PART TWO

After the additions to the telegraph station to include the post office were completed, Post and Telegraph Master Richard Wills was replaced by Philip Mackel.

By October 1879 the postmaster suggested an additional storey be added to the building to include a postmaster's residence.

In July 1880, Colonial Architect James Barnet forwarded to the Public Works Department a tracing showing a second storey as well as an ornamental finish to the front of the building. The tender of G. Billings, estimating the cost at £1375, was accepted.

For construction to go ahead, the Post and Telegraph service had to be relocated to another site. Part of the Royal Hotel on the corner of Crown and Corrimal streets was used as the temporary Post and Telegraph Office during construction.

In September 1882, the Mackel family took up residence upstairs although the post office was still being conducted in Crown Street. It was not until the end of 1882 that the building was fully operational.

The design of James Barnet changed the whole character of the building from a small colonial outpost to a modern building with an Italianate finish. In 1883, a perimeter fence was erected around the front and sides.

It would be only another 10 years before a new post office would be built in Crown Street.

After the old post office was vacated in 1892, the building became the offices for the Wollongong Harbour Trust. After the trust had been taken over by the government in 1895, there were many other tenants who occupied the building. Other users of the building were the Department of Public Works, with the manager residing upstairs during the construction of the breakwaters at Port Kembla Bay.

The Dole and Relief offices occupied the building during the Depression, followed by the Recruiting Office from 1939-45, the Electoral Office from 1946-47, the Motor Registry from 1947 and then the Department of Labour and Industry up until the 1960s. During World War II an air raid shelter was built at the rear of the premises.

Earlier this year I nominated the building for listing on the NSW State Heritage Register and presently the Heritage Council is considering the nomination.

Being an Illawarra Historical Society volunteer and working in the building, which is the Illawarra Museum, for some 17 years I became interested in its historical aspects. Last year I set about writing up the history on the Post and Telegraph Service in Wollongong and the numerous changes to the building. I considered that the building demonstrates the continued improvements in the post and telegraphic services as well as construction works by the Public Works Department in the then regional outposts of colonial NSW.

Since 1966 the building has been occupied by the Illawarra Historical Society and operated as a pioneer museum. It is the passive use of the building that has conserved its historical features, as there was no need to modernise or alter the original fabric of the building for that purpose. Original features are, for example, doors, cast iron fireplaces and schoolhouse light shades hanging on heavy chains from the ceiling along with pull chain cisterns in the toilets. I would suggest that not only the exhibits enhance the historical aspects of the building, but also the building's colonial influence on the collection.

In my opinion the old Post and Telegraph Office building is the most intact heritage building in the Wollongong local government area.

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