Gin Gin District mail services - 1908

Problems with mail services in the Gin Gin district in 1908

Bundaberg Mail and Burnett Advertiser (Qld.), Thursday 19 March 1908, page 2

Gin Gin postal service

The Postmaster General has arranged for a postal receiving office at Dunmorc General Store which is the only place of public business within a radius of 5 or 6 miles and of course by far the most convenient for a large number of men employed in the district as they can get their goods and letters, etc., at the same time. There are a few who are doing a bit of a growl over it, but as the P.M.G. cannot well give each of them a receiving office, I think they are only wasting time, for in no way docs it affect them except that they will not figure on the postal pay sheet. The arrangement will in nowise interfere with the present mode of loose lotter delivery along the postal route.

The cane is making great progress and indicates that the Central Mill will have a busy time in the coming season. I see that a Gin Gin correspondent has drawn attention to our insufficient local postal service, and proposes that the Currajong and Gin Gin Agricultural Association should take up the matter. I cordially agree with him. The matter has often been talked of amongst the settlers, but so far no decided move has been made to publicly advocate it. This being an essentially farming community, it (in a matter of postal convenience) naturally considers that the local representative of the farmers should take the initiative in obtaining for it an improved postal system. At present we have a thrice a week service over a long route, much of which is practically useless, and behind the times. The now urgent need is a daily mail running in almost a circle through the most populous portion of the district over a route of about 25 miles, and the generally expressed wish is that the committee of the association will at once take action to obtain it for us.

The route proposed is from Gin Gin P.O. along Walla  road to the Central Sugar Mill, thence via Greenfield sugar plantation to Dunmore Receiving Office, and sugar fields, thence on to St. Kilda sugar fields, along the Watawa road to the sugar fields of Watawa and Tirroan back to Gin Gin P.O. I will mention one instance to show the style of the postal service this community has at present. A community bear in mind, that sends from 40,000 to 50,000 tons of cane yearly to the Gin Gin Central Mill, and say half as much again by train to Bingera sugar mill.

A letter arriving early on Saturday morning at Gin Gin addressed to Currajong (only 8 miles from Gin Gin) would be delivered at Currajong on the following Tuesday afternoon at 4.30 to 5 o'clock, und as the mailman leaves at once the letter could not be replied to till the next Thursday afternoon, to arrive at Gin Gin P.O. late that evening. It would be received (formally) and stamped on Friday morning. Is that a smart enough service for an intelligent businesslike community?, 6 days for a letter (no matter how important) to travel in all 16 miles. Every member of the Currajong and Gin Gin Agricultural Association knows that what is here stated is a fact, and I say it is a discredit to the district, and therefore an alteration should be at once moved for.

Our mailman at presents travels over many miles of country very frequently to carry but one newspaper, and bring back no return mail of any kind. At the best of times he is serving but two or three persons, while a large community of people have to swallow the absurd service referred to. We have been treated very fairly by the postal authorities in granting us a receiving office (when asked for) at Dunmore and I am confident will also receive good treatment in regard to a daily mail, when the P.M.G. is shown how necessary it is to this community, and one of the most important sugar growing sections of the Wide Bay and Burnett district. 

Gin Gin postal services - 1899

Bundaberg Mail and Burnett Advertiser (Qld.), Monday 24 July 1899, page 2

Gin Gin. From a correspondent

… The takings of the Railway Department have proportionately increased, so that now the line from Bundaberg to Gin Gin and Watawa pays well.

With all this achieved and prospective advancement, how is it we have so sadly retrograded in our postal arrangements? Until a year or so ago we had a post office here always presided over by a courteous official who was never unwilling to perform the functions of his office. Now we have a little room at the railway station to represent the post office. The crowds who go at night or in the afternoon to meet the mail train fill most uncomfortably the portion of this little room allotted to them. Rut more than half of them have to strain their heads through the door or the side window to catch their names when called out. The crushing and pushing remind one, in a small way, of King-street, Sydney, at election time, or when the result of a cricket or football match is expected. Papers go astray, telegrams are not forwarded, and dissatisfaction is common. The officer here says there is, properly speaking, no post-office here; he is a railway man. His assistant is also a railway man, not a telegraph messenger. I should add that the puny post office and the railway office too, are locked up every day from 1 till 2, the officer and his assistant both being absent therefrom for dinner. Is this not a violation of the Public Service Act? Mr Caldwell, our latest post-master, properly so-called, was a very courteous gentleman, and would have been very glad to stay here, but unfortunately circumvention by somebody effected his removal to Bundaberg, and we are left lamenting. Unsatisfactoriness in our postal matters affects not only everybody here, but those also in Bundaberg and other places with whom we do business. Those latter people should unite with us in urging both our members of Parliament to regain for us what we have lost in postal matters. I hope, Sir, you will see the force of my arguments— I have not exceeded the truth — and if you give us in your columns the benefit of your advocacy, we may succeed in rising from the slough into which we have fallen.

The Gin Gin post office building - 1909

Bundaberg Mail and Burnett Advertiser (Qld.), Thursday 23 September 1909, page 4

Gin Gin post office. Description of the building

There has just been completed by Mr. W. Dunn, contractor, a very handsome building in Gin Gin, comprising a Post und Telegraph Office and residence for Postmaster. The postal authorities’ own half an acre, a quarter-acre, the other quarter is not as yet fenced. The building is 75 feet by 37 feet, and the postal chamber and public space is 37 feet. by 20 feet. In this part of the building is a silent cabinet for telephone purposes, entrance to which is from the public space. The battery room is entered from the front verandah, which is in size, 12 x 8. There are 60 private boxes, which should meet the requirements of Gin Gin for some considerable time. The postal chamber is fitted up with all the necessary fittings and office furniture, comprising pigeon holes, sorting tables, stamping tables, officer in charge table and pigeon holes, notice boards, chairs, safe stands, etc. Tho public space is divided off from the postal chamber by a cedar polished counter with all necessary drawers and fittings in same. The residence part of the building adjoins the postal chamber and is entered from public space or postal chamber, and comprises four main rooms with kitchen, pantry, servant's room and bath room, all accessible from the verandahs. The kitchen is fitted up with sink, draining board, and all necessary shelving, stove, etc. There is also a wide verandah latticed off for dining in summer. The building, which is about eight feet off the ground at the rear, has a laundry with wash benches, concrete floor, and concrete drains, which carry all water from sink, bathroom, etc. The building throughout is splendidly ventilated both above and below. The windows throughout are of the casement pattern of cedar with heavy cedar transoms and fanlights over same, all fixed and fastened with the latest approved furniture throughout. The building has been erected at a cost of £860 by Mr. W. Dunn, contractor, of Bundaberg.

Mr. Dunn handed it over to the Government yesterday.