Corner of a rural timber outbuilding. Vertical timber planks and corrugated iron cladding, both weathered and discoloured. Roof sheeting heavily rusted. A sheet of galvanised metal hangs loose at what appears to have been a vent or shutter opening. Bare branches of a tree or shrub press against the wall from outside the frame.
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The corner of this wall is where timber planks and corrugated iron meet at the outer edge of the Big Hill Post Office, a two-building complex sitting in Upper Lachlan Shire on the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, north of Marulan. The roof sheeting is heavily rusted and a sheet of galvanised metal hangs loose where a vent or shutter has given out. Bare branches press close to the wall. The building has been standing long enough for the iron and the timber to go their separate ways. Big Hill Post Office opened on 1 November 1869, following a gazettal notice signed by NSW Postmaster-General Daniel Egan on 7 October of that year. The notice ran in the NSW Government Gazette alongside the opening of Springside, between Orange and Cadia, and described the location simply as "Big Hill, near Marulan." From 1 January 1870, mail contractor John Wade ran a horseback loop through Mooroowoolen, Long Reach, and Big Hill three times a week, under a three-year contract worth £45 per annum. The post office itself was modest, essentially a kiosk window and a mail slot set into the front of what was otherwise a family residence, the typical rural NSW arrangement of the period. The rest of the building was a home: multiple bedrooms, each with its own fireplace, a hallway running to the kitchen, walls insulated against sub-freezing winters with layers of newspaper. The post office closed in 1945, 76 years after it opened, as the small settlement at Big Hill contracted with farm amalgamations and improving transport links to larger towns. The building continued as a part-time residence for some time after that before being fully abandoned. By the time the Big Hill Post Office was photographed for Lost Collective in 2020, the verandah was collapsing along one side, the wallpaper had disintegrated to a few remaining patches, and dense blackberry was consuming the back garden. This corner of the exterior wall, with its rusting iron and failing vent, records the condition of the building as it stood that year: still upright, still holding its shape at the joints, but not for any particular reason.
04·FROM THE FIELD NOTES
The corner of the Big Hill Post Office shows what a century and more of Southern Tablelands winters does to timber and iron. The building served a dual purpose common to rural New South Wales in the Victorian era: one end held the post-office kiosk and mail slot facing the road, the rest was a family home. Big Hill Post Office opened on 1 November 1869 and ran for 76 years before closing in 1945. By 2020, the roof was rusting through and the cladding was giving way at the joints.
Brett Patman
05·SIZE GUIDE
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