PART ONE

From the time of settlement, communication outside Illawarra was by mail forwarded by steamer to and from Sydney.

Mail delivered overland between Wollongong and Campbelltown commenced in the early 1830s and by 1834 George Brown of Dapto was one of those contracted to carry the mail by horseback.

The Public Works Department completed the overhead telegraph lines from Sydney to Wollongong by August 1862. A temporary telegraph station was set up in Market Street in a cottage belonging to the then Member of Parliament Robert Haworth, owner of the Queens Hotel next door. The cottage stood on the site now designated as Market Street Medical Centre's car park.

Richard Wills, the first Telegraph Master, received the first telegram from the Minister for Public Works in August 1862. By 1863, the government had purchased the adjoining block from Robert Haworth for a permanent telegraph station. The original plans show the block where the building is to be constructed and a proposal to open a lane (Queens Parade) between Market and Crown streets.

In June 1864, Mr Bloomfield was selected to build the new telegraph station. As soon as the building was completed and the telegraph apparatus moved in, the cottage next door was fitted out as a post office.

As a parliamentarian, Robert Haworth, owner of the Queens Hotel, must have been the influencing factor in the sale of a block of his land to establish a telegraph station. There were rumbles about the post office being relocated from Crown Street to Market Street. A letter dated September 1, 1864, from the Post Master General stated that he had no knowledge of the post office being moved from Crown Street and asked the Wollongong Postmaster for a report on the matter. In fact, the Illawarra Mercury of September 20, 1864, carried a lengthy article regarding the sale of the Market Street land to the government. It states "the Treasurer tells us that he relocated the post office to allay the dissatisfaction of Mr Haworth and afford that honourable gentleman some compensation". The occupants of that section of Market Street from Harbour Street in the 1860s were a cottage (Seaview Guest House), Queens Hotel, post office, telegraph station and west of Queens Parade, the home of stonemason Patrick Lahiff. On the opposite side of the street was Market Square, with the Illawarra Mercury building on the corner of Market Place, next door was the cabinetmaking and undertaking business of Neil McAra, then a small cottage.

In December 1869, John Brown tendered to construct additions on the western side of the telegraph station. Three additional rooms were added for the post office and by 1870 Richard Wills became the Post and Telegraph Master.

The sketch of Market Street by John Rider Roberts, surveyor, published in the Illustrated Sydney News in March 1866, shows additional buildings. The building on the right was occupied by Neil McAra in 1863. The four posts were located in front of the telegraph station with the telegraph posts and wires visible. In comparison is a photograph of the 1890s which shows a horse tethered to a post at front of the post office and the only buildings visible on the other side of the road are the same cottage and the old McAra building, which had been extended and by then was occupied by Duncan McRae.

To be continued next week.

Information courtesy of Carol Herben OAM.  Call 0409 832 854 or email sycado6@bigpond.net.au