In 1837, four months after the establishment of the Colony, Mr. Thomas Gilbert, the Colonial Storekeeper, was appointed Postmaster by Governor Hindmarsh. He was granted an allowance of £30 per annum and carried on postal operations at his hut on the parklands near the Torrens. The uniform charge of 1d. made on all letters received and despatched went to the captains of the conveying vessels. .

The post office was moved to new premises on the corner of North Terrace and King William Street in 1838, when Mr. Henry Watts was appointed Postmaster General, the salary remaining at £30 a year. Additionally a clerk who also acted as messenger was appointed. .

The first local Post Office Act was passed in 1839. The rate of inland postage was fixed at 3d. per letter or packet, regardless of weight, but the charge on ship letters remained at 1d. The same year post offices were opened at Port Adelaide, Port Lincoln, Willunga and Encounter Bay. The appointment of the first letter carrier took place in this year also. .

Captain John Watts succeeded his brother as Postmaster General in 1841, by which time a post office had been established at Morphett Vale, making six throughout the Colony. A new Post Office Act was passed that year, under which inland letters were charged according to distance, irrespective of weight and with a maximum of 2/6d, while postage on newspapers was abolished. A post office was opened at Gawler and the service to Port Adelaide increased to twice daily. .

In 1842 a service to Mount Barker was commenced, and the inland postage rate was charged in addition to the ship rate on all ship letters carried to or from country post offices. Not surprisingly this resulted, according to Captain Watts, in people directing that their nail be left at the G.P.O. until called for. An Act of Parliament of 1843 repealed the power, hitherto held by the Council and the Governor’s Private Secretary, of franking other people’s private letters. .

In 1845 an inland postage rate of 4d. per half-ounce was introduced. An exception was made in the case of town letters and those carried between Adelaide and Port Adelaide, half-rate only being charged, while the inland rate was lifted from ship letters to or from the interior. The following year services were extended to Angaston and Mt. Gambier, bringing into operation an overland inter-colonial service. The Port Adelaide service was increased to three mails a day. .

By 1847 the G.P.O. employed a staff of six persons. From that year the charge on inward ship letters, which hitherto had been 8d. per half-ounce, was reduced to uniformity with the outward rate of 6d. In 1848 the G.P.O. was removed to a new building in King William Street, opposite the old site. The year 1850 was notable for the establishment of suburban post offices. .

1851 saw the third removal of the G.P.O., this time to the area originally reserved for it when the city was laid out, viz, the corner of King William and Franklin Streets. .

In 1854 postal rates were reduced to 2d. per half-ounce. Postage stamps were introduced in 1855. Repayment of postage by means of stamps was made compulsory from 26th October of that year. .

Originally published in APO Philatelic Bulletin, June 1960.