated: RRRR

Number in the Census 1:
(Not listed elsewhere).

A very rare date stamp is from North Kalgoorlie but with NORTH removed.

That Post Office had operated in Ward Street and then in Campbell but closed on 21 June 1920. The date stamp had been used from 6 June 1906.

The 28 mm date stamp is known only on two early telegrams (Rated RRRR).

Kalgoorlie with North removed.
11 May 1927.

Used on AE-DO-1Eb (printed on the scarce brown paper instead of green). Also used on AE-DO-1Ea but it is a very smudged example.

Kookynie is south-east of Leonora and east of Menzies. The name is believed to be an aboriginal word meaning 'water hole' or 'spring. It was established after gold had been discovered there in 1895. The town was gazetted in 1900.

By 1907, the town had 3,500 inhabitants and its facilities included 11 hotels and a brewery.

A Post & Telegraph Office was opened on 28 February 1901. Previously it had just been a Receiver of Mail Bags (RMB).

A rubber oval date stamp (RO2 - P&TO2) was issued to the Office:

Used in red: July 1902.

Size: ??

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

Kunanalling.

See Coonanalion

Lake View.

An Official Office was opened on 19 February 1904 when the office was transferred from Trafalgar which had been opened on 6 December 1902. The Office was transferred back to Trafalgar in 1909.

The Lake View and Star Mine is located about 6 kms from Kalgoorlie.

Used in mauve: 18 August 1904.

Size:

Rated: RRRR (especially given it operated for only 5 years).

Census: 1 (only recorded example).

18 August 1904.

ACE Auctions, July 2018.

Laverton.

The Post & Telegraph Office opened at Laverton on 13 August 1899.

The site was originally known as British Flag.

Two rubber oval date stamps were issued to the Telegraph Office at Laverton for use with telegraph business. They were used concurrently.

1. a rubber oval date stamp (RO2-TS).
   The inscription of TELEGRAPH STATION is rare - Port Hedland being the only other station to use this inscription.

Used in violet: June/July 1900.

Size: 25 × 49 mm (e = 0.86).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 3.

2. a rubber oval date stamp (RO2-P&TO).
   The inscription is Post & Telegraph Office.

Used: 26 September 1899 and 17 - 19 July 1900.

Size: 26 × 41 mm (e = 0.77).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in Census: 3.

Lawlers.

The Post & Telegraph Office was opened on 30 August 1897. A Post Office had been opened during the previous year on 16 August 1896.

Two rubber oval date stamps were issued to Lawlers for use with telegraphic business:

1. a rubber oval TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamp (RO2-TO):

Used: about 1898.

Size:

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 0.

2. a rubber oval POST & TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamp (RO2-P&TO):

Used: about 1912.

Size:

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 0.

The Telegraph Office opened at Mt. Leonora on 22 October 1897 together with the Post Office.

On 10 July 1908, the name changed to Leonora.

Leonora is about 237 kms north of Kalgoorlie.

On 7 April 1899, a deputation from the town waited on the Premier. They had three requests:

1. the appointment of a Telegraph Messenger;
2. the establishment of a public school;
3. the appointment of a Mining Registrar.

Leonora P&T in 1905.
Kalgoorlie Western Argus, 13 June 1905.

All had the inscription Post & Telegraph Office:

1. RO6 - P&TO.

Used in violet:
10 March to 18 October 1899.

Size: 27 × 44 mm (e = 0.79).

Rated RRRR.

Number in the Census: 4.

2. RO2 - P&TO.

Used in violet:
17 January 1903.

Size: 27 × 41 mm (e = 0.75).

Rating: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

Not recorded elsewhere.

3. RO7 - P&TO.
   Name changed to LEONORA.

Used in blue:
10 September 1900.

Size: 30 × 43 mm (e = 0.72).

Rating: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

4. RO7 - P&TO.
   Name changed to LEONORA.

Used in violet:
13 August 1901.

Size: 30 × 43 mm (e = 0.72).

Rating: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

5. RO7 - P&TO.
   Name changed to LEONORA.

Used in violet:
13 January 1914(?).

Size: .

Rating: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

The Mount Leonora area was very rich. Crushing had started at the Sons of Gwalia mine on 1 May 1896 and, by 9 September 1897, 2,l51 tons had yielded 3,456 oz of gold.

An interesting article appeared in The Evening Star (Boulder) on 3 September 1908:

For the Leonora electorate the nominations of Messrs. Semken, Gourlev, Carr and J. Jones were received. The nomination of Julian Stuart was invalid.

He telegraphed his nomination from Leonora shortly after 10 o'clock this morning which did not reach the returning officer at Malcolm at the closing hour of nominations.

