General Post Office
The General Post Office (GPO) is housed in the building that is now the Fullerton Hotel between Martin Place, George and Pitt Streets, falling within the land of the Gadigal people. The hotel runs Heritage tours Tuesday to Saturday. We met at the Concierge desk and started our exploration of the building’s architecture and former life as the Sydney GPO with Sofi, our fabulous tour guide.
Taylor Swift is in town, the hotel has the makings of friendship bracelets and some of us have little people that will love them.
Pre Post Office
Postal services in Sydney commenced with a letter being given to the captain of a ship returning to England who was paid a shilling to receive and send a letter. When ships arrived, the shipmaster would shout the names of those who were receiving mail from England. With such a casual approach, people fraudulently pretended to be recipients of the letters. To collect and distribute the mail received from the ships in an orderly and controlled manner, a postal service was established in 1809. Isaac Nichols, a pardoned convict who had stolen a donkey, became the first Postmaster, operating from his home. Pre paid envelopes were introduced in 1838, an Australian invention.
Origins
Originally designed by James Barnett, the Colonial Architect from 1862 - 1890, construction of the building commenced in 1866 with the opening of the first stage in 1874. It has been described as ‘the finest example of the Victorian Italian Renaissance style in NSW’ and is one of the largest sandstone buildings in Sydney.
The enclosed Tank Stream, which served as Sydney’s water supply from 1788 to 1826, is below the building, no longer accessible to the public from the hotel tour. We wandered around the courtyard which is now an atrium with three buildings rising above, with our guide explaining the history. It was the tallest building in Sydney until 1939, surpassed by the AWA building.
LOOK UP! The George St façade
We exited into George St to admire the façade of the building. The columns and base which form the arcade were constructed of granite from the Moruya River, blue stone from Melbourne and sandstone from Pyrmont. A block of glass bricks on the ground allows light to the basement area of the GPO. The clock on the George St side originally had roman numerals. However, most people couldn’t read roman numerals.
LOOK UP! Martin Place
Thomas Wran (great grandfather of Neville Wran) was the main sculptor on this side, creating the 24 keystone heads on the Martin Place front. They represent a continent, country or state of the British Empire. He also created a coat of arms over the main entrance in Martin Place below the statue of Queen Victoria, sculptured by Giovanni Fontana in Sicilian marble. At her feet are two symbolic statues: the virginal maiden Australia, representing the Colony and holding a basket of fruit and native flowers. Passing Australia the garland of civilisation is Boadicea, in warrior’s helmet, representing the British Empire.
Above all of this stands the clock tower.
The clock tower
We were unable to see inside the crowning glory of the building, the 73 metre tall clock tower. Fears of an attack during World War II saw the clock tower dismantled piece by piece and stored at Maroubra Telephone Exchange. in 1942. It was restored in 1964. When the clock was retrieved from storage in 1964, an "Eternity” inscription by Arthur Stace was found written in chalk inside the bell. It was left there and is now one of only two original Eternity inscriptions.
The bells of the clock tower
The five bells of the GPO were installed in 1890 by Henry Daly, who maintained the clock for 40 years. They weigh 4.9 tons, the largest has a mouth diameter of 2 metres and sounds the note of A. The four quarter bells sound the notes E, A, B and C sharp. The bells each bear the Imperial Crown with a monogram ‘VR’ standing for Victoria Regina and the words ‘General Post Office, Sydney 1890’. A line of Tennyson’s poem In Memoriam is engraved on each, starting with the largest bell:
Ring out the false, ring in the true;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor;
Ring in redress to all mankind;
Ring out false pride in place and blood;
Ring in the common love of good.
LOOK UP! Pitt St side
Thomas Wran’s work continued in Pitt Street with another coat of arms and carved keystone heads of the Four Seasons.
Other carvings along the Pitt Street entrance, created by Italian sculptor Tomaso Sani, caused a public outcry when they were unveiled in 1883. They depict the daily life of workers in 1800s Sydney, the carvings include a “flirtatious” postman delivering a letter to a barmaid, an architect sketching a building, an astronomer pointing to Sydney on a globe and a miner happily counting his gold.
Compared to conventional symbols of the arts, sciences, agriculture and commerce and royalty, the themes were considered crass and vulgar, resulting in a parliamentary enquiry debating whether they should be removed (votes for retaining the sculptures were 54 to 5). Henry Parkes, the NSW Premier at the time, wrote in support of the carvings, stating: “They are creditable to the infant art of this country.” They have since been hailed as the beginning of art in Australia.
The first floor
We turned back inside the Pitt St end and see a staircase made of red cedar, featured in the movie The Matrix. Heading upstairs to the first floor via the main lifts, we passed over the glass walkway from the new to old part of the hotel. We caught a glimpse of conference rooms with stunning windows overlooking the atrium. The walls are lined with photographs depicting the GPO over many years. We saw the staircase leading up to the clock tower, the pendulum is contained within it.
The basement
Our final stop, we explored the basement area which used to be full of restaurants and bars until ‘something beginning with c’. It is in the process of being reopened with the date being undecided - it looks like a fair bit of work to go.
The restoration
The building operated as the headquarters of Australia Post from its completion until 1996 when it was privatised and refurbished.
The biggest redevelopment was undertaken by the Westin Hotel chain under the supervision of the architectural practice Clive Lucas Stapleton & partners from 1996 to 1999. They retained and refurnished key features of the interior, adding the contemporary design of the 31 storey hotel accommodation. There are 50 rooms in the Heritage Wing, all carved from the original 3 floors of the GPO. The GPO Clock Tower was also restored. The Fullerton Sydney took over from the Westin in 2019, after undertaking an extensive external cleaning of the sandstone façade, managed by fourth generation Rick Timperi of Stonemason & Artist. Toothbrushes, steam and water were used to remove the accumulated layers of dirt and pigeon droppings without altering the sandstone’s natural patina.
Lunch
A final thankyou to our wonderful guide then off to lunch. What a great day!
https://www.fullertonhotels.com/fullerton-hotel-sydney/around-you/heritage-tours-sydney
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Post_Office,_Sydney
https://www.harbourtrust.gov.au/discover-and-learn/harbour-history/historical-people/james-barnet/
https://www.spicenews.com.au/hotel-venue-news/the-westin-sydneys-bells-restored-to-former-glory/
https://www.homeanddecor.com.sg/design/fullerton-sydney-a-revamped-historical-landmark/