Posting the nation: Australia’s apprenticeship in letter writing

A national postal service is an essential nation-building institution; it integrates distant regions into a national community and fosters the extension of the public sphere. But in the first decades of colonial Australia, the material conditions of sending letters were precarious and uncertain, the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inHistory Australia Vol. 21; no. 4; pp. 1 - 19
Main Author Lyons, Martyn
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Clayton Taylor & Francis Ltd 01.12.2024
Subjects
19th century
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeships
Institution building
Nation building
Postal service
Public sphere
Rhythm
Australia
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:A national postal service is an essential nation-building institution; it integrates distant regions into a national community and fosters the extension of the public sphere. But in the first decades of colonial Australia, the material conditions of sending letters were precarious and uncertain, the rhythm of exchange was slow and the cost expensive. Australia had to learn how to write letters and how to send them; by the 1890s, it had completed its apprenticeship. Using postmaster-generals’ reports on one hand, and autobiographical sources on the other, I explore the experience and difficulties of epistolary exchanges in the nineteenth century.
ISSN:1449-0854
1833-4881
DOI:10.1080/14490854.2024.2412855