Mail Slot

The original mail slot at the Big Hill Post Office is set into a timber-slab wall in the front room of the building, low enough to receive mail from a person standing outside. The slot is a horizontal opening, fitted with a metal lid that pivots inward when posted mail pushed it open. The lid is dark from age and use. The timber around the slot is the original vertical slab, weathered grey on the outside, smoother on the inside where the wall has been less exposed. A small brass handle lets the lid be lifted manually from inside.

The mail slot is the working centre of what made this building a post office rather than a private residence. Mail came in through this opening, was sorted in the front room, and went back out the same way for the postmaster to collect or for travellers to pick up at the kiosk. When the post office was closed around 1945, the slot was sealed but not removed. The lid is still hinged. The timber around it is intact. The slot does not perform its function any more, but it is still recognisable as what it was, which is what kept it from being painted over or torn out by a later resident.