To spot the General Post Office, look for a massive stone building with bold columns and arched windows stretching across the western side of Forrest Place-the name "Commonwealth of Australia" runs grandly along the top.
Welcome to the mighty General Post Office-Perth’s answer to “how big can you build a mailbox?” Just look at that imposing Beaux-Arts facade, all layered with creamy Donnybrook sandstone and those mighty Ionic columns. When the doors first opened in 1923, this place was the biggest building in Perth and made quite a statement-nothing whispered here!-it absolutely declared, “Hey, this is the age of the Commonwealth.”
Long before these big stone and brick walls, Perth’s postal business was a bit haphazard. In the earliest colonial days, if you wanted mail, you probably would have had to tap the harbourmaster on the shoulder. Flash forward to 1835 and they gave postmasters an actual building on St Georges Terrace. By 1841, there was a Postmaster General, and soon after, phone and telegraph services buzzed their way in, making Perth a real hub for communication. But as the city grew, the crowded early post office just couldn’t keep up with all the letters, parcels, and new technology.
The adventure of building the palace you see before you is a saga all on its own. In 1911, the federal government secured this very land-which, at the time, was graced by a not-so-charming shopping arcade with a reputation for being “unhealthy.” Let’s just say it wasn’t quite the high-end mall you see today!
Architect Hillson Beasley, joined by John Smith Murdoch, drafted up a plan for five floors (and, later, even more), including a basement. They broke ground in 1914, but then-plot twist!-World War I erupted, and suddenly steel was hard to get, with embargoes and shortages slowing everything down. Supplies finally arrived from BHP in 1920, but not before a six-month engineer’s strike ground progress to a halt. Imagine the sound of hammers, drills, and a few grumbles of frustration echoing down Forrest Place!
Just when things looked back on track, plans changed again: two more storeys got added, topped with brick instead of stone. By the finish in 1923, no fewer than seven floors rose above Forrest Place-those upper floors for tax officials, telegraph operators, parliamentarians, and even a good old staff dining room for a hard-earned break. The postal hall was huge, stretching two storeys high and showered in natural light from giant panes of frosted glass. Inside was a world of fine jarrah wood, with an estimated 600,000 jarrah blocks used just for the stylish herringbone-pattern flooring. Even the pneumatic tubes zipping telegrams between floors must have looked futuristic back then.
Talk about solid-this landmark sits on over 1,500 deep piles, layered with 36-centimeter-thick concrete. It had four elevators for people and two for parcels, so you never had to lug mail up the stairs with your bare hands. When it officially opened in September 1923, Forrest Place itself was christened in style to honor Western Australia’s first Premier, John Forrest. Locals must have gaped at such an ornate stone monument-a jewel admired even by federal legislators who called it the most sumptuous government building rivalled only by the Commonwealth Bank in Sydney.
Over time, the GPO became the heart and soul of civic Perth, anchoring the Commonwealth precinct, while the square grew into the city’s main gathering spot. The Padbury Buildings across the way made way for a plaza, creating the lively square you stroll through now. Officially recognized as a heritage treasure in 1992, the General Post Office stands as a magnificent example of Edwardian architecture with a “Greek Renaissance” twist-a reminder that even our mail deserves a little drama and flair. These days, you might spot H&M where the postmasters once sorted mail. Times change, fashion arrives, but the grandeur of this iconic building keeps on standing tall.
So, whether you’re here for some shopping or searching for 100-year-old mail, take a moment to appreciate all the history, the hard work, and the quirky stories layered into this grand face of Forrest Place!
