The Shuter Estate, Moonee Ponds

Shuter St in the MMBW plan of 1905, from the State Library of Victoria Collection.

A previous article, That Ancient Question, the Moonee Ponds Post Office, 1854-1906, explored in some detail the long and sorry story of the relocation of the Moonee Ponds Post office from Mt Alexander Rd to the corner of Puckle and Shuter Streets. Council and community expected, wanted and needed the Post Office to continue in business in Mt Alexander Road or very near the Moonee Ponds Junction. Puckle St was just being developed in the late 1880s and the main business centre was Mt Alexander Road. In late 1889 it was learned that, despite several years of lobbying, the Post Master General’s Department had purchased land in Puckle St. How was it that the Puckle St site became available at all and who were some of the other players involved? This article offers some insights into the Land dealings during this Boom and Bust period which shaped the district.  See The Shuter Estate.

Boy on a Bike

This is Bob Kent, a telegram boy in Queenscliff in 1923.  We do not as yet have a photo of a telegram boy from the local area - yet. Courtesy of the State Library of Victoria Collection.

Marilyn Kenny has spun us a wonderful new story, called A Boy on a Bike, about telegram boys and postmistresses in Ascot Vale, Moonee Ponds and Essendon.  In this story you will learn about the Essendon Postmistress who rode to work sidesaddle on a Shetland pony; a telegram boy who was highly commended by a customer for delivering a telegram (on foot) within two and a half hours of receiving it at the Essendon Post Office; and ponder the identity of the mysterious Miss Young, postmistress at the Moonee Ponds Post Office.

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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.