MALDON:Opened 14th March 1854.
In 1848 William Morrison Hunter was granted the lease on the 61,000-odd acre 'Tarringowar' run, along with a couple of others, which took in Mt. Tarrangower. By the early 1850s he had relinquished the run to a Mr. Bryant; and it was on this run, in late 1853, that the discovery of gold by a German prospector named John Mechosk started a rush to the area.
(In August 1857 Mr. Mechosk was officially recognized as the discoverer of the 'Tarrangower' gold fields.)
A letter written to "The Argus", dated 22nd January 1854, estimated the population to be 'about 18,000', but stated that many of the hopefuls had found little gold. There was a general consensus that without water (at that time selling for 6d per bucket), '
nothing of consequence' would '
be obtained before the wet weather sets in'.
By the time that letter was published, a '
street of about 2 miles' had already appeared along the Tarrangower Creek (or 'Bryant's Creek', as it was then known); lined with blacksmiths, shoemakers, doctors, and the inevitable stores and 'refreshment tents' - or sly-grog shanties. Publicans from Castlemaine were on the ground selling their wares and taking future orders for '
spirits, ale, porter, &c., &c.'
The Police presence was situated at the north end of this 'street', and it was here, at the Commissioner's Camp, that the site was quickly chosen for a township to be known as Maldon.
The original site never developed as intended, and in March 1856 Thomas Adair, Assistant Surveyor, surveyed the
"Suburban Allotments, south of the Township of Maldon, on and adjoining Tarrangower Creek"; as late as 1860 when the "Quarter maps" were surveyed, bureaucracy stubbornly insisted the government camp reserve
was the township.
There is some indication that a private post office operated from early January 1854 in Maldon, and it is possible that it was run by James Giffard Pollard, who would become the first official postmaster.
Mr. Pollard met with Charles H. Watts, Inspector of Country Post Offices, in Castlemaine on the 14th March 1854, where he was approved as Maldon's postmaster. In a letter to the Chief Postmaster in Melbourne, dated ten days later on 24th March, Watts wrote
"Mr. James G. Pollard arrived here [Castlemaine]
en route from Maldon on the 14th instant, and ought to receive pay from that day, as though he only starts hence this morning, his delay here has been of necessity....I propose today proceeding to Tarrengower to install Mr. Pollard as Postmaster there."As was often the case in the early, hectic, days on a new gold field, the mails were carried by the police escort, until the beginning of May when William Burbridge became the first mail contractor. The tender had been called on 25th March, to be operational from 1st May to 31st December 1854, and while the service was originally only intended for the run between Castlemaine and Maldon (Tarrangower Diggings) twice a week, he ended up responsible for the conveyance of mails and papers between Castlemaine, Maldon, and also Maryborough, three days per week by the end of the year.
During the early months of 1854 the population of the area was extremely fluid. From the initial rush, many of the diggers moved on to other new finds as the word spread; by the end of April (when the official census was conducted) there were over 5,200 residents in the area, along with an estimated 1,632 'travellers' - this number also included about 600 Chinese who had walked from South Australia.
Mr. Pollard's post office tent did a good trade during 1854, but he was apparently a bit put out when he was offered only £75 to continue his duties into 1855. The local paper reported in late December that the Maldon Post Office would be discontinued from the end of 1854.
The town's chemist, Mr. R.G. Cooke, stepped up to the mark and was appointed as acting Postmaster for a few months, operating the post office from his chemist shop next to the Tarrangower Hotel; before the post office took a trip down the road to Mr. Frank Lewin's store.
In June 1857 John Wright, from Wright & Ross, was appointed Postmaster and operated from a small purpose-built room next to the store in Main Street. He continued to act as Postmaster until after the Telegraph Station had been built up the road and Arthur Danvers Ellis was installed as Telegraph Operator in August 1859.
Mr. Ellis was handed the postmaster duties in January 1860, along with the £200 salary, and the Telegraph Station had to be enlarged to accommodate the increased business. Within a few years he had a staff of two, Mr. F. St. Leger in the telegraph office, and James Lyon in the post office.
By the time Mr. Ellis was appointed Postmaster, Maldon had emerged as a major player in the Victorian goldfields; for a few years vying with Bendigo for supremacy as a gold producing region. The first hospital had been built; the "Tarrangower Times" newspaper was up and running; and, according to the 1861 census, the population stood at over 8,000 people - including 1,103 Chinese, all men.
