76-Year-Old Restores 180 Historic Mailboxes in Costume

Mick Slocum didn't plan to become the guardian of Victoria's forgotten postal history. But the moment the 76-year-old former band member cleaned graffiti off his first pillar box two years ago, he knew he couldn't stop.

Now he travels across Victoria in a tartan three-piece suit and straw boater hat, bringing colonial-era postboxes back to life. He's restored 70 of the state's remaining 180 pillar boxes, uncovering hidden treasures beneath decades of bland red paint.

These ornate boxes were once the backbone of Australian communication. Installed in the 1850s and produced at Melbourne foundries, they stood on street corners where horse-mounted postmen would stop multiple times daily to collect mail.

Starting in the 1960s, Australia Post sealed them shut and covered their bright reds, golds, and greens with a dull coating. Mick scrapes away those layers by hand, without modern tools, revealing secrets that have been hidden for generations.

His most breathtaking discoveries include a delicate golden crown in Collingwood, likely painted for Queen Elizabeth's 1954 visit. In Jolimont, he uncovered a collection notice possibly dating to the 1800s.

The Ripple Effect

What began as one man's creative impulse has sparked unexpected community connection. Australia Post now pays him for each restoration, and a supplier provides paint for free.

Locals greet him like family when he works on their street corners. The homeowner in Albert Park whose pillar box Mick was restoring welcomed him "like a long-lost brother."

In May 2025, the National Trust awarded Mick a conservation prize for his work restoring 16 boxes in Ballarat. "He's provided a real highlight of the joy that heritage can spark in people's lives," said Sam Westbrook from the National Trust.

Each restoration takes anywhere from a couple of days to several weeks. Mick works in heat and cold, along busy and quiet roads, bringing vibrant color back to streetscapes where cars and trams now zip past.

He's got about 100 pillar boxes left to restore, but he's already eyeing his next challenge: 50 electricity boxes from the 1920s and 1930s scattered throughout Melbourne's CBD.

For now, Mick takes it one pillar at a time, driven by a simple hope: "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."