Coolgardie's Missing Mailbag
Stolen or lost? A mailbag gone astray.
Coolgardie’s sharebroking and banking workers were in a “state of ferment.” A mailbag containing Perth and intercolonial mail did not arrive at the General Post Office as expected. Scrips, and money orders - gone. Their owners frantically sent wires to prevent them from being negotiated. The police were investigating. A reporter for The Golden Age mused that, because mail robberies were occurring so frequently, they had to be the work of individuals who were part of “a large network system impossible of unravelment even to the acute intelligence of the best colonial police.”
Hearken to our tale of woe, Trouble in the G.P.O., Trouble in the railway station, Dark despair and desolation. For a bag containing mails Is inexplicably lost; Nought our strenuous search avails, Yet we search, and hang the cost. Of our G.P.O. we brag; Where the dickens is that bag?
At the Legislative Assembly in the evening of the 22nd December 1897, George Leake (Albany) moved the adjournment of the House to bring forward an urgent matter. He gravely announced, “I understand that the mails are not safely carried.” Word had reached Perth of the missing mailbag. He pointed two fingers: one at the Post Office Department and the other at the Railway Department. Who was at fault?
The Minister for Education, Henry Lefroy, was aware of the missing mailbag and provided the House with all the details respecting the issue. On 17 December, three mailbags left Coolgardie via train and arrived in Perth the next day at about 10 am. Two bags were accounted for. One bag, containing 900 letters, 49 of which were registered, was missing. A special inquiry officer was dispatched to the eastern goldfields. Telegrams were sent along the Great Southern Line in case it was sent to Albany. People were searching high and low. It was, Minister Lefroy lamented, “a most regretful occurrence.”
Alexander Forrest (West Kimberley) was not happy. He had received several telegrams from people unable to collect their cheques and pay bills. Why did the post office not warn the public earlier? There was no doubt in Mr Forrest’s mind. There was a gang operating in Perth; they had stolen the mailbag, and its contents would be found torn up or burnt.
Criticism followed from Joseph Holmes (East Fremantle) and Frederick Illingworth (Central Murchison). Action must be taken. The Postal Department was to blame for not warning people. Had the detectives been notified? The Commissioner of Railways, Frederick Piesse, reassured the House that “both departments fully recognise that this is a serious matter.” While unwilling to pit the departments against each other, he noted that the Railway Department was adamant that they had delivered the bag. Perhaps it had fallen out of a trap or was miscarried. Unlike the other members of parliament, he called for calm.
It is not fair to condemn any department until a full inquiry has been made.
It was not enough for Mr Illingworth who fumed, “We condemn the department for not making the thing public.”
Frederick Vosper (North-East Coolgardie) was inclined to agree. He admitted that the loss of the mailbag may have been an accident, but he was unhappy at the post office authorities seemingly deliberately concealing it. He stated, “It seems to me that almost every time the department gets into trouble and renders itself liable to public censure, an attempt is made to conceal facts from the public eye, and in this case it has resulted in serious inconvenience.”
Mr Lefroy was unwavering. He was not going to blame anyone until he had more information. The postmaster at Coolgardie had a receipt for the mailbag. It entered the railway carriage. It arrived in Perth. The mailroom officers then collected the same number of bags as those that arrived at the railway station. That it was stolen seemed incomprehensible. Why would anyone steal a mailbag the size of a bran sack off the streets of Perth at 10 am?
George Simpson quipped in response, “There is a crowd around Perth which would steal you, to say nothing of stealing a mail bag.”
The House erupted in laughter.
Mr Lefroy reiterated that he was simply providing the facts, though he did finally admit, “The most regrettable feature in the whole occurrence is that the public were not acquainted with it sooner.” The motion to adjourn was put to the House and negatived.
And last night this mail bag brought some of the “wind bags” in the Assembly to their feet.
One by one, other newspapers reported on the story. The Kalgoorlie and Boulder Standard was not bothered about where the mailbag went. They wanted to know why it went missing. In their opinion, it pointed to “culpable carelessness” by an individual and “culpable remissness” on the part of the government.
