General Post Office

The history of this site predates the 1872 construction of the Brisbane GPO by John Petrie. During the convict settlement the Female Factory or women’s prison was situated here, deliberately isolated from the rest of the settlement to keep the women away from the unwanted attention of other male prisoners and officers.

With the old prison and one time police quarters demolished, colonial architect FDG Stanley came up with the Italianate design for the GPO and twin Telegraph Office. Although the GPO was completed in 1872, the central tower (a scaled down version of a more grandiose proposed clock tower) and Telegraph Office weren’t built until 1877-79.

Between 1873 and 1879 the Queensland Museum occupied the GPO before moving to the William St premises of the Old State Library. Meantime the Telegraph Office’s claim to fame was its introduction, in 1892, of the typewriter as a business tool. Three Ideal Hammond typewriters were purchased and made their debut at his office, the first in Australia to use them with other colonies fast following suit.

Of further note are the clock which has been incorporated into the pediment at the top of the buildings and the ornamental crown in the balustrading of the first floor.

Also of interest is the origin of Edison Lane, originally Post Office Lane, which runs from the rear of the post office building to Creek St. It was in this lane that Barton and White, electrical engineers who were the pioneers of electricity in Brisbane, had their premises, Brisbane’s first ‘power station’ (c1887). Subsequently the GPO was one of the first buildings in Brisbane, along with the Gresham Hotel to become electricity customers. Earlier, Parliament House and the Government Printing Offices had been the focus of trials for the Edison electric light tubes sourced from the US’s creator of new-fangled electricity Thomas Edison. In recognition of the roaring success of electricity, the lane was renamed in 1895.