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Fyansford

Postal

 

Services

Operational History

 

 

Timeline and Locational Detail (Factual accuracy to be confirmed)

 

1852                 Fyansford Post Office ~ Officially opened (Wikipedia)          Photo 1 - Balmoral Inn       

                         Location: Balmoral (High Street)                                             InfoSign 1

1875 Ca           Location: Gugger’s Store (High Street)                                   Photo 2 - Gugger's Store

1875 – 1886   -      Thomas Littlewood (owner, occupier, postmaster)        InfoSign 2

1889                -      Mrs Hoggart (owner, occupier, postmistress)

1890                                                                                                                     Map 1 - Location of post office

1892 – 1894   -      Myles Synot (owner, occupier, postmaster)

1894 – !          -       Annie McNaughton  (storekeeper, dealer!, postmistress)

1895               Fyansford Post Office ~ Officially closed (Wikipedia)   

    Postal services in the form of a postbox may have continued

1901               Location: Viccars’ Store (Atkins Street)                                   Photo 3 - Viccars' Store

1902                -      Annie McNaughton (becomes owner of premises)        

1922                                                                                                                    Map 2 - Location of post office

1928                                                                                                                    Photo 4 - C.D. Pratt aerial photo of locality

1972 Ca          Viccars’ Store sold to Cement Works                                               

Is there an official letterbox currently in Fyansford? 

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Fyansford Post Office 1901 National Arch

I recognise the phone box ~ that style was  around when I was a kid.

      Could press one button to get your money back...

Wow! Imagine how hot it would get inside that store over summer...

I found this absolutely delightful Facebook commentary... 

(August, 2014)

​

"Once upon a time a very long time ago Fyansford had a general store and a phone box. Early 1900s."

​

  • GerryKellie Martin - I used that telephone both many times. I also collected our mail there...

  • Dianne Higgins - Was this know as Vickers general store? And I'm pretty sure it was located right at the bottom of the cement works hill on the right hand side just before Aitkens St (as you head towards Inverleigh)

  • Janine Fenwick - I remember this it was Vickers and the post office we used to collect our mail here and buy our aniseed balls from Mrs Gugger at the feed store!! Memories !!!

  • Dianne Diamond - That was where I was born, and then it was a Post Office only run by my Grandmother and her sister, Lillian and Queenie Mac Naughton.

  • Bill Boiler - Used to live next to the Gugger's grain store. Nice folks. Except for the water rats in the evening making their way to the barn. Creeped me out. Then they'd run back to the river again just before dawn.

  • Sandra Talbot - You are right Dianne, it is Vickers and it was the Post Office where we all had to collect our mail. It was on the corner of Atkins Street. Mrs Gugger had the Post Office after The cement works bought and demolished the house.

  • Anne Morell - My dad Don Gugger remembers when the Mc Naughton sisters owned the post office there before it was Vickers store. He was born, and grew up, at the Fyansford store which his family owned from early 1920's. Great to read everyone's memories of that time!

  • Peter Carter - Used to call in and get some lollies on the way home from west tech.

Interesting commentary by:~ 

 

Gary Viccars

  • My parents, Betty & Norm Viccars, ran the post office from 1951 until about 1975. It was also a general store and local depot for the Commonwealth Bank.

  • Mum ran it and dad worked at the cement works.

  • It was a post office and store. Mum sold papers, lollies, cigarettes, biscuits, cakes and soft drinks (Lanyons Soft Drink made over at the old paper mills)

  • Mum also did lunches for the cement works employees and ran a branch of the commonwealth bank.

  • People called in to collect their mail and papers.

  • An interesting tit-bit is that a friend lent mum and dad the money to buy the Post Office. They had both been in the services and he lent the money with no paperwork, just a handshake. Could not do that now.

  • Mum was a Carroll and her parents and brothers all lived in the Ford.

  • The PO was transferred to the Gugger’s when mum retired.

 

Paul Westcott

One of my late sister's best school friends was Cheryl Viccars (note the

spelling of the surname). Cheryl's parents, Norm and Betty Viccars, ran

the Fyansford post office at that time (1960s). It looked exactly like the

building in the photo, so the photo is obviously a lot later than the "early

1900s". It's probably from around the same time as my sister used to

visit Cheryl there. I used to think it was a pretty unhealthy location,

being virtually in the grounds of the works, and there was a lot of

cement dust on the roof of the house. I think you can see that in the photo.

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According to the Victorian Heritage Database Report (16/6/2018) this building dating from Ca. 1852-53 is situated at 60 Hyland Street Fyansford. They suggest the building  “has aesthetic significance at a Regional level as a now rare example of a typical Victorian Georgian styled shop of the 1850s. The gabled form, parapet, Georgian design with prominent quoin work and decorative gable ends are particularly noteworthy and complimented by the early garden. It has historic significance at a Regional level for its early and continuous association with the commercial centre, of the important town situated at the early ford, and later, bridge crossing of the Barwon River to the Western District and Ballarat gold fields. It appears to date from circa 1852-3. It has social significance at a Local level for its long association with the Gugger family, and, for many decades, as the only store and post office at which local citizens could meet...”

The building is still standing and appears in quite good condition.

Approximate Timeline of building at 60 Hyland Street:

·         1852-3                Estimated construction date (for use as a house & shop)

·         1860s                  Appeared in a photograph of Fyansford

·         1861                    Henry Turner - owner and occupier

·         1867                    Premises extended and used as a house & shop

·         1875 – 1886       Thomas Littlewood - owner, occupier and postmaster

·         1889                    Mrs Hoggart - owner, occupier and postmistress

·         1892                    Myles Synot - owner, occupier and postmaster

·         1894                    Annie McNaughton - storekeeper, dealer and postmistress

·         1902                    Annie McNaughton became owner

·         1916 – 17            Arthur Synot - owned and occupied premises

·         1921– 22             Montague Carroll - grocer, lived and worked on premises

·         1928 – 1970        Norman Albert Gugger owned and occupied “Gugger's Store”

·         1933                    Alfred Gugger built the adjacent house (on east side)

·         1970                    Premises used as an antique and doll shop

·         2015 – 2019        Premises - non-business

·         2019                    Premises - sold. Now operating as private residence and a                                              health service business

 

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