General Post Office Brisbane Town..

The history of this site predates the 1872 construction of the Brisbane GPO by John Petrie. During the convict settlement the Female Factory or women’s prison was situated here, deliberately isolated from the rest of the settlement to keep the women away from the unwanted attention of other male prisoners and officers.
With the old prison and one time police quarters demolished, colonial architect FDG Stanley came up with the Italianate design for the GPO and twin Telegraph Office. Although the GPO was completed in 1872, the central tower (a scaled down version of a more grandiose proposed clock tower) and Telegraph Office weren’t built until 1877-79.