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| politics_the_post_office [2023/11/09 12:15] – [Legislative Council] judith | politics_the_post_office [2024/06/12 22:00] (current) – judith |
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| TLM-P was offered the position when he was 'in utter ignorance' about running a postal service, so he first took leave to go to Sydney to learn about his new role, leaving on the 16 August and returning on the 6 October.((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.8n)) When the news leaked out, Brisbane's newspaper //The Courier// grudgingly approved: 'Whatever may be Mr. Prior's business talents, he certainly possesses valuable qualifications in his untiring energy and his indomitable perseverance, and in these respects he will afford a striking contrast to the gentlemen who usually find their way to the heads of government departments.'((//The Courier//, 31 August 1861, p.2)) The Queensland correspondent for the //Sydney Morning Herald// was even more dubious: 'Mr. Prior is, or was, a squatter, but has, I believe, recently devoted himself to agricultural pursuits as well. In as far as personal activity is concerned he may be considered not unsuited to the office, but it may be doubted if his other qualifications be fully up to the mark, especially as he must necessarily be without experience in his new vocation. However, I must guard against the injustice of condemning him untried.'((//Sydney Morning Herald//, 16 September 1861, p.5.))\\ | TLM-P was offered the position when he was 'in utter ignorance' about running a postal service, so he first took leave to go to Sydney to learn about his new role, leaving on the 16 August and returning on the 6 October.((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.8n)) When the news leaked out, Brisbane's newspaper //The Courier// grudgingly approved: 'Whatever may be Mr. Prior's business talents, he certainly possesses valuable qualifications in his untiring energy and his indomitable perseverance, and in these respects he will afford a striking contrast to the gentlemen who usually find their way to the heads of government departments.'((//The Courier//, 31 August 1861, p.2)) The Queensland correspondent for the //Sydney Morning Herald// was even more dubious: 'Mr. Prior is, or was, a squatter, but has, I believe, recently devoted himself to agricultural pursuits as well. In as far as personal activity is concerned he may be considered not unsuited to the office, but it may be doubted if his other qualifications be fully up to the mark, especially as he must necessarily be without experience in his new vocation. However, I must guard against the injustice of condemning him untried.'((//Sydney Morning Herald//, 16 September 1861, p.5.))\\ |
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| In Sydney TLM-P was instructed in his new duties by the NSW Postmaster-General Major [William] Christie(({{http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/christie-william-harvie-3206}})) and the Secretary of the Department, Thomas Abbott. On his return he was appointed Postal Inspector (on 6 November 1861) and, on 1 January 1862, also Postmaster-General.((//Australia's Representative Men//, [ed. T.W.H. Leavitt],Improved Edition, Melbourne: Wells and Leavitt, c.1889, entry for T.L. Murray-Prior. The book used is the one TLM-P owned, signed by him and dated 14th June 1889. It is likely that TLM-P provided the information. Note that the entry states he was instructed in Sydney for two weeks: a hand-written correction changes that to two months.]])) The General Post Office staff at the time TLM-P was first appointed consisted of just 13 other employees including a postmistress; accountant/secretary/cashier; inland clerk; foreign dispatch clerk; one 3rd class clerk; one sorter; 4 letter carriers; one messenger and one sorter. The whole colony had just 24 post offices. Services such as money orders and telegraphs had yet to be offered.((Allan Morrison, 'Some Queensland Postmasters-General", Brisbane, Post Office Historical Society, 1953, p.5, copy J. Godden)) It was a lucrative appointment; Darbyshire points out that TLM-P's salary was £600, the same as, for example, the Private Secretary/Aide de Camp to the Governor. Women's salaries were less than men's so the GPO Postmistress Elise Barney received £475 (in salary and allowance) a year.((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.10n))\\ | In Sydney TLM-P was instructed in his new duties by the NSW Postmaster-General Major [William] Christie(({{http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/christie-william-harvie-3206}})) and the Secretary of the Department, Thomas Abbott. On his return he was appointed Postal Inspector (on 6 November 1861) and, on 1 January 1862, also Postmaster-General.((//Australia's Representative Men//, [ed. T.W.H. Leavitt],Improved Edition, Melbourne: Wells and Leavitt, c.1889, entry for T.L. Murray-Prior. The book used is the one TLM-P owned, signed by him and dated 14th June 1889. It is likely that TLM-P provided the information. Note that the entry states he was instructed in Sydney for two weeks: a hand-written correction changes that to two months.]])) The General Post Office staff at the time TLM-P was first appointed consisted of just 13 other employees including a postmistress; accountant/secretary/cashier; inland clerk; foreign dispatch clerk; one 3rd class clerk; one sorter; 4 letter carriers; one messenger and one sorter. The whole colony had just 24 post offices. Services such as money orders and telegraphs had yet to be offered.((Allan Morrison, 'Some Queensland Postmasters-General", Brisbane, Post Office Historical Society, 1953, p.5, copy J. Godden)) It was a lucrative appointment; Darbyshire points out that TLM-P's salary was £600, the same as, for example, the Private Secretary/Aide de Camp to the Governor. Women's salaries were less than men's so the GPO Postmistress Elise Barney received £475 (in salary and allowance) a year.((Andrew Darbyshire, A Fair Slice of St Lucia. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, St Lucia History Group research paper no. 8, p.10n)) It was also a powerful position in that it was the Postmaster-General who decided on new mail routes.\\ |
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| Documents from his time were once located at the Brisbane General Post Office Museum: this museum was closed in 2005 and the documents' whereabouts are not known.((https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=5090123&S=1&T=P&R=0; https://www.redlandmuseum.org.au/our-displays/post-office/))\\ | Documents from his time were once located at the Brisbane General Post Office Museum: this museum was closed in 2005 and the documents' whereabouts are not known.((https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=5090123&S=1&T=P&R=0; https://www.redlandmuseum.org.au/our-displays/post-office/))\\ |