Postal Hand Cart
A 2 wheeled iron hand cart with iron mesh surrounds that was used by employees of the Busselton Post Office to wheel the mail bags between the Railway Station and the Post Office.
When the first European settlers arrived in The Vasse in the 1830s their only means of communication with the outside world was via the Postal Service. Until a Post Office was established in Busselton the settlers were responsible for delivering and picking up their mail from passing ships and until the advent of rail, all mail delivery was dependent upon ships and horses.
John Herring was appointed Busselton’s first Post Master in 1842, operating from either the Resident Magistrates Office at Fairlawn or another building owned by Captain John Molloy, who was the magistrate for the region. When Herring’s cottage, on the corner of Queen and Adelaide Streets, was completed in 1844 it became known as Busselton’s first Post Office. When Herring retired in March 1862, a Mr Kerr became Post Master and operated from a residence rented from Captain Molloy for five months.
In August 1862 the Magistrate’s Clerk, Robert Fairbairn was appointed Post Master and operated from the Magistrates Retiring Room at the Courthouse until 1873 when the Post and Telegraph Office was built at the front of the Courthouse. This building still stands and acts as a café in the Art Geo Courthouse complex.
Mr AF Pries was the first Post Master at the current Post Office, which was built on the corner of Prince and Stanley Streets in 1898 on a site chosen for its proximity to the Railway Station, which was completed in 1897.
Details
Details
The postal employees would load outgoing bags onto a Hand Cart, like this one, push the cart across the road from the Post Office to the Railway Station where the mail bags were loaded onto the train. The incoming mail bags were unloaded from the train onto the cart and pushed back to the Post Office. If the train was late the Post Office employee would not wait but return to the Post Office leaving the loaded cart. The Post Office employee would return later and pickup the cart with the incoming mailbags which had been loaded by the Railway employees.
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Australia
Busselton Historical Society
Busselton Historical Society
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