The Postmaster-General's Department (PMG) was a department of the

Australian federal government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

, established at

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

in 1901, whose responsibilities included the provision of postal and telegraphic services throughout Australia. It was abolished in December 1975 and replaced by the

Postal and Telecommunications Department The Postal and Telecommunications Department was an Australian Government department, established in 1975 to take over the residual functions of the Postmaster-General's Department after its postal and telecommunications functions were split int ...

. Two separate legal entities had been established in July 1975 to take over the department's operations: Telecom Australia (colloquially "Telecom"; later became

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...

) and

Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation, is the government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. The head office of Australia Post is located in Bourke Street, Melbourne, which also serves as a post o ...

History

The Postmaster-General's Department was created in 1901 to take over all postal and telegraphy services in Australia from the states and administer them on a national basis. The department was administered by the

postmaster-general A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a Ministry (government department), ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having ...

. The first permanent secretary of the department was Sir Robert Townley Scott, who held office from 1 July 1901 until his retirement on 31 December 1910. In its first 25 years, the department grew from 6,000 to 10,000 offices and from 18,000 to 47,000 staff. Earnings grew from £2.4 million to £10 million per annum. In mid-1975 the department was disaggregated into the

Australian Telecommunications Commission Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...

(trading as

Telecom Australia Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...

) and the Australian Postal Commission (trading as

). In 1993 the Spectrum Management Agency was formed to take responsibility of radio and television broadcast licensing, which was then merged into the Australian Communications Authority, that later became the

Australian Communications and Media Authority The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is an Australian government statutory authority within the Communications portfolio. ACMA was formed on 1 July 2005 with the merger of the Australian Broadcasting Authority and the Austr ...

. Telecom Australia changed its name to

in 1995 and has since been privatised.

Abolition

The department was abolished in December 1975 by the Fraser government, and replaced by the

. The change was intended to take account of the increase in the functions of the department to include all electronic media matters which had previously been the responsibility of the

Department of the Media The Department of the Media was an Australian government department that existed between December 1972 and December 1975. History The Department was one of several new Departments established by the Whitlam Government, a wide restruc ...

List of postmasters-general

List of departmental secretaries and directors-general

*1901–1910: Robert Scott *1911–1923:

Justinian Oxenham Justinian Oxenham Imperial Service Order, ISO (23 April 186027 March 1932) was a senior Australian public servant. He was Departmental secretary, Secretary of the Postmaster-General's Department from January 1911 until December 1923. Life and c ...

*1923–1939: Harry Brown *1940–1946: Daniel McVey *1946–1949:

Bede Fanning Lawrence Bede Fanning ISO (18 August 188514 August 1970) was a senior Australian public servant, best known for his time as Director-General of the Postmaster-General's Department The Postmaster-General's Department (PMG) was a department ...

*1949–1958:

Giles Chippindall Sir Giles Tatlock Chippindall (21 May 189320 December 1969) was a senior Australian public servant. He was Secretary of the Department of Supply and Shipping between 1945 and 1946 and Director-General of the Postmaster-General's Department betw ...

*1958:

Van Vanthoff Percival Evert Russell "Van" Vanthoff (12 January 189430 July 1967) was a senior Australian public servant. He was Director-General of the Postmaster-General's Department from May until December 1958. Life and career Van Vanthoff was born in ...

*1959–1961: Mervyn Stradwick *1961–1965: Frank O'Grady *1965–1968:

Trevor Housley Trevor Alfred Housley (31 October 191010 October 1968) was a senior Australian public servant. He was Director-General of the Postmaster-General's Department from 1965 until his death in October 1968. Life and career Trevor Housley was born on ...

*1968–1972: John Knott *1972–1975: Eber Lane *1975: Fred Green

References

{{Authority control Postal system of Australia Telstra Postal history of Australia Defunct government departments of Australia Ministries established in 1901 Ministries disestablished in 1975

History

Abolition

List of postmasters-general

List of departmental secretaries and directors-general

See also

References