An Australian artist's impulsive act has sparked a 'magic' post box restoration crusade, breathing new life into Victorian history. Mick Slocum, a 76-year-old former Bushwackers band member, is on a quest to resurrect nearly 200 colonial-era postboxes, known as pillar boxes. His passion project, which has been two years in the making, has seen him travel across the state, refurbishing these historic boxes in period costume, often a tartan three-piece suit and a straw boater hat. It all began when he cleaned off graffiti from a pillar box, and the impulse to keep going grew.
Mr. Slocum's creative whim has sprouted into a personal campaign to restore every pillar box in the state. Australia Post has offered him payment for each completed pillar, and a supplier provides paint. Without modern tools, he has scratched, scraped, and painted pillars throughout Melbourne and regional Victoria. Each refurb takes between a couple of days and several weeks, undertaken in all weather and along roads busy or quiet, drawing curious onlookers and offers to help.
The juxtaposition of what these areas used to be like and what they are now is extraordinary, Mr. Slocum said. "I'm kind of bringing that back in a way - that's the magic of it." When the pillars were decommissioned in the 1960s, they were sealed shut and slathered with a bland, red coat of paint. Mick first shaves away this dull coating before sanding and returning the pillars to their original colors - usually bright red, gold, and green. The strips that come away with every scrape of his knife can hint at a pillar's secret past, often revealing layers of colors hidden for decades.
Some discoveries beneath the topcoat can be breathtaking. Mick's fascinating finds in the past year include a delicate golden crown painted on a pillar box in Collingwood, believed to have been added ahead of Queen Elizabeth's visit in 1954. In Jolimont, he uncovered a notice for collection times, estimated to date from the 1920s, though it could have been from the 1800s. There are about 180 pillar boxes in Victoria, but there were once thousands. It's not just the historic boxes that have disappeared from street corners. With the rise of the internet and telephones, sending a letter has largely become a thing of the past, and the number of modern post boxes has declined as well.
Mick received a National Trust conservation award in May 2025 for his work in Ballarat, where he has refurbished 16 pillar boxes. 'He's provided a real highlight of the joy that heritage can spark in people's lives,' said Sam Westbrook, executive manager of conservation and advocacy at National Trust. Mick is nearly halfway to his target of 200 pillar box restorations, with about 100 to go. But his unshakable passion for the colorful and creative means he already has his sights on his next project - once he's signed off on the final pillar box. 'In the CBD on every street corner there's an electricity box from the 1920s and 1930s. So far, I've restored two, and there are about 50 to go.' For now, he's focused on the main task - a project taken one pillar at a time. 'I always hope that one day I'll find a key that opens one of the boxes, and it'll be full of mail from the 1890s. You just never know.'
