Commonwealth Electoral Registrar and Telegraph office, site of Parcel Post and Dead Letter Office, 315-321 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Total copies: 1
Title:
Commonwealth Electoral Registrar and Telegraph office, site of Parcel Post and Dead Letter Office, 315-321 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 105841
Level of description:
Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
Type of materials:
Graphic materialsTextual material
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Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
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UnrestrictedOpen access.
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UnrestrictedPlease contact City of Melbourne Libraries about obtaining permission to reproduce images.
General notes:
RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER 2022:__________________________________________________Period: InterwarDATE: 1925-6;ASSOCIATIONS: Australian Government;DESIGNER: John Smith Murdoch, Chief Architect, Commonwealth Public Works Department.GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites source 76, Page 7;.Lewis, Nigel 1976 Historic and Architectural Survey of the Central City of Melbourne Bourke Street, east, Area 8 of the survey commissioned by the Historic Buildings Preservation CouncilM22 L30NAME: Telegraph OfficeADDRESS: 315-321 Little Bourke StreetARCHITECTS: UnknownBUILDER: UnknownPROPRIETOR:FIRST OCCUPIER/USE: Telegraph OfficePREDOMINANT /USE: do.CURRENT O/USE: do.MAIN CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS:Brick/ConcreteHISTORICAL IMPORTANCE:A telegraph office has been operating on this site since 1885.RECOMMENDATIONS: This building is owned by the Commonwealth of Australia and therefore is not under the Historic Buildings Act. Considered not worthy of retention.WIKIPEDIA, THE FREE ENCYCLOPEDIA, 2021https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Smith_MurdochEmployed by the newly-formed Commonwealth Public Works Department in 1904, he rose to become chief architect, from 1919-1929.MAHLSTEDT FIRE INSURANCE PLAN SERIES STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIASection 1, Block 101910315 Parcel Post Office321 Dead Letter Office,masonry 3 storeys , windows to Post office Place on west2 and 4 level buildings at rear with an `engine house of electric light in post Office'c1910-1923 Shows `late dead letter offices being demolished. Buildings removed' 1910 profile demolished in other map1925 version shows 315-321 `Commonwealth offices' 6 floors reinforced concrete columns, floors, roof 2 lifts- larger plan.CITY OF MELBOURNE BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATIONSIndex- card 1980s works.NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935) Sat 4 Jan 1890 Page 29THE TOWN.`...Owing to the great extension that has taken place during the last few years in the business of the money order and savings bank branches of the General Post Office, it has been found necessary to make further provision for their accommodation. The Commissioner of Public Works on Thursday accepted the tender of J. H. C. Sutherland, at £18,759 5s., for the erection of a new building on a piece of land situated on the north side of Little Bourke-street, opposite the parcels post office. The plans, which were prepared under the direction of Mr. Peter Kerr, Government architect, show a structure having a frontage of 53 ft depth of 78 feet and a height of 100 feet, divided in six stories and a basement. The material used will be brick and cement, and the style of architecture similar in every respect to that adopted in the construction of the General Post Office. The whole of the business of the money order and savings bank branches will be transacted on the ground floor, the interior arrangements being designed to facilitate the transaction of business with the public.' The.Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954) Wed 4 Dec 1907 Page 6GENERAL POST OFFICE.`GENERAL POST OFFICE, transfer of money order branch proposed new parcels office. Not the least important of the effects of the great fire in Elizabeth-street, and of the destruction of a great quantity of telegraphic and telephonic stores/ is a decision on lie part' of the Postmaster General to reopen the whole question of the distribution of the central Victorian postal offices. As a temporary measure .an iron shed- in- Sturt street, South Melbourne, is being hired as a store … in order to re place the destroyed material..Larger and more permanent 'projects, : however, are to follow. - In .the first place it is likely that the scope of the new wing of-the General Post Office will be greatly extended, so as to take in the money order and dead letter offices and other work now transacted in the building in Little Bourke-street.In the next a scheme is to be prepared for the erection close to Spencer-street railway station or to the new central station in Flinders-street' of a large and thoroughly up to date parcels post office. Various eligible sites are to he inspected, -and it is expected that the Railway Commissioners