Guardians of the Strait: Bass Strait’s Wartime Waters

On Anzac Day, we pause to honour the courage and sacrifice of Australians who served in times of war. While many think first of Gallipoli or the Western Front, the story of Australia’s wartime endurance is also written in its coastal waters. For communities like Port Albert, the war came not only through the news or enlistment calls—it came with the tides, in the form of submarine threats, shipwrecks, and tireless maritime service.

This Anzac Day, we remember the overlooked front line: the Bass Strait.

Bass Strait: A Treacherous Lifeline

Bass Strait, separating mainland Australia from Tasmania, has always been a dangerous passage. Its shallow depths, unpredictable weather, and strong currents have challenged mariners since the first European navigators passed through in the 1790s. But during the Second World War, it became far more than a challenging waterway—it became a battleground.

The strait formed part of Australia’s crucial coastal shipping route. With rail and road transport limited, coastal vessels carried everything from food and fuel to minerals like manganese, vital for munitions and steel. These civilian ships, known as “the merchant navy,” became lifelines for the war effort, even as they sailed without weapons or defences.

The Enemy Arrives: Submarines and Mines

In 1940, the German raider Pinguin secretly laid mines in Bass Strait. On 7 November, the British steamer SS Cambridge struck one and sank off Wilsons Promontory. Two days later, the American ship MV City of Rayville met the same fate. These were the first Allied and U.S. shipping losses in Australian waters—sudden, shocking reminders that the war had arrived.

Two years later, on 4 June 1942, the Japanese submarine I-27 torpedoed the SS Iron Crown. The freighter, carrying manganese ore, sank in less than a minute. Of her 43 crew, 38 were lost. The wreck was only located in 2019, nearly 80 kilometres off the Victorian coast.

These attacks changed the nature of Australian coastal shipping overnight. Ships began to sail in convoys, naval patrols increased, and vigilance became the watchword of the coast.

Port Albert: A Quiet but Crucial Role

Though no major naval base, Port Albert—founded in 1841 and once the gateway to Gippsland—remained a maritime asset. Its location gave it access to lighthouse routes, fishing grounds, and regional logistics. During the war:

  • Lighthouse Support: Port Albert provided supplies and mail runs to isolated Bass Strait lighthouses, like those on Deal Island and Wilsons Promontory. These lights were essential for safe navigation, especially under blackout conditions.

  • Maritime Rescue Equipment: A Breeches Buoy Rocket Lifesaving Apparatus, installed at the port in 1871, remained operational during the war. This ingenious device could fire a lifeline to stranded vessels, allowing shipwreck survivors to be hauled ashore. The unit is now a centrepiece of the Port Albert Maritime Museum.

  • Fishing and Food Supply: Local fishing fleets continued to operate under difficult conditions. Their catches supported food supply during a time of rationing and uncertainty.

  • Community Enlistment: Men from the Alberton Shire and the wider Gippsland region answered the call to serve. Others supported from home through war bonds, civil defence, and local production.

The Merchant Navy: Australia’s Forgotten Service

Merchant mariners received little of the glory afforded to soldiers or airmen, yet their work was just as vital—and just as dangerous. Bass Strait mariners often sailed unarmed and without convoy protection in the early years of the war. When disaster struck, they relied on communities like Port Albert for rescue, repairs, and radio communication.

These “civilian sailors” kept Australia afloat—literally.

Legacy and Remembrance

Today, the Port Albert Maritime Museum helps preserve the memory of these maritime contributions. From shipwreck relics to photographs and stories of wartime service, the museum is a vital link between past and present. It tells the story not just of conflict, but of resilience—of coastal towns that stood ready, and of seafarers who kept the nation moving.

As we gather this Anzac Day, let us remember that the war was not only fought in faraway lands. It was fought here, too—in our skies, on our farms, and in the waves of Bass Strait. And it was in places like Port Albert that Australia’s strength and spirit found a quiet but enduring expression.

TL;DR

Built in 1864, the former Port Albert Post and Telegraph Office is Gippsland’s oldest surviving post office and a rare example of early government architecture in a small maritime town. The brick and bluestone building served Port Albert for more than a century, linking the district to Melbourne by mail and telegraph. Recognised by the National Trust and listed on the Victorian Heritage Register, it remains one of the few intact post offices of its era in Victoria. Now a carefully restored private home, it stands as a tangible reminder of how communication and community helped shape Port Albert’s identity.

On Wharf Street, overlooking the wharf, stands one of Port Albert’s most recognisable landmarks – the former Post and Telegraph Office. Built in 1864, it served the community for more than a century and is recognised as the oldest surviving post office in Gippsland and among the earliest still standing in Victoria.

Its simple, symmetrical form and arched windows give it quiet authority. In a town once built mostly of timber and corrugated iron, this solid brick and bluestone building represented permanence – a statement that Port Albert had become a place of consequence.

