The Story of the Post Office: Returned To How It Began

With the recent Australia Post Licence allocated to Carmody’s Newsagency under the management of Margaret Carmody after 163 years there are two coincidences. Firstly, the Post Office is now combined with an existing retail business and secondly, the location on near the Court House Hotel.

Burrowa was officially delegated to have a Post Office in 1856 managed by Pat Hurley in his Hotel Queen Arms in Campbell Street and later Michael O’Neill in 1865 became the full time Post Master in his Bazaar Store in Brial Street.

The Telegraph Office initially was a separate entity and it moved to Marsden Street on the western side of the town and the local Member James Watson M.L.A. with £1000 grant (the second coincidence that Carmody’s Newsagency is presently on land that was once public government land) wanted to established an independent Post Office building on land reserved for public buildings on land next to the Crown Inn (later known as the Court House Hotel) as petty court sessions were held at the Crown Inn.

But in the 1870s, the Telegraph Office and Australia Post were amalgamated thus coming under the PMG (the Post Master General). Thus the Telegraph Office was relocated to Marsden Street adjacent to the new Court House Building on the corner of Queen and Marsden Streets. Therefore, the Government said the new Post Office and Post Masters home was to be built next to the Telegraph Office and the M.L.A. local solicitor John Nagle Ryan laid the foundation stone in 1874.

However, the relocation of the Telegraph Office and new independent Post Office building did cause a lot of protests and petitions to the Government by the citizens living in the east side of the town. Ryan’s Creek known as “Dissension Creek” from the battles between the Catholics and the Anglican Church in the early history of the town, once again the east enders resented the move of the business and postal services to the west end of the town.

In 1876, the very first independent Post Office building housed the Post Master and family in the back rooms and the front room was the Post Office.

Again in 1893, new addictions were added to the original building thus housing the postal services and the Telegraph under the one roof.

However, both buildings were originally designed and located 50 paces from Marsden Street with the promise from the Government that in future years as the town grew with an increase in population a new building would be built on the vacant land filling up the space to the east and south of the existing building. These promises were made by future local Members in Parliament and in the local press up to the 1950s. But in 60 years of promises it never came to fruition and today the postal services are back in conjunction with private business under Margaret Carmody, thus after 165 years the postal services in Burrowa/Boorowa have gone a full circle.

In finishing, we congratulate Margaret having the initiative to save a very important service for the town, thus wishing Margaret good luck and the very best for the future. Bede F Ryan.

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