File:Post and Telegraph Offices, Margaret Street, Toowoomba, c 1890.jpg

English: The Toowoomba Post Office, of which construction was completed in 1880, is one of three extant post offices built in the Classic Revival Style, with the other two at Maryborough (1866) and central Brisbane (1871). The fourth building of this type was at Dalby (1867), but is now demolished.

The opening and closing of "Postal Stations" reflected the fortunes of some of the more precarious settlements and indicates some of the difficulties faced by the Postal Department in providing services. Where the establishment of towns was closely connected with the opening of a railway, Post Offices were often at the railway station, where mail was received and sent, and where the Telegraph Office could benefit by the sharing of equipment with the Railway. The Post Office was one of the first Government functions to be established in a locality, and the need for regular communication was closely followed or sometimes preceded by the Police Station.

The period between 1859-1879 marked the separation of the Post and Telegraph Departments and a wide range of buildings appeared throughout Queensland to accommodate both functions. It was also the principal period of colonisation, with Government architect F. D. G. Stanley in charge of design and construction of post offices from 1872 - 1880, when a series of grand Post and Telegraph buildings were erected in both masonry and timber in the major provincial centres, of which Toowoomba was one.

The first postal service on the Darling Downs comprised a pack-horse mail service from Brisbane to Drayton in 1845, which was subsequently upgraded to a horse-drawn coach. By 1864 there were 42 mail services in Queensland, and the following year, Cobb and Co were appointed the official carriers of the state's mail.

The first Electric Telegraph from Brisbane to Toowoomba was established in 1861 as part of the intercolonial route. Subsequent connections extended the line to Dalby, Roma, Charleville and the far north-east. Toowoomba was located at the junction of a number of telegraph routes and subsequently grew in importance.

Queensland State Archives Digital Image ID 2690