During Word War Two, large military camps were built in and around Adelaide. Aussie diggers and American GI’s camped at this spot before catching the trains north and heading off to war. For their protection, a bomb shelter was built.
Many air-raid shelters were built around South Australia after the Japanese promised to bomb our city. That never happened of course. Most shelters have been destroyed or back-filled however a few still remain…
It was May 1839 and it marked the first occasion on which mail was delivered to Adelaide’s city residents.
Letter Carriers burst onto the streets clad in scarlet coats, piped with blue and crowned with splendid gild hats adorned with a circle of gold.
The Post Office Act had passed in parliament and Adelaide’s postal system was born.
Outgrowing its rented offices, on 23 June 1951 it moved into it’s first purpose-built location.
Adelaide’s first Post Office sat on King William Street just north of the present General Post Office.
Complete with a Clock Tower, its clock mechanism was built in England in 1853, shipped over and installed the following year.
The Post Office has long since gone, having been super-seeded by the GPO. However her 162 year old clock still ticks. Her bell still chimes. But where did it go???
Extremely well made and equally well-maintained, the clock to Adelaide’s First Post Office was saved and now sits inside a restricted building. Obtaining special clearance, we made our way up to take a look…
Set back in a field outside Adelaide lies a secret tunnel.
That tunnel leads into a secret underground WWII bunker we like to call, Dobby’s Lair.
Hidden under a grassy hill, Dobby’s Lair would have been built sometime in the 1940s, for Australia‘s war effort, and decommissioned soon after. No longer needed for military purposes, it is now utilised as storage space.
The windowless bunker is built from steel-reinforced concrete, and has only one entrance.
Off-limits to the public, we were kindly allowed access to photograph this old war-time structure…
