The Moonee Ponds Post Office

The new Moonee Ponds Post Office a few years after construction in 1906.  Courtesy of the State Library of Victoria. H89.105/158

In the 1916 Sands & McDougall Directory, Mrs Ethel May  Knowles ran the Confectionary and Tea Room next to the Post Office, and George Oswald Leighton Marrison was the chemist further west. These two business persons were residing in Puckle St next to the post office as early as 1909 in the Electoral Roll.

Marilyn Kenny has tracked down the incredible machinations behind the effort to get a suitable  post office for the district (ie, one that could accommodate more than two people at a time buying stamps).  Despite the will of the people to have the post office in Mount Alexander Road, which was then the main business thoroughfare, other business interests dragged out the proceedings.

Marilyn says

The matter of selecting a site for a Moonee Ponds Post and Telegraph office was in 1890 already an Ancient question having been on the agenda since 1882. However the issue still had another remarkable sixteen years to run, consuming the energy, interest and passion of the community. 

Read the whole story on the Time Travellers website.