The West Australian of 27 November 1908 reported:

THE LEONORA ELECTION. SUSPENDED OFFICIALS REINSTATED. Mr. Barwick, the postmaster and Mr. Toomey, telegraph operator, who have been under suspension for nearly two months in connection with an alleged delay in the transmission of Mr. Julian Stuart's nomination as a candidate for Parliament at the recent elections, have, after a thorough investigation, been reinstated. Both officers resumed duty to-day.

A Receiving Office was opened at Mt. Malcolm on 1 March 1897. Soon after, the Post & Telegraph Office was opened on 15 June 1897 - also as Mount Malcolm.

The Office was renamed Malcolm in 1904. It closed on 20 December 1950.

The Office was issued with a rubber oval TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamp (RO6-TO) inscribed Mt. Malcolm. Then, after the change of name, a new date stamp was issued inscribed Malcolm.

1. A rubber oval TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamp (RO6 - TO) inscribed Mt. Malcolm:

Used in blue: 13 July - 15 December 1897.
(only known used in 1897).

Size: 26 × 43 mm (e = 0.80).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 4.

 

Used in violet: 15 December 1897.

Size: 26 × 43 mm (e = 0.80).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

2. RO6 - TO - inscribed MALCOLM.

Used in violet: 15 December 1897.

Size: 25 × 42 mm (e = 80).

Rated: RRRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.
(not previously recorded)

10 July 1913.

Used on the reverse side of a registered OHMS envelope sent from Perth to Coolgardie and redirected to Murrin Murrin and then to the Dead Letter Office in Perth.

On 7 March 1896, the Kalgoorlie Miner reported that "Further results of crushings from the Little Wonder are to hand. The mine is situated about 15 miles from Doyles' Well, near Mount Malcolm. The first crushing of half a ton from the surface yielded 970 ounces of gold. A second crushing of 8cwt from the 70ft level gave 423 oz, and a third crushing from the 90ft level of 23cwt returned 1310 oz. The last crushing, which was from the 160 ft level, gave 250 oz from 48 cwt. Mount Malcolm is situated half-way between Ninety Mile and Lake Darlot or Lake Carey".

On 19 March 1897, the Daily News reported that "A public meeting, attended by 700 persons in and around Mt. Malcolm, was held in front of the Mt. Malcolm Hotel in Star Street on Monday evening the 15th March ... (amongst other matters, the meeting urged) that the Government erect and open a Post and Telegraph office forthwith and that a bi-weekly mail service be established at once to this township".

Menzies lies 92 miles north-west of Kalgoorlie and was the main town of the North Coolgardie goldfields. It was discovered in 1894 by Mr. I. R. Menzies. In the mid 1890s, Menzies was the terminus of the railway line.

In 1896, there was a population of about 2,000 people but it would soon cater to over 6,000 people living within 2 mile radius. The town had 10 hotels, four churches and three banks.

Tenders for the Post & Telegraph Office were called in October 1895. The telegraph line had reached Menzies by November 1896 and the Post & Telegraph office was nearing completion.

Unfortunately, in March 1896 Mr Jackson, an operator in the Menzies telegraph office, died from fever. He had arrived in Menzies on 29 January and developed fever in early March. Two other operators from the same office, Messrs Shaw and Thornton, had to be taken to the Coolgardie hospital suffering from the same disease.

By 1897, there were 5 main gold mines (Lady Shenton (producing 24,237 ozs of gold), Queensland Menzies (16, 138 ozs), Menzies Gold Reefs (7, 019 ozs), Menzies Consolidated (6, 119) and Florence (706 ozs).

Menzies Post & Telegraph Office about 1896.
Source: Souvenir of the Postal, Telegraph & Telephone Departments
of Western Australia, Christmas 1896.

On 11 August, 1896, an officer of the Telegraph Department arrived to install duplex instruments at the telegraph office.

1. a rubber oval POST & TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamp (RO6 - P&TO).
   A 2 mm dash at each end to separate the top & lower inscriptions.
   4 digit year.

Used in violet: 5 & 16 September 1904.

Size: 26 × 45 mm.

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 2.

Has two complete strikes of the Post & Telegraph Office oval date stamp (RO6 - P&TO).

2. a rubber oval TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamp (RO6 - TO)
   No separation marking at the ends between the top and bottom inscriptions.
   Two digit year.

Used: 19 July 0?.

Size: 27 × 45 mm (e = 0.80).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

3. a rubber oval TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamp (RO6 - TO).
   Has separation markings at either end between top and bottom inscriptions.
   Four digit year.

Used: 29 July 1904.

