New life for old Prospect Post Office

New life for old Prospect Post Office

Published on 05 June 2023

An historic Western Sydney building will be given a new lease on life as part of Blacktown City Council's masterplan for the expansion of St Bartholomew's Cemetery.

The heritage-listed Prospect Post Office building will undergo extensive repair and stabilisation works as part of a half a million-dollar project to bring new life to the almost 150-year-old building off the Great Western Highway.

The repairs are part of Council's long-term vision to restore and reuse the building as it expands the neighbouring St Bartholomew's Cemetery, to deliver much-needed burial and internment space for Western Sydney.

Mayor Tony Bleasdale OAM said Council had planned to bring the old building back to its former glory since it was transferred to Council from the NSW Government.

"The old Prospect Post Office is a building of great regional and state significance, and is the last surviving building of the original Prospect Village," Mayor Bleasdale said.

"Built between 1880 and 1890, the building operated as a post office for more than 100 years before the decline of the village in the 1950s.

"Today, it offers a rare glimpse into the long-lost village lifestyle of Blacktown, and Council is committed to preserving this structure and the history associated with it for future generations."

Works will involve rebuilding several walls within the structure, which have over time become severely cracked and unstable due to its location on clay soil.

The building underwent extensive renovation and conservation works in the late 1990s, but has largely been untouched since.

The Prospect Post Office is one of 15 heritage-listed buildings owned by Council.

Picture: Blacktown City Mayor Tony Bleasdale OAM and CEO Kerry Robinson OAM inspect repair works underway at the old Prospect Post Office.

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