Point of Interest # 16

GLEN FORREST POST OFFICE - 50 McGLEW ROAD.

Researched and written by Mary Richmond, Lyn Myles & Rob Borsje.

Smith's Mill (after 1915, 'Glen Forrest') was different from a lot of the other localities in the Shire in that it had a purpose-built Post Office building, opened on 1st March, 1901, whereas other towns, such as Stoneville, Parkerville and Mount Helena, had their post office facilities at their general stores for many years.
Once a railway went through (both the Smith's Mill line - Bellevue to Chidlow via Smith's Mill - and the Mahogany Creek deviation - Swan View - Chidlow via Parkerville), the Station-master usually fulfilled the role of the Postmaster, and this certainly applied at Smith's Mill.
However the residents of Smith's Mill took exception to the long mail delivery time and began agitating for a post office from 1899.
In a letter to the 'West Australian' editor of 21st Nov., 1899, Mr J. Hawter writes: ". . . As to the alleged attack on the official, [the Station-master] that presumably refers to the very necessary statements made by the deputation to the Minister regarding loss and delay of letters. This was illustrated by the statement that, when the officer obtained leave of absence from the Railway Department, he entrusted the postal affairs to a man entirely ignorant of their working, without informing the Postal Department, with the result that some dozen letters were missing for about three weeks and were eventually found bundled up in a paper parcel somewhere in the office. The recommendation of the Postal Commission quoted states that "wherever practicable in unimportant districts " the offices of station master and postmaster should be combined. Smith's Mill is certainly not a case in point, the amount of railway traffic here, being one of the heaviest on the Eastern Railway, (one member of the deputation alone, consigned over 50,000 tons during the last three years), and the stationmaster has been continually complaining of being overworked. . ."

By 9th September, 1900 the tender of J.H. Brown for building the Post Office for £344 12s 2d was reported in the 'West Australian' and by 1901 the building was completed.
Even then, there was agitation to revert the post office back to the station-master as reported in the 'Swan Express' of 24th Nov., 1906: ". . . The agitation for the retention of the post office here, in its present position and condition, has been continued. A deputation of residents waited upon the member for Swan, Sir John Forrest, and brought before his notice the urgent necessity of averting the proposed change of post office to railway station. In consequence of the representations made, the member for Swan has written to the Postmaster-General at Melbourne. Since then a reply has been received to the effect that referendum of the residents would be taken in reference to the matter, while a return of the work done in the post office is to be made, with a view to finding out the value of the establishment.
It would appear that the residents 'referendum' kept the facility where it was, as the Post Office continued to operate from the building at 50 McGlew Road up until 2001, serving the town for 100 years.

The Postmasters at Smith's Mill/Glen Forrest were:

Miss Edith (Jane) Blanche Lamb ‐ served from 1901 ‐ 1907.
Edith was born in SA in 1877. Her family came to WA in the 1890’s. After leaving Smith’s Mill, Edith married John Jury in 1907 at Coolgardie, where their two children; ‐ Kellar and Brenda, ‐ were born before they returned to North Perth to live. John’s occupation was a civil servant. John died in 1952 and Edith in 1954.

Mrs Olivia Smith (Whitehead / nee Murray) ‐ served from 1908 ‐ 1909.
After her husband, Cornelius Whitehead, died in 1900, she married Osmond Oscar Allan Smith in 1905 in NSW before coming to WA. Osmond died in 1931 in Perth, WA.

Miss Eleanor Susan Whitehead ‐ served from 1910 ‐ 1911.
Eleanor was born in NSW in 1888 to parents Cornelius Whitehead and Olivia Murray. She came to WA with her mother Olivia (Olivia Smith, the postmistress, above) and stepfather Osmond Smith. After serving in the Post Office at Glen Forrest, she then served at the Mundaring Post Office before returning to NSW and marrying a farmer by the name of Harry Robert Gorfin in 1920. In 1930 they returned to WA where he farmed near Tammin then later Mandurah. Harry died in 1965 and Eleanor in 1968.

Miss Winifred Ottaway ‐ served from 1912 ‐ 1913.
Winifreds father, Walter Edward Ottaway, worked for the Telegraph Dept. Her parents built the weatherboard cottage now named ‘Chittawarra’ at 115 Hardey Rd in 1903/4. Winifred suffered a nervous breakdown in 1913 and died in 1916, aged 37 years. Winifred’s sister, Amy Ottaway, married Storry Walton and they lived at Darlington. The Ottaway family were very talented musicians and singers.

