Queensland State Archives posted a photo:
Post and Telegraph
To an isolated community such as Mackay, the development of postal and telegraphic communication was very important, and was among the first public utilities established.
An early report describes business at Mackay being “conducted in a hovel in Wood Street, called, by courtesy, the Post Office.” When the mail arrived, it was thrown in a heap in the middle of the room and addressees selected their own mail from the pile. The Postmaster General paid a visit in 1863 and reported the Mackay office as ‘very unsatisfactory’. The first postmaster was probably J.T. Baker who was also clerk of petty sessions.
Pack horse mail services to Nebo and Avon Downs in the hinterland were established in 1865. In 1867 the electric telegraph line from Brisbane was extended from Broadsound to Mackay.
The telephone, invented by A.G. Bell in 1876 came to Brisbane in 1880 and Mackay