For almost half a century, isolated settlements dotted along the lonely stretches of 1,051 miles of the Trans-Australia Railway have relied on the Rail Post Office for personal contact with the outside world.

But this old post office - believed to be the original - has come to the end of its life. It was recently replaced by a new Rail Post Office built in the Commonwealth Railways Workshops at Port Augusta.

The attractive interior of this new rail car with its built-in writing slopes, neat counter and ample space and facilitates for both the public and the postmaster might well be described as a scaled-down version of a modrrn suburban post office.

It serves places like Barton, Cook, Loongana and Zanthus - to most of us merely names that we may, or may not, be able to find on a map. But to the postmaster in charge of Australia's most modern Rail Post Office they are important points along the lonely track that links Port Augusta in South Australia with Kalgoorlie in the West.

This new post office which pays Social Service benefits, handles Savings Bank business, issues wireless licences — in fact, handles all the transactions that you would expect from your own local post office —is a welcome sight to these people. But, although the change is long overdue, the new car will never wipe out the memory of the old post office which pioneered the run, and which in the years before wireless was the only news link these people had with the rest of Australia.

Compared with the new car, the furnishings of the old were somewhat austere - two drawers in the counter, one small set of pigeon holes and an office steel safe. The actual post office was located in the middle of the van between the galley and the sleeping quarters.

It was of simple construction, the space between the two bulkheads being separated by the length of the counter. This allowed a public space about 7 feet, long but only 2 feet wide. As this customer space was about 4 feet up from the ground, footholds had to be provided on the side of the car to allow the customers to climb up to the counter - there are very few platforms on the east-west line.

The ceremony of cutting first sod was performed by the then Governor-General, Lord Denham, on September 12, 1912. Five months later, on February 12, 1913, the Prime Minister of the day, Andrew Fisher, turned the first sod at the other end of the line at Kalgoorlie.

It took just over five years from that historic day at Port Augusta before the eastern and western divisions met on October 17, 1917, at a point a little over 621 miles east of Kalgoorlie.

It was during those five years, as the head of the line slowly extended towards the Nullarbor, that mobile postal facilities became necessary. The "East-West Railway Construction Car" complete with its post office and its own distinctive postmarker was opened on October 17, 1914. Traversing the completed sector each fortnight to enable the paymaster to pay wages and the accompanying postal official to conduct postal and savings bank business, this car was the forerunner of the regular Rail Post Office.

Ever since, the postal car has been an important part of the "Tea and Sugar", as the train is affectionately known. The Australian Post Office served the men who built the line. Now, in serving the people who maintain the line that boasts the longest stretch of straight railway track in the world, the Post Office proudly lives up to its motto "Vast to serve the Nation personal to serve you."

Extracted from “Post Age” – December 1962