Leederville Post Office given interim heritage listing

20/6/95

The historic Leederville Post Office which is still being used for its original purpose nearly 100 years after being built has been recognised by the State Government.

Heritage Minister Richard Lewis has directed the Heritage Council of Western Australia to enter the building on the State Register of Heritage Places on an interim basis.

Built in 1897 at the busy intersection of Oxford and Vincent Streets, the Leederville Post Office is a rare example of an inner city suburban post office.

Mr Lewis said the post office was built as a direct result of the gold boom in the late 1890s.

"Western Australia's population grew enormously in the late 1890s as a result of the gold boom in the Kimberley and then in Kalgoorlie," the Minister said.

"With this increased population, there was rapid urbanisation of Perth and the construction of thousands of residential dwellings.

"The Leederville Post Office was one of four post offices built in the late 1890s to service Perth's rapidly expanding residential areas north of the railway line.

"It is the only one of the four still operating as a post office."

Of the four post offices built in the late 1890s, one on Newcastle Street was demolished and those in Brisbane and Aberdeen Streets have been adapted for other purposes.

The Brisbane Street building was listed on the State Register in September 1994.

The Minister said the post office contributed greatly to the Leederville community's sense of history and place as one of its earliest public buildings.

"The post office was built just a year after the gazettal of the suburb of Leederville," Mr Lewis said.

"In the following 15 years, Leederville's population more than doubled to nearly 5,500."

Mr Lewis said the Leederville Post Office was a fine example of Federation Arts and Crafts public architecture.

A single storey brick building with terracotta tile roof, it remains in good condition.

The Minister said an interesting footnote for local historians was that a time capsule had been stored in the Post Office when the foundation stone was laid on May 3, 1897.

A leaden box was sealed and deposited in a cavity of the foundation stone.

It contained plans for the City of Perth and Municipalities of Fremantle and Leederville; a list of names of the mayor and councillors of Leederville and the officers of the municipality; a set of current postage stamps and post cards; working drawings of the building; the blue book for 1895; Government Gazette of April 30, 1897; copies of leading newspapers and journals of the colony and a copy of the Western Australian Year Book with a list of members of both Houses of Parliament.

Media contact: Bronwyn Hillman 222 9595, 221 1377