Fingal Post Office
History
One of Tasmania's first 20 post offices (1832). The current building is from February 1890.
Our history
Fingal Post Office was one of Tasmania's first 20 post offices (1832). The current building, from February 1890, was built by J. Batten for £670. It's the oldest weatherboard post office in Tasmania still operating. It replaced the cramped old offices that locals in 1886 were calling 'the present cribs'. It was designed as a Post and Telegraph Office, with a home for the postmaster out the back. A real Fingal landmark!
It's on the Tasmanian Heritage Register (place 5894), so any work we do on the old place goes through Heritage Tasmania first.
Through the years
1832
One of the colony's first post offices
Fingal becomes one of the 20 original government post offices proclaimed across Van Diemen's Land, with Mr Wallace as our first postmaster. Back then, only Hobart, Launceston and George Town had postmasters before us. Like most country post offices of the day, it was run from the postmaster's own house.
Aug 1832
The mail run
Every Saturday a messenger carries the mail from Campbell Town to St Paul's Plains and on to Fingal, and is back by Tuesday.
1834 to 1836
New postmasters
By 1834 A. M'Intyre is our postmaster, and W. F. Proctor takes over in June 1836.
Nov 1836
A quiet spell
Proctor resigns, and Fingal "will cease to be a Post Office Station" at the end of the month. For a few years the valley goes without its own post office.
By 1843
Open again
The post office is back, with George Cuppaidge as postmaster, then W. P. Edwards from July 1843.
1846 to 1848
A busy few years
Postmasters come and go quickly: Thomas Jepson (acting, 1846), J. W. Campbell, H. R. Woolnough (1847) and Robert Evans (1848).
1883
Fingal wants a new post office
Locals start pushing for a proper post and telegraph office. By 1886 the old offices around here are being called "the present cribs"!
The money comes through
Parliament votes the funds for a post and telegraph office at Fingal, and a site is picked in the middle of town.
1889
The plans are drawn
The Public Works Department in Tasmania draws up plans for a combined Post and Telegraph Office in the centre of Fingal, with a home for the postmaster out the back.
June 1889
Wood, not stone
The first tenders all come in over budget, so it goes out to tender again as a wooden building. Some locals wanted stone, with plenty of good stone just out of town.
July 1889
The builder signs on
J. Batten wins the job with a tender of £670.
Feb 1890
The building is finished
The Minister of Lands looks over the finished building and agrees to hand it over for public use. It's the post office we work in today.
1913
Banking at the post office
The post office is also an agency for the Commonwealth Bank. There's a photo of it from late 1913 in the archives below.
Source: RBA Archives PN-014091
Sept 2025
How our family saved the post office
We took over as licensee in September 2025, with the whole valley behind us.
Mar 2026
Heritage approval
The Tasmanian Heritage Council approves our works: new PO Boxes, parcel lockers, and reopening the original doorways. The old telegraph booth is recorded and salvaged rather than thrown out.
Apr 2026
New boxes and lockers open
The new PO box wall and 48 parcel lockers open in the verandah.
Now
Growing every month
230 PO Boxes (150 leased) and 48 parcel lockers, as at Oct 2026.
From the archives
1889 drawings above: Original 1889 drawings, Public Works Department Tasmania. National Archives of Australia: P1715, 4105.