Preserving a Local Landmark

The post office closed in 1972 and was later sold by Australia Post. Unlike many rural post offices that were demolished or heavily altered, Port Albert’s survived largely intact. Its early recognition by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) in 1970, followed by inclusion on the Victorian Heritage Register (Hermes No. 70028), helped secure its protection.

old Port Albert Post OfficeToday it remains a private residence, carefully restored and adapted for modern use. More recent owners have retained its defining features – high ceilings, arched windows, Baltic pine floors, and solid brickwork – while adding an accommodation wing at the rear. The building sits within a 1,597 square-metre block overlooking the historic Government Wharf, its courtyard shaded by mature trees.

This sensitive reuse reflects the principles of the Burra Charter, which emphasises ongoing use as the best form of conservation. By keeping the building lived in, Port Albert has preserved not only its structure but also its connection to the community.

A Port Built on Communication

When the post office was constructed in 1864, Port Albert was Gippsland’s main seaport. Everything – settlers, livestock, goods, and mail – arrived by sea. Before the railway reached inland towns, ships brought the world to this remote edge of the colony.

Postal services had operated here since the 1840s, first from makeshift premises, then from a small timber office. The new brick building, combining postal and telegraph functions, signalled a shift from provisional settlement to permanence. It also coincided with the arrival of the telegraph line, which reached Port Albert that same year, linking the town to Melbourne in hours rather than days.

For local residents, the building represented progress. It was where shipping news arrived, government payments were made, and families collected letters from the other side of the world. The rhythm of life often turned on its deliveries – a reminder that communication, as much as trade, sustained the district.

Design and Craftsmanship

Port Albert Post OfficeThe Port Albert post office was built in a conservative Italianate style, a restrained interpretation of the architecture popular in Melbourne during the 1860s. Its symmetrical façade, bracketed eaves, and tall arched windows gave the small coastal town a touch of metropolitan civility.

Constructed from locally fired brick with bluestone detailing, the building contrasted sharply with the surrounding weatherboard cottages. Inside, the plan followed a typical layout of the period: a public office at the front, living quarters at the rear, and a telegraph room attached. No record survives of its architect, though its proportions and detailing suggest it was designed through the Public Works Department – one of a series of standardised yet regionally adapted buildings produced for frontier settlements.

The use of durable materials reflected both confidence and necessity. The coastal environment demanded strength, and the government wanted longevity for what it saw as essential infrastructure. A building of this quality in a town of fewer than 500 people made a clear statement about Port Albert’s standing in the colony.

The Telegraph Era

The opening of the telegraph service transformed communication across Gippsland. Operators at Port Albert tapped messages to and from Sale, Alberton, and Melbourne, reporting shipping movements, weather, and emergencies. Telegrams Australia records it among the earliest telegraph offices in the region.

The system turned the post office into a communications hub – a single-room link between a remote district and the capital. Within months of its opening, it was handling everything from maritime news to government dispatches. The speed of information changed how the community functioned; decisions that once took weeks could now be made in hours.

Decline and Endurance

Port Albert Post OfficePort Albert’s prosperity peaked in the 1860s. As railways reached inland towns, trade routes shifted, and larger ships bypassed the shallow inlet. The port declined, but the post office endured.

For more than a hundred years, residents came here for their letters, pensions, and newspapers. By the mid-20th century, the building remained largely unaltered – a functional public office with a distinctive sense of place. Photographs from 1949 show the same brick façade, the same view across the harbour, and the same quiet reliability it offered from the beginning.

When it finally closed in 1972, the closure marked the end of an era rather than a loss. The building passed into private hands but continued to serve the town in a different way – as a reminder of how central communication once was to daily life.

Part of a Larger Story

The former post office is one of several surviving nineteenth-century civic and government-era buildings in the Wharf Street precinct, standing alongside the former Bank of Victoria (now the Maritime Museum), the former Customs House site, and the historic Government Wharf with its early sheds and maritime structures.

Within a state context, only a handful of comparable post offices from the 1860s survive largely intact – among them those at Camperdown (1863), Heathcote (1861), and Port Fairy (1868). Port Albert’s building therefore represents one of the earliest regional examples still in use, and the only one of its age remaining in Gippsland.

Its continued presence demonstrates how architectural conservation often relies on community pride. Local ownership, early recognition, and practical reuse have protected the building more effectively than legislation alone.

2024 former Port Albert Post OfficeAn Enduring Connection

Viewed from the harbour road, the former post office looks much as it did 160 years ago. The brickwork has weathered, but the proportions remain the same. It stands as both a home and a local landmark – not a museum piece, but a working part of the town’s fabric.

The building’s survival mirrors Port Albert’s own story: shaped by the tides of commerce and change, yet sustained by care and continuity. It reminds us that heritage is not only about preserving the past, but about maintaining the structures that continue to tell it.

In Port Albert, the old post office does just that – a quiet witness to how this coastal town once reached out to the world, and how it still keeps that connection alive.

 

References

  • Victorian Heritage Database, Hermes No. 70028, Former Port Albert Post Office
  • National Trust of Australia (Victoria), File FN 2732 (1970)
  • Graeme Butler, Port Albert Conservation Study (1982)
  • Guidelines for the Assessment of Heritage Planning Applications: Port Albert & District (Wellington Shire, 2002)
  • Telegrams Australia, Telegraph Offices: Gippsland South
  • Kenneth Cox, Land of the Pelican: The Story of Yarram and District (1982)