York Post Office, on Avon Terrace in

York, Western Australia York is the oldest inland town in Western Australia, situated on the Avon River, east of Perth in the Wheatbelt, on Ballardong Nyoongar land,King, A and Parker, E: York, Western Australia's first inland town, Parker Print, 2003 p.3. and is ...

, is the oldest surviving two storey post and telegraph building in Western Australia, and forms part of the heritage-listed town centre complex with the Court House and Police Station (1895). The site has been continuously used as a post office since 1866. The York Post Office was built in response to the town's growing importance as a rural centre and as the town and railway centre closest to the goldfields in the Yilgarn during the initial period of the

Western Australian gold rush In the latter part of the nineteenth century, discoveries of gold at a number of locations in Western Australia caused large influxes of prospectors from overseas and interstate, and classic gold rushes. Significant finds included: * Halls C ...

. This

Federation Arts and Crafts Federation architecture is the architectural style in Australia that was prevalent from around 1890 to 1915. The name refers to the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901, when the British colonies of Australia collectively became the Commonw ...

style (or Federation Free Style) building was designed by Government Architect

George Temple-Poole George Thomas Temple-Poole (born George Thomas Temple, 29 May 1856 – 27 February 1934) was a British architect and public servant, primarily known for his work in Western Australia from 1885. As Superintendent of Public Works, and then Pri ...

as a post and telegraph office and residence for the post-master, and was constructed in 1893. The building is constructed of rough cut local stone and brick with a corrugated iron roof. The builders were Thorn, Bower, and Stewart. Locally quarried stones were carefully selected for each stage of the work and a horse powered

block and tackle A block and tackle or only tackle is a system of two or more pulleys with a rope or cable threaded between them, used to provide tension and lift heavy loads. The pulleys are assembled to form blocks and then blocks are paired so that one is ...

was used to raise them in a strong box to the upper level. The building replaced the first post office on the same site, a single storey Victorian Georgian style building with a shingle roof, constructed in 1866.Photos of York Post Office, Residency Museum, York, n.d.; & Edwards Store, 1870s, reproduced courtesy of Mrs. N. H. Ley in York-Beverley Express 25 July 1980, p. 6, in York Post Office - correspondence, newspaper articles, photographs c. 1975, photo (1979) of Harry Pride & Stan Drury with Harry’s oil painting of York Post Office, photo (1959) of York line depot, copies of early postmarks and postal officials at Beverley & York, 1931 business statement, Weekend Magazine June 27, 1970, York Exchange equipment layout plan (1950) NAA Series K1209, Barcode 1660630, 1927 – 1984. In the mid-1890s, the people of York successfully "petitioned the government to have a town clock placed prominently in the main street", and a

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a Roof pitch, pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the ...

clock was installed at the York Post Office. It is a turret timepiece manufactured by J. W. Benson, of London, in 1895 (the firm founded by

James William Benson James William Benson (12 April 1826 – 7 October 1878) was an English scientific instrument maker, gold/silversmith, and watchmaker. Early life James William Benson was born in Reading, Berkshire, England. He was the son of William Benson a ...

), and so inscribed. The clock at the York Post Office failed to be reliable in the late 1890s, and "a public meeting was called to complain that the clock never worked".Clack, A. M. and McColl, Jenni York Sketchbook, The York Society, 2003, p. 18. The weather vane from Solomon Cook's 1852 mill, which was situated on the corner of Avon Terrace and Macartney Street, where the (York Home) hardware store is now situated, was installed on the roof at the York Post Office in the early 1900s (without the cockerel). The addition of the exchange room, in 1922, is the only major change to the building.Conservation Management Plan The upstairs residence is now used as offices and also has an apartment for short term rental. Former office occupants include John Kinsella. The building is classified by the

National Trust of Australia The National Trust of Australia, officially the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT), is the Australian national peak body for community-based, non-government non-profit organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's Ind ...

, is permanently on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

(21 March 1978), on the Shire register (31 December 1995), and permanently on the

State Register of Heritage Places The State Register of Heritage Places is the heritage register of historic sites in Western Australia deemed significant at the state level by the Heritage Council of Western Australia. History In the 1970s, following its establishment of the N ...

(9 February 1996).

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

Arts and Crafts architecture in Australia

State Register of Heritage Places in the Shire of York