An official street number at last

Alf Wilford, one of our talented volunteers, showing off our new street number sign which he fashioned and painted

Most cities, towns and villages in Australia have an easily negotiated street system, with houses and commercial enterprises identified with a street number, so people looking for the buildings, or the postie (or more common now the courier) looking to deliver mail and packages can locate them efficiently. Not so in Hall village.

By the turn of the 19th century families began arriving in the village and homes were built. Rather than give their houses a number families chose to identify their residences with a name: 'Sunnyside, 'Cooee', 'Winarlia' 'Choisel' to name a few. Some of the nameplates still survive.

The street numbers have been allocated but if you drive around the village, spotting an actual number adorned to a picket fence or a post box or on a street-facing wall, is a rare event. That is because there is no postal delivery service in the village. To receive your mail you either have to have a Post Office box or you walk down to the Post Office to collect it.

A post office was established in the village on 1 June 1888 and its physical location moved around the village until C. W. Southwell built new premises for his commercial enterprises in Victoria Street in late 1912 and the post office moved in on 3 January 1913, where it remained for many years. Nowadays the is a licensed Post Office, still in Victoria Street, just on the opposite side of the street.

On navigational maps the Hall Heritage Centre was identified as being located at 17-19 Palmer Street. We decided that was too vague and in order to identify an exact location for our main entrance we decided on #19.

Alf Wilford, one of our very talented band of volunteers, has created our street number sign, in heritage colours, and it has taken pride-of-place on one of our heritage pine trees planted in 1919 to commemorate the end of the First World War.