By Heather Wade, 2024.
1895 to 1900. A Post and Telegraph Office was opened in a Millars’ building at Waigerup Mill (the original name for Yarloop).[1] Herbert Trigwell was the first Postmaster appointed in December 1895.[2] In 1953 Millars’ donated the building and Harvey Road Board moved it to the Yarloop Town Hall grounds in Station Street for use as a Library.[3]
The small white building in the middle of the photo, which had been Yarloop’s first Post Office, was moved near the Hall in 1953 to become the Library. Circa 1987 it was moved to the Workshops Complex to become the Library.
1900 to 1953. J Lake won the Public Works Department contract for a Post Office and residence in December 1899 on McDowell Street at the tendered price of £315 0s. 9d.[4] The building was ‘extended three times to accommodate the expanding postal and other businesses at Yarloop due to the rapid industrial and commercial growth of the town.’[5] However, by August 1949 the ‘Post Office was in a bad state of repair and was infested to such an extent that alterations and improvements, which were urgently needed were undesirable. The alternative was to erect a new building and residence on a separate site’ and Millars were agreeable to sell the land.[6]
With the opening of a new Post Office in 1953, the superseded Post Office became a private residence and survived the 2016 Bushfires.
Yarloop Post Office in use from 1900 to 1953, photo taken 7 January 1943.[7]
Additions and alterations to the Yarloop Postmaster’s quarters, 1939.[8]
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1953 to c1991 – A Post Office and Telephone Exchange was built on the corner of Johnston and Hospital Roads (later Barrington Knight Road) and opened in 1953.
Due to declining business, the Yarloop Post Office was downgraded and Australia Post sold that building in 1982 to Alec and Barbara May, to run as a Post Office with Mrs May nominated as the ‘unofficial Post Mistress’, however, Australian Post retained the residence. In 1986 Herbert and Renata Wansborough bought the building and Mrs Wansborough became the ‘unofficial Post Mistress’.[9]
Yarloop Post Office drawings, 1950.[10]
Yarloop Post Office and Telephone Exchange, photo taken 1963.
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Around 1991 the Post Office was closed by Australia Post and became a private residence. It was burnt down in the 2016 Bushfires.
c1991 to late 2008 – Robyn and Jim Butler who ran the Yarloop General Store at 23 Station Street (corner of Kendall and Station Streets) took over the Post Office duties at the store and had the post boxes installed there. Robyn had previously been a ‘non official Post Mistress’ in Panawonica, WA.[11] Subsequent store managers continued the practice until the store closed in 2008/9.[12] [See ‘Yarloop General Store’ on this website]
The Post Office was run from the General Store.
Late 2008 to 2013 – The Post Office and Lotterywest moved from the Yarloop General Store to the Workshops Complex and Ron Sackville ran it from there.[13]
The Post Office in the Workshops Complex.
2013 to 2022 – The next move for the Post Office was in 2013 back to Station Street, this time Number 37, which had been built for EG Green & Sons as a butcher’s shop.[14] The building survived the 2016 Bushfires and Ron Sackville continued to run the business there. He advertised it for sale in August 2020[15] and it sold in August 2022.[16]
Yarloop Post Office in 2020.
2022 to the present. The Post Office is currently run by Phil Garside at 31 Station Street at the Yarloop General Store and Cows Gate Café, previously the One Stop Shop. [See ‘The Tea Rooms and Hall that became the One Stop Shop’ on this website.]
Photo taken 2024.
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[1] Southern Times, 2 November 1895.
[2] Bunbury Herald, 7 December 1895, & Western Australia, Public Service Lists, 1871-1905 at Ancestry.com
[3] Harvey Murray Times, 18 September 1953.
[4] West Australian, 30 Dec 1899.
[5] Harvey Murray Times, 23 October 1953.
[6] Courtesy of National Archives of Australia, NAA: K1201, WA2479.
[7] Courtesy of National Archives of Australia, NAA: K1131, W733A.
[8] Courtesy of National Archives of Australia, NAA: K1201, WA2479.
[9] National Archives of Australia, NAA: K273, 1975/433, Yarloop – Australia Post Lot 2 corner Hospital and Johnston Street – post office and quarters – acquisition and disposal, 1949 – 1983.
[10] Courtesy of National Archives of Australia NAA: K1201, WA10143.
[11] Email from Jim Butler.
[12] ‘Brockovich launches Wagerup class action’, West Australian, 13 June 2009, p. 11.
[13] Yarloop Journal, ‘Yarloop Post Office to stay open’, Vol 6 Issue 9, (September 2008) p. 9.
[14] Hocking Heritage Studio, Shire of Harvey Municipal Heritage Inventory Review – 2014, Reviewed November 2025, p. 708.
[15] Harvey Waroona Reporter, 11 August 2020.
[16] https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-wa-yarloop-138006234