The image below, taken from map No. 25 of the 'Quarter Maps', shows the position of the Maldon Post and Telegraph Office in the early 1860s.
The full series of these fascinating maps can be accessed from this link;
http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm2335
When Frederick Alfred Gerard Farrar took over the reins at the Maldon Post Office in the latter part of July 1865, the mail service had increased to six days per week. By the end of the year Savings Bank facilities had been added to the mix, and within a couple of years the amount of business being transacted over the counter was overwhelming the little office.
Thomas Reed was appointed Postmaster in 1868 and he started on a salary of £350 per annum. Plans were drawn up for a bigger official Post and Telegraph Office, which was completed in 1870, and it is this building, with the repairs and alterations that were undertaken in 1878, which still stands today. The following image comes from the 1901 official Post Office series;
George Emmett Groves succeeded Tom Reed as Maldon's Postmaster in 1875, and it was he who oversaw the alterations a couple of years later. By then he had the assistance of an office clerk, and two letter-carriers who delivered the telegrams and mail to the town's residents.
By the time Mary Richardson was appointed postmistress in 1880 the township had started to calm down. There was still gold to be won, and the mining companies still played a large part in the employment of the town, but the emphasis was shifting. As in many other areas, agricultural pursuits had begun to absorb the disappointed gold seekers.
Mary had come to Maldon after the death of her husband Walter the year before, when she was postmistress at Koroit. Mary's daughters, Ethel and Ada Lilian, were only 10 and 9 at the time, and the seven years the family spent in Maldon afforded Ethel food for at least two of her novels in later life when, under the pseudonym
'Henry Handel Richardson', she alluded to Maldon in both "
The Getting of Wisdom"; and, arguably, her most important work, "
The Fortunes of Richard Mahony".
While Mary Richardson was postmistress the railway came to Maldon, with the line opening for business on 16th June 1884. It had taken over 8 years of agitating on the part of the townsfolk before Parliament authorized the 10 mile branch line in 1881. The terrain was difficult, with extensive earthworks necessary; along with the high gradients and sharp curves.
The original service included two mixed (passengers and goods) trains, five days per week; and this was soon increased to three return trips each day. After an extension to Shelbourne was opened in 1891 the line remained viable, despite the declining population in the area and cut-backs to the service, until a bushfire in 1969 which caused the closure of the Shelbourne extension, due to the damage to several bridges.
Without the extension, it was only a matter of time before the Maldon line closed - which it did in December 1976. (Part of the line has now been restored.)
The Richardsons moved to Melbourne in 1887, and James Stephen Hughes was appointed postmaster in Mary's stead.
By the time Mr. Hughes became postmaster, Maldon was already in decline. The mining companies were moving out, one by one, as costs became too high. John Gavan Reilly took over from James Hughes in 1891, and lasted less than 2 years before handing the baton to John Edward Raven in late 1892.
John Raven rode out the storm which was the great economic collapse of the Victorian economy throughout the 1890s, and stayed until 1908 when Frank Duncan took on the job. Frank was in charge when a telephone exchange was set up in the Post Office.
After a couple more postmasters, Lucy Gibson was postmistress when the last gold mine closed in the late 1920s, and Maldon was left prey to the effects of the 'Great Depression'.
The Maldon Post Office continued to operate, serving a township which was almost in a state of suspended animation. In 1966, while Eric George was postmaster, Maldon became the National Trust's first declared "Notable Town" in Australia.
When the Maldon post office officially opened, James Pollard was handed the date stamp and Barred Oval 78, which has a RR rating.
Frank Lewin held the reins when the changeover to the Barred Numerals took place, and he was issued with No. 60.
Thomas Reed accepted the first duplex for Maldon toward the end of 1870, and John Raven received Maldon's second duplex about 1895. Below is an image of the numeral from the 2nd duplex;
Unsurprisingly, none of Maldon's issues of BN 60 are rated.
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even though it's now a suburb of Bendigo). The post office at White Hills had a fair amount of traffic going through it (it's B.N. is rated SS), so I don't think the date stamp would be all that uncommon. Having said that, what you have there is a beautifully clear datestamp, not to mention a great display of the transit route and time taken for this letter.
)
), I have now been given access to the files of a Victorian Postal historian - Mr. John Waghorn - who has generously offered to assist me with this little thread. 
)
I don't have an image.
) and they may no longer be accessible, so there is a lot of work to be done.
