HURSTBRIDGE POST OFFICE (FORMER EVELYN OBSERVER OFFICE)

What is significant?
The 1918 Evelyn Observer office and the 1930s additions (when it was converted to a post office) and the surrounding site to the title boundaries.

How is it significant?
The office is historically, aesthetically and socially significant to the Shire of Nillumbik.

Why is it significant?
The office is historically significant because it was constructed for the local newspaper, the Evelyn Observer and is associated with Robert Harris and Decimus Mott, both prominent members of the local community and important figures in the establishment and maintenance of the local press. The size and prominence of the office illustrates the important role that the newspaper played in the town's life prior to the development of radio and television (Criteria A & H). The office is also historically significant because it was constructed in 1918, shortly after the arrival of the railway (1912) and is a reminder of the way in which the railway acted as a catalyst to the development of the town (Criterion A). The office is historically and socially significant because it has served as a post office since 1930, has been a centre for community life for over 70 years and is now partly occupied by a café (Criterion G). The office is historically and aesthetically significant as a good example of late Edwardian design and an important component of a group of pre-1950s structures in this part of the town (Criteria D & E).

Group

Postal and Telecommunications

Category

Post Office