Post Office

Cnr First St and Twelfth St, Farina, SA

The Farina Post Office and Telegraph Office was one of the early government buildings to be established at Farina after the release of the township allotments. It was still a time of name transition from being called Government Gums to its new name Farina.

On the 26th June 1878 the Government of South Australia made a call for tenders to construct the new building. The tendering process was swift and the successful tenderer were Messrs Roberts and Uttley. It is assumed that construction commenced swiftly, with allocation of Lot 393 being proclaimed by the government on the 18th September 1878 and the Post Office being declared officially open on the 28th September 1878.

Shortly after a further allocation of the neighbouring allotment, Lot 394 was proclaimed.

A definitive date for the commencement of Telegram Service from the Post Office hasn’t yet been determined, however it is believed that they commenced in the latter part of 1878 via a spur line from the main Adelaide to Darwin Telegraph, which ran about 2 miles to the west of Farina.

Over the years of operation, several changes were made to the Post Office buildings and site. It appears that a corrugated iron fence replaced the original wire fence around 1900. In 1915 a new building was constructed to provide stables and cart storage, and in 1921 and in the 1950’s changes to the building were undertaken. See the “Plans and Drawings” tab to download and view copies of the drawings and plans that have been discovered so far.

It is understood that the Post Office closed around 1960, as the Farina population had dwindled and it would have been uneconomical to continue to provide services.

The following list of Post Office staff is as yet incomplete, however further research will add it it.

Start Date	End Date	Name	Role	Notes
30/08/1913	08/07/1915	Frank Richard ARNOLD	Telegraph Messenger	Promoted to Postal Assistant at Mount Pleasant after Farina.
29/08/1914		Percival Edward MAY	Postal Assistant (in charge)
07/12/1914		Horace Frederick CORBETT	Postal Assistant (in charge)	Transferred from Petersberg to Farina. In late December it was documented that 10% of his pay was deducted for accommodation, as he lived at the Post Office.
15/09/1915		Charles Kean CHAPMAN	Telegraph Messenger
01/02/1916		Wilfred Franz ZACHOW	Postal Assistant (in charge)
19/07/1917		Harry Sibley RUMBALL	Postal Assistant (in charge)

The South Australian Government proclaimed the land (Lots 393 and 394) for the Post Office in 1878. In 1953 it was taken over by the Commonwealth of Australia and the title document for this land is available via this link: CT_2259_99

Proclamation of allocation of Land (Lot 393) for Farina Post Office 19th Sept 1878.

We have managed to find several plans and drawings of the Farina Post Office from the original building plans in 1878 to the latest additions and alterations in the 1950’s.

Some of the files are quite large and may take a little time to download, however we have left them as the original size so that detail can be examined by zooming in. Click on the plans below to view them.

Farina Post Office 1878 Design Drawing

Farina Post Office 1878 Roof Plan WC and Post Box

Farina Post Office Site Plan around 1900

Farina Post Office 1915 New Stables and Cart Shed

Farina Post Office 1921 Proposed addition plans

Farina Post Office 1952 Site Survey

Farina Post Office July 1956 Proposed additions plans and costings