Sydney GPO

The General Post Office is in the heart of Sydney on Martin Place. It was designed by James Barnet in stages between 1866 to 1891. The front features a statue of Queen Victoria with female personifications of Britannia and New South Wales greeting each other, the latter handing over a cornucopia.

The facade has a colonnade running round it with key stones representing parts of the British Empire and the World, with which the GPO connected the citizens of Sydney.

The clock tower was demolished in 1942 to prevent use as a target in the War, and reconstructed in the 1960s.

In 1996 some of the assets of Australia Post were sold by the Government of Australia, and turned into hotels, restaurants and smart shops.

The GPO comes from an age when public institutions were grand and Sydneysiders saw themselves as part of an Empire and Australian Federation was still in the future.