Tom’s tales from telegraphist to postmaster
• Tom Brimfield was the postmaster in Scottsdale for more than 20 years.
By Daisy Baker
September 30, 2020
When Tom Brimfield was in his youth, there were few private telephones and communication largely occurred through telegrams and letters.
He was born in Hobart in 1926 and spent the early years of his childhood in the south of the state, in a remote mining town called Adamsfield.
His mother was employed there as a cook to provide meals for the miners.
The climate was harsh and extensive snow fall was common.
When Mr Brimfield’s mother remarried WW1 veteran Ken Williams who hailed from Scottsdale, the family relocated to the North-East.
They bought a house in Hedley Street for 300 pounds, and for another 50 pounds they bought the block next door.
Mr Brimfield attended Scottsdale Primary and High School, and then at 14 after passing the post office exam he started work as a telegraph messenger earning 68 pounds per year.
“One of the first things I did when I started was learn Morse code and I became proficient at sending and receiving telegrams,” he recalled.
“A 14-word telegram anywhere in Australia cost one shilling.”
Telegrams were often sent congratulating loved ones on their wedding or celebrating their birthdays.
He said with the Morse code system, telegrams were sent through a relay system and delivered almost instantaneously.
Mr Brimfield spent the next three years travelling around Scottsdale on an 11-mile circuit, delivering the mail.
“One of the practices in those days was when the postman put a letter in the mailbox, he’d give two toots on his postman’s whistle,” he said.
“As well as my day job I was the night telegraphist 10pm-8am seven days a week.
“It was called the sleeping shift. A bed was provided but mostly the amount of sleep you got depended on the amount of calls and if there was an urgent emergency.”
In 1941 he met Shirley Kerrison, a telegraphist at Derby, whom he would later marry.
Mr Brimfield laughed, recalling that most of the courting was done by phone.
He would stay back after night shift to talk to Shirley, as she was permanently on day shift.
“One day I rode my pushbike from Scottsdale to Derby to see her,” he remembered.
“Another occasion I caught the train from Scottsdale to the Herrick terminus and Shirley was there and we walked three miles from Herrick to Pioneer to visit her mother who ran the general store.”
In 1945 Mr Brimfield went to Hobart to postal training school where he furthered his education for nine months.
He said there was one day in particular during his training which he will never forget.
“I remember being at the GPO telegraph office when peace was declared and all these telegrams started coming through detailing Australian prisoner of war conditions.”
For the next six years he was on the postal relief staff, travelling around North and North-West Tasmania.
In 1950 he was appointed senior postal clerk of Scottsdale so he and Shirley built a home in Hedley Street and had two kids, Kathleen and John.
The family moved to St Helens in 1960 for five years when Mr Brimfield was promoted as postmaster there, where they enjoyed the lifestyle St Helens has to offer.
They then returned to Scottsdale when he was appointed the postmaster at Scottsdale, where he worked for the next 20 years before retiring in 1981.
Mr Brimfield said his role mainly involved sorting mail, dealing with delivery of mail and selling a few stamps at the counter.
“It was mostly postal matters in those days – it was no sales shop as it is today.”
Over the course of his career, he said the industry remained largely the same but one major change was when Morse code was phased out in 1960.
“It was replaced by teleprinters and the telegrams would come through on the teleprinter.”
In the early 70s Scottdale’s new post office was opened, which cost $80,000 to build.
Mr Brimfield said they relocated to the new spacious location from the previous pokey building, constructed almost a century before in 1890.
Just prior to retiring he and Shirley built a new home on the family farm at Cox’s Creek, Ellesmere.
“That was the site where Thomas Cox built the first home in Scottsdale in 1860,” Mr Brimfield said.
“That was the family farm and then my son John and I ran the farm for a few years.”
His favourite pastimes were gardening and fishing and working on the farm.
Mr Brimfield said he found his 41 years’ service through the post office fulfilling and never considered another career.
“In those days it was service that really counted, now it’s all about the almighty dollar,” he said.
“I was fortunate enough to enjoy the lifestyle that existed.
“There wasn’t much money around but everyone seemed happy, even during the Great Depression and World War.”
The 94-year-old now lives with his son John in Scottsdale and is enjoying life at a slower pace, cherishing time spent with family and friends.