3 minute read
Historical Society: Local History
Yankalilla Post Office – a centre of communication for almost 180 years
By Lorraine Day
When Yankalilla’s first postmaster Mr Boord was appointed in 1842, it was only five years after the first post office had been established in Adelaide. A fortnightly coach mail service operated between Adelaide and Yankalilla – at a cost of seven pence per letter. A telegraph station was set up at Yankalilla in 1862 but later transferred to Normanville until reestablished at Yankalilla five years later. Acting postmasters, often the storekeeper, served the community until the first post office was built.
There have been three post offices on the current site – the first, a stone building, built about 1870, was damaged by an earthquake (possibly 1897 or 1902) and had to be demolished. The second was built by George Roads in 1910, using stone from Symond’s quarries at Wattle Flat. One of the earliest postmasters was Mr Barclay. This was also when the first telephone exchange was established at Yankalilla. Initially, there was a single telephone line from Normanville to Yankalilla in 1906 and the following year a line was built between Yankalilla and Adelaide. The first three subscribers to the new telephone exchange in 1910 were Frederick W Clayton, Charles Forbes and Frederick M Graham.
At the official opening of the new post office on 18 December 1964, Dr Forbes said that there had been a considerable increase in business in the previous 20 years, with postal articles handled having risen by 100 per cent, and the number of telephone calls by 120 per cent, with trunk calls at least 200 per cent. In addition, there had also been increases in postal notes and money orders issued.
Dr Forbes paid tribute to Mr O’Sullivan and his predecessors ‘… who saw the need for these facilities and fought for them against the competing needs of other states. A tribute to the long-suffering public of this town and district who have borne inadequate facilities for many years, if not uncomplainingly, with great fortitude and understanding. I hope that today they will feel their patience has been worthwhile,’ Dr Forbes said.
‘Last, but not least, I would like to pay a tribute to the postmaster and his staff. A post office and telephone exchange is not only a place where service is provided for the public, it is also a place where men and women work. For many, many years, the staff of the Yankalilla Post Office have provided their services to the public here in Yankalilla in very bad working conditions … There are no less than 21 Postmaster-General’s Department officers in Yankalilla, which must make it one of the biggest if not THE biggest business in town.’
The licencees of the current Yankalilla Post Office – Natalie Laverick and David Fyfe – are continuing to maintain this reputation and, in 2019, were recognised for excellence in customer service at the Australia Post Licensee Awards, named best for South Australia and Western Australia, and earning second place nationally.
Yankalilla PO 1870, Misses Ahern. Henry Dunstall, Alford Gregory Royal Mail at Yankalilla PO. c.1870. 3070
Royal Mail at Yankalilla PO. c.1870. (3070)
Yankalilla PO c.1910 – SLSA B 30581 L-R: Joe Hunt and his father James Hunt; Percy May (postmaster); Sydney Hunt; Mildred Smith with Verco children Helen, Luke and Caroline; Doreen McArthur; Hannah Kieszling; Gwen Baxter, Jack Townsend and Ron Prideaux.