may offer to let a portion of the central station buildings to the Postmaster-General. In any case the parcels post system of the Federal Government will be' brought into closer relationship with the railways system of the State Government, with a view to the more expeditious handling, sorting and distribution of goods sent by the public via the parcels post. ' Although the new Victorian central parcels office will be as close to the head quarters of the State's railway system as possible, it will still be necessary, in Mr. Manger's opinion, to have a parcels receiving office at the General Post Office. The public will be asked to hand in their parcels to the new central office near the railway station, as- far as possible, but it will nevertheless be obligatory on the' Government to retain some small receiving office at the General Post Office..'.1916https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/155074317NEW PARCELS POST OFFICE.OLD EVILS PERPETUATED.GROSS MISMANAGEMENT.The scandals which have been associated with the management of the old parcels post office in Little Bourke-street for many years are being perpetuated, oven less justifiably, in the new building in Spencer street. The stereotyped departmental excuse in reply to the complaints of the past ha been that the accommodation in the Little Bourke-street building was so restricted that there was not room for the necessary staff to work. That excuse can avail no longer; but it is, nevertheless, still the experience of the public to have to wait, standing up, for two or three hours before they can receive a parcel on which a nominal amount of duty is payable. During the past two days the number of people who have been waiting for parcels has barely been fewer than 50, and has frequently exceeded that number. The surroundings are certainly more sanitary than they were in the old building, but they are not a whit more comfortable. There is more floor space to stand on, but the seating accommodation is still hopelessly inadequate. What appears to be a re-upholstered seat from the old office and a cheap wooden form are the only seats provided. They would accommodate not a quarter of the number of people who are ordinarily there. Not that there is any real demand for seats. The desire of the public is merely for more expedition in handling the business, and if this can be secured physical discomforts will be tolerated One would have thought that the experience of the' department in regard to the Little Bourke-street office would have impressed the authorities with the impracticability of ''dead ends”. .Beyond enlarging the 'dead end,' however, they had effected no improvement.The people, three or four deep, still congregate against a short length of counter and- there is a continual jostling for priority of place, it ought not to be beyond the ingenuity of even postal officials to devise a system whereby the public could start at one point and finish at another, without the necessity of participating in a two-hour scramble with 40 or 50 other people.…the evils of the past are being repeated in the present demonstrates that it is not so much the lack of accommodation that has been at fault as the want of sensible, business-like methods of management.1924Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954)Sunday 22 June 1924 - Page 14Additions to the Melbourne Post Office are to be made by the erection of a building in Little Bourke-street at a cost of £72,983.1926https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/142160202ENROLMENT OF VOTERS.In spacious new premises in Little Bourke street, Melbourne, at the rear of the Elizabeth street postal hall, the Commonwealth electoral officer for Victoria (Mr. N. Irwin) and his officers are busy preparing the supplementary roll for the referendum on September 4..DIRECTORIES OF VICTORIA, MELBOURNE-SANDS AND KENNY, SANDS & MCDOUGALL1885P.O. & Telegraph Office1886 ditto.1887P.O. & Telegraph Office Store1888do.Stamp & Dead Letter OfficeParcel Post Office1890317-321Parcel Post OfficeStamp & Dead Letter OfficeP.O. & Telegraph Office1893317 Victorian parcels post office321 Chief Distributor of Stamps' officeDead letter officeRight-of-way1900315-317319-321Victorian Parcel Post OfficeChief Distributor of Stamps Office.1904315-321 Victorian parcels post office, also packetpost officeChief Distributor of Stamps' Office1910315-321 Vic parcels post office, also packet post offChief Distributor of Stamps' Office1915315-321 Victorian Chief Parcels Post-office andEnglish and Foreign Packets Office(1916 moved to corner of Bourke and Spencer St)1920, 1925Angelo la315-321 Post OfficeElizabeth st1930Angel Ln315-317 Commonwealth Electoral Registrar315-317 P.M.G. Mail Depot315-317 C'wealth Wks & Rlwys Depots315-317 War Service Homes Commission315-317 Repatriation Commission315-317 Telegraph Accounts Branch315-317 Manager of Telegraphs315-317 Telegraph Operating Room319-321 Post Office
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1252137
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 105841 | 1 JPEG : 493 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |