Forbes Post Office celebrates 145 years

Forbes Post Office has celebrated 145 years since the historic building opened on 8 September 1881, with postal manager Monica Morrison saying the anniversary is a proud milestone for the local team. “We are proud to be celebrating an incredible 145 years of serving the Forbes community," she said. Forbes’ postal story began in 1861 on the Black Ridge goldfield, where a small mail service quickly became vital to a fast-growing settlement. Within a decade the town had an official postmaster, telegraph access and Government Savings Bank services, making the post office an everyday point of connection for miners, families, businesses and the wider district. As Forbes matured from a gold rush settlement into an established rural centre, plans were approved for a larger and more permanent post office. The NSW Colonial Architect's Office, under James Barnet, designed the building that still stands today, built by PM Vaughan and occupied on 8 September 1881. Four years later in 1885, the town clock went in, quickly becoming a fixture of daily life in Forbes and a shared reference point for the whole community. Local stories recall the clock tower surviving a nearby hotel fire, with firefighters cooling the dial to protect it from the flames. By 1900, with the telephone exchange up and running, the post office had grown beyond letters and telegrams into part of the district's earliest phone network. During the First World War it became the link between Forbes families and loved ones serving overseas, and in the decades after it stayed central to regional life, supporting expanded mail routes that connected Forbes to towns across the district. Long-serving staff are an important part of the Forbes story. EA Becker retired in 1939 after 47 years in the postal service, and AJ Debenham retired in 1953 after more than 45 years, most of them at Forbes, a reminder of the deep local knowledge communities often associates with their post office. The building even made it onto an Australian postage stamp in 1982, and through the 1980s and '90s, restoration and retail works kept it both functioning and true to its history. That history is now formally protected, with NSW State Heritage, Commonwealth Heritage and local heritage listings all recognising its significance. In 2018, the installation of Brett Garling's bronze kelpie sculpture Rosa added a contemporary community story to the historic setting. As Forbes Post Office marksed 145 years on 8 September 2026, it remains an active Australia Post building, still serving the community, still marking time, and still holding a special place in the heart of Forbes. Today, Forbes is still one of many regional communities where the local post office remains an essential connection point.