Size: 27 × 45 mm (e = 0.80).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

4. a rubber oval TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamp (RO7 - TO).
   Has separation stars at either end between the top and bottom inscriptions.
   Four digit year.
   
   The W.A. inscription has been removed.

Used: 1 July 1915.

Size: 24 × ?? mm (e = ??).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

Mount Margaret.

A RO6-TO date stamp was issued to the Office.

Used: 13 Ju__??

Size: ??

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

Mount Morgan.

Morgans (Mount Morgan) is east of Leonara on the way to Laverton.

A Post & Telegraph Office was opened at Mount Morgan on 10 August 1899.

It was renamed Morgans in 1909.

One format of a rubber oval date stamp (RO2-P&TO) was issued to Mount Morgan.

Used: November 1899.

Size: ??

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

Mulline and Mulwarrie

The telegraph line had been completed in of before March 1901 to both places and to Davyhurst. Mr. Scholl (the Postmaster-General) said the Department was in the process of renting premises at both the first two locations. He hoped they would both be open very shortly and so operators would be appointed by that time (The Menzies Miner 6 April 1901). The office at Davyhurst would be deferred pending the receipt of a report.

Murrin Murrin.

A Receiver of Mail Bags was opened in November 1897 and that was upgraded to the Murrin Murrin Post & Telegraph on 18 March 1898. It was downgraded to an Allowance Office on 23 October 1913.

Two types of rubber oval date stamps were issued to the Office for use with telegraphic matters:

1. RO7-P&TO.

Size: 30 × 49 mm (e = 0.79).

Used: 2 October 1899.

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

2. RO4-P&TO.

This format had been referenced in several sources but no example has been seen until this one.

Used in green: 12 July 1913.

Size: 25 × 42 mm (e = 0.80).

Rated: RRRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

12 July 1913.
Used on the reverse side of a registered OHMS envelope sent from Perth to Coolgardie and redirected to Murrin Murrin and then to the Dead Letter Office in Perth.

The Post & Telegraph Office opened on 13 July 1896 after a Receiving Office had opened in January 1896. After being downgraded to an Allowance Office in 1907 and a Receiving Office in 1912, the office was closed on 7 July 1913.

On 16 July 1896, the Coolgardie Miner had noted (at the time of opening of the lines) that "Another pressing need here is assistance for the local postmaster. A big mail comes in and it is the despatch office for four lines — altogether too much for one man. A decent post and telegraph office should also at once be erected, as a fair-sized mail bag and a small boy would just about crowd the present building".

The Office was issued with a rubber oval POST & TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamp (RO2-P&TO):

Used: about 1904.

Size:

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 0.

The Post & Telegraph Office was established on 7 May 1896 - about three months after the Post Office had been opened.

There was no date stamp designed expressly for telegrams.

Paddington.

A RMB was opened at Paddington in November 1896 and this was converted to a Post & Telegraph Office on 15 November 1897. The Office was closed on 30 November 1911.

The gold mine was located about half way between Kalgoorlie and Menzies.

A rubber oval POST & TELEGRAPH OFFICE date stamp (RO2-P&TO) was issued to the office:

Used: ??

Size:

Rated:

Number in the Census: 1.

Trafalgar.

A gold mine near Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie was named Lake View and soon became a small township. One of the main hotels in the town was the Trafalgar Hotel.

On 6 December 1902, an Administrative Office was opened in Trafalgar - it is not known whether that office was in the Hotel (but it is highly probable). On 19 February 1904, this office was renamed Lake View but in 1909, the name reverted to Trafalgar.

1 July (1914).
Provenance: Creaser.

The Oval is on an O.H.M.S Savings Bank envelope. The block of 1d Kangaroos affixed over the top of the oval date stamp were cancelled the day after the Trafalgar date stamp was applied.

Three 21 mm postal date stamps are known for Lake View but without known dates for usage.

A number of 21 mm date stamps are known for Trafalgar (between 1904 and 1906) - yes confusing.

A RO4-P&TO rubber oval date stamp is recorded as having been used:

Used: in 1914 (not 1915 as reported elsewhere);

Size: ??

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

2 July 1914.
Registered - Kalgoorlie.

Waverley was situated between Kalgoorlie and Leonora (about 75 km from Kalgoorlie). Gold was discovered in the area in late 1893 by two prospectors Billy Frost and Bob Bonner.

Initially the town was to be called Siberia but the local Progress Association wanted it to called Waverley after the name of a local mine.

A Post Office was established as Siberia on 1 April 1896. That Office was renamed Waverley in July 1899 after the town was gazetted as Waverley in 1898. The Telegraph Office was opened in 1901.

