The Prize Design for a new Post Office to be Erected in Melbourne Australia.

Scarce c.19th hand coloured engraving of the new Melbourne Post Office, Collins Street, Melbourne.

In 1858 a design competition was held for a new General Post Office building, with the winners announced on Friday 7th May 1858. The competition was in two parts, Crouch and Wilson won first prize for their exterior design, while A. E. Johnson won second place for exterior, and also won second place for the interior arrangement. Johnson was then employed by the Public Works Department, and eventually construction started in 1861 on what was said to be Johnson’s design, rather than the Crouch and Wilson design, which proceeded slowly and at great expense. In 1861 however, Johnson himself claimed that it was an entirely new design prepared by the Public Works Department.

References:
De Vries, L. History as Hot News: World of the Early Victorians Through the Eyes of the “Illustrated London News”.. London 1996.

Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 8438724
State Library Victoria: RARELTEF 052 IL696I
State Library New South Wales: RECORD IDENTIFIER 74Vv5Oy4wEgl