No one who has anything to do with the officialdom of this colony can fail to be struck with its prevailing air of laxity and go-as-you-please. The loss of a trifle like a mail-bag, however valuable its contents, is not of so much importance in itself, but it is of importance as emphasising the way in which the administrative work of the colony, speaking generally, is carried on.
While authorities contacted various railway lines and stations (and made assumptions that the mailbag was stolen), no one seemed to look too closely at the General Post Office. When someone finally did, they found it.
On 23 December, the Minister for Education, Mr Lefroy, announced to the House that the missing mailbag was discovered. No one was more pleased (and perhaps relieved) than he was. George Leake wanted to know more. Who found it? Mr Lefroy deflected. Mr Leake continued, “In what part of the railway station was it found?” Mr Lefroy expressed regret but said nothing more. Mr Leake tried again, “In what part of the railway station was it found? Can I ask, sir, where was it found?” Mr Lefroy made no response, and it became clear Mr Leake’s prodding was simply an act. He already knew the answer.
I will tell the House where it was found. It was found in a dark corner of the General Post Office.
The House erupted in laughter.
A reporter for The West Australian interviewed Mr Lefroy and received a full explanation. The missing mailbag arrived on the 18th of December, labelled with “a little bit of paper-faced calico.” The words ‘Perth letters’ were scrawled on the label, but they were written so hurriedly that it looked more like ‘Perth D letters.’ Glancing at the label, the man carrying the mail assumed it belonged at the dead letter office.
The Postmaster General provided additional details. The bag was delivered to the mailroom, and it was an employee there who thought that the label referred to it containing dead letters. Rather than putting it inside the dead letter room, they left it outside by the door. There it stayed, ignored for days, until someone realised it was the missing mailbag.
Refusing to accept all the blame, the Postmaster General also criticised the postal officials in Coolgardie. Metal labels displaying the name of the town were meant to be affixed to the mailbags. Not everyone was choosing to use them. Having seen the writing (the ‘h’ looked more like a capital ‘D’), he could understand how the Perth employee came to misread it.
The postal authorities found the mailbag, and parliament had an explanation, but the story did not end just yet. The Postmaster General wanted people to see the handwriting so they could truly understand the confusion. To that end, and perhaps to the embarrassment of the Coolgardie postal worker, he provided a facsimile of the scrawl to The West Australian. It was Christmas Day, and I'm sure by that point the public had moved on. Nevertheless, anyone who was still curious could view the label nestled in the middle of the newspaper and draw their own conclusions about an act of human error.
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Sources:
Central Government Offices, Perth [picture]; State Library of Western Australia; Call number: 230498PD
Parliament of Western Australia; Legislative Assembly; Wednesday, 22 December 1897; Pages 1273-1278
1897 'STOLEN OR LOST?', The Golden Age (Coolgardie, WA : 1894 - 1898), 22 December, p. 2. , viewed 06 Aug 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article256757206
1897 'THAT MISSING MAIL.', Kalgoorlie and Boulder Standard (WA : 1897 - 1898), 23 December, p. 2. , viewed 10 Aug 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article255621678
1897 'PARLIAMENT.', The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), 23 December, p. 6. , viewed 10 Aug 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3190848
1897 'POINTS.', The Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1955), 23 December, p. 2. , viewed 11 Aug 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article82735826
1897 'PARLIAMENT.', The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), 24 December, p. 3. , viewed 12 Aug 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3190932
1897 'THE MISSING MAIL BAG.', The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), 24 December, p. 7. , viewed 12 Aug 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3190969
1897 'WESTRALIA.', The Golden Age (Coolgardie, WA : 1894 - 1898), 24 December, p. 3. , viewed 13 Aug 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article256757620
1897 'POINTS.', The Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1955), 24 December, p. 5. , viewed 13 Aug 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article82741656
1898 'THE PUBLIC OFFICES.', Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), 11 February, p. 23. , viewed 14 Aug 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33150425
1897 'Display Advertising', The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), 25 December, p. 6. , viewed 14 Aug 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3191093