In 1911, the Postmaster was concerned about the duplication of town names and so the town was renamed Siberia in 1914 after the name of a local water supply. It is now a ghost town - the last resident having left in 1954.

A rubber oval Post & Telegraph Office date stamp (RO7-P&TO) was issued to the office:

Used: 30 April 1912.

Size: ? × 30 mm.

Rated: RRRR.

No. in the Census: 1

Widgemooltha.

The Telegraph Office opened on 18 October 1896.

Mr G. Ferguson was appointed as the first Post & Telegraph Master.

Widgemooltha is about 55 miles (80 kms) south of Coolgardie.

A rubber oval Post & Telegraph Office date stamp (RO2 - P&TO) was issued for use with telegraphs:

Used in purple: 6 January and 16 October ??

Size:Size: 29 × 45 mm (e = 0.76).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 2.

16 October ??
In purple.

Yerilla.

A Receiver of Mail Bags was opened in February 1896 and a Post & Telegraph Office was opened on 16 February 1897. That office was closed on 31 December 1899.

Yerilla is just east of Kalgoorlie.

The Office was issued with a Post & Telegraph rubber oval date stamp.

Used in purple: 8 September 1899.

Size:Size: 29 × 45 mm (e = 0.76).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

Yundamindera.

A Post & Telegraph Office was first opened at The Granites on 10 December 1900. During the visit of the Warden on 3 December 1900, it was agreed that the name The Granites was not sufficiently reassuring for a gold mining centre and so it should be changed. The Warden suggested that, if a local aboriginal name could be found, bearing a suitable English interpretation it would help the local nomenclature and prove acceptable in many other ways. After several suggestions, the name Yundamindera was selected and soon gazetted.

Hence the office was renamed Yundamindera from The Granites. The article in the North Coolgardie Herald of 13 December 1900 reported that "The Post and Telegraph Offices shall remain upon the site where they were started to be erected. The work has gone on rapidly since instructions to that effect were received and we expect to be able to do business in the building by the end of the current week".

On 13 June 1903, the Laverton & Beria Mercury reported that "Mr. C. Cooper, of the local Post and Telegraph Office, who recently spent a week or two in the Laverton Hospital suffering from pneumonia and who is at present recuperating his health at Mandurah, has received instructions to proceed to Yundamindera at the termination of his vacation to take charge of the Post and Telegraph Office at that place. His many friends in Laverton wish him every success".

The RO6-P&TO date stamp issued to the Office:

Used in blue: 1 May 1902 and 24 July 1902.

Size: ??

Rated: RRRRR.

Number in the Census: 2.

Opening hours for Telegraph Offices in the Goldfields.
(The Menzies Miner 14 September 1901).

"The idiosyncrasies of the Telegraph Department surpass the understanding. The anomalies which it allows to exist, and the extravagance for which it is responsible, are something wonderful to contemplate.

It might be reasonable to suppose that uniform hours would be observed in the telegraph offices of the State, but we have not to go beyond the towns of the northern districts for instances of the most senseless lack of uniformity.

At Malcolm, Leonora, Murrin, Kookynie and the Granites, the telegraph offices are open from 8 a.m. to 7 pm. daily, but from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm are the hours observed at Niagara, Laverton, Mt Morgans, Wiluna and Sir Samuel. To take two examples, why should the important towns of Morgans and Laverton have their offices open for two hours less daily than the much less important townships of Murrin and the Granites?

There is one all-sufficient reason. That reason is departmental stupidity. But if the department ordains that the office at Mt Morgans shall be open for short hours, it seeks to make some recompense by the most lavish extravagance in another direction. It requires that a score — nay two or three score — of messengers shall be employed to dance attendance upon the residents of the town and see that they get their messages at some time or other.

But the department is not extravagant with its own money. It is extravagant with the residents' money in requiring them to employ their own messengers or to devote much of their valuable time in going for their own messages. There are just as many telegraph messengers in Mt Morgans as there are persons who receive telegrams but the fact is that the department has not employed a messenger for the past couple of months and business people have to make a practice of calling frequently to ascertain if there are any wires for them.

One messenger, who was formerly employed, obtained a position on a mine at £2 10s per week and a notice was posted at the telegraph office invitiug applications for the position of messenger at a salary of £l per week. It goes without saying that no boy was anxious to work for this princely salary; and until a sufficient wage is offered, the people must continue to be their own messengers.

This is not the only complaint that is made. In addition to the hours being short through the late opening and early closing, the  telegraph office is practically closed from 10.30 to 11 a.m., and from 1.45 to 2.30 p.m. daily while mails are being sorted.

To sum up: the department shows a shameful disregard for the convenience of the people of Mt Morgans, who have submitted too long and too tamely to their shabby treatment".