Mrs Ellen Nora Caine (nee Bullen) ‐ served from 1914 ‐ 1915.
Ellen was born in Kent, England in 1889. Her family moved to WA in 1908. She married Patrick Henry Caine in 1914 at Perth. They had a daughter born in late 1915 but conceived before her husband enlisted in June 1915 to serve in WW1. His service record can be found here. Patrick died in 1961 at Coolgardie and Ellen in 1980 at Fremantle. Ellen’s brother Reginald married one of William Henry McGlew’s daughters, Ethel Esme.

Mrs Elizabeth Bullen (mother of Ellen and Reginald) ‐ served from 1915 ‐ 1920.
Elizabeth’s husband was Arthur Lewis Bullen, who was in Boulder in 1916/17 while she was at the (now) Glen Forrest Post Office. Elizabeth died in 1921 at Boulder.

Mrs Margaret Blampey (nee Clancy) ‐ served from 1920 ‐ 1945 (25 years).
Margaret married George John Blampey in 1915 at Northam and the couple then went to Cunderdin where George had the job of Postmaster. He did not serve in WW1 but his brother; Thomas, did enlist and gave George as his next-of-kin. Thomas was wounded on two occasions but returned to WA in early 1919 to be reunited with his brother, George, who sadly passed away suddenly in June 1919 at the Northam Hospital aged 33. He died before their second child was born in 1920, which was a son she named George John. To support her family Margaret took on the Postmistress job at Glen Forrest and held this position for 25 years. She died in 1954 aged 73.

Mrs Annie Morgan (Mrs Hill) ‐ served from 1945 ‐ 1985 (40 years)
Annie Stewart Taylor (known as 'Nancy') married Arthur Leslie Hill, in 1941 in Swan. Arthur was a telegraphist and civil servant. They lived in Midland Junction until taking on the Glen Forrest Post Office. She was widowed in November 1946 and subsequently married Llewelyn (Llew) Lloyd Morgan in 1950, a son of the Station Master ‐ Morgan John Morgan. Mail delivery to homes did not start until 1970 so all mail was collected from the Post Office before then. PO Boxes came even later. It was also a Commonwealth Bank Agency. Llew died in 2004 and Annie died in 2005, aged 90. In 1955 the Postmaster General (PMG) sold the property to the Morgan's and it stayed with the various Postmasters/mistresses until it was sold in 2004. She was the longest serving Postmistress.

Graham and Margaret Scott ‐ served from 1985 ‐ 1988.
At some stage the Post Office was closed after Mrs Morgan left however residents campaigned successfully to have the facility returned. More information on this aspect will be provided when available.

Graham and Sheryl Parr ‐ served from 1988 ‐ 1988.
The Parrs only had the Post Office for 3 months. They put a swimming pool in over that period but returned to the suburbs and sold out to Jeff and Renate Webster.

Jeff and Renate Webster ‐ served from 1988 ‐ 2001 (50 McGlew Rd). 2001 ‐ 2004 (Railway Parade shop).
A phone box had stood outside the Post Office (see the 1989 photo below) from the 1910s and in the 1990s this was relocated outside the shops on Railway Parade, after Jeff and Renate found it attracted too much after-hours anti-social behaviour. In its new location the hapless box fared even worse and was broken into, and eventually totally destroyed by vandals and never replaced. Today there is no public telephone on Railway Parade. In 2001 the Post Office shifted to the current shop on Railway Parade, ending the use of the building as a Post Office. Jeff and Renate sold the business and the original Post Office building in 2004 and took over the Mt Helena Post Office, where they remain resident.

Glen Forrest Post Office, 1903 when Miss Edith Lambe was the Postmistress
Courtesy: Phylis Seaman and 'Mundaring A History of the Shire' Ian Elliot.

Glen Forrest Post Office, 1942, when Mrs Margaret Blampey was the Postmistress. It appears very much unchanged from 1903 (at least from the outside).
Courtesy: SLWA b4537949_2

A Public Works Dept drawing of minor renovations to the Post Office, 1922. This shows the design of the building and that it only had a single bedroom.
Courtesy: National Archives Australia.

The Post Office in 1989 soon after Jeff and Renate Webster took over. Note the public telephone box and the mail box on the footpath.
By this stage the building had 3 bedrooms.
Courtesy: Jeff and Renate Webster.

Jeff and Renate extended the Post Office in 1994. The PO Boxes shifted to the extension on the front verandah (behind the "Australia Post" sign)
and an enlarged public area was created on the north side, (this view is from the east) where the awning is shown.
The public telephone is gone and the mail box is larger.
Courtesy: Jeff and Renate Webster.