Poowong Post Office - Poowong History Trail

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Judy Blakeman at a Telephone Exchange in Poowong — Judy Blakeman was only one of the local women who were employed at the manual Telephone Exchange which was once housed in the Poowong Post Office. This system was changed to an automatic exchange which Kath Vick, another former operator, tells us came into operation on August 1, 1971.

The Poowong Post Office has always been privately run. Up until 1993 it was a Postal Agency very much under the control of the larger Korumburra Post Office. In 1993 it was converted to a Licenced Post Office and became more autonomous.

The Poowong Post Office is connected by computer to all the services available at any Post Office in Australia. Accounts paid there are on line immediately, banking using plastic cards is immediate.

At the moment the postal link is via Morwell. Mail leaves Poowong at 4:00pm and goes to Morwell and can be in Melbourne by 9:00am the next morning ... sometimes.

In 1974 the Post Office was run by Bill and Gwen Hayler. Bill died in July, 1978, at the age of 82 years and Gwen continued to run the business on her own. She was preparing to pass it over to her stepdaughter, Coral Roberts, when she was tragically killed in a car accident in May, 1981. Gwen, at 71 years of age, was a treasure to Poowong’s community and her passing was very sad.

Coral took over the Post Office after this and kept the town on its toes for eight years. In 1990 she decided to retire and sold the Post Office to Jim and Eileen Davis who moved to Poowong on November 1, 1990, and still run the Post Office at the present. Sadly, Coral did not enjoy a long retirement as she died suddenly on January 29, 1995.

Jim Davis in the Modernised Poowong Post Office.

Eileen Davis in the Modernised Poowong Post Office — Jim and Eileen have geared to meet the demands of the technological era. Computerised banking, facsimile services, photocopying and a host of other modern services are provided, but still with the same friendly service that has been a hallmark at Poowong Post Office since its foundation.