Melbourne's first post office was a crude bark hut with mud chimney in Collins Street. Its first postmaster, E.J. Forster, was appointed in 1837. In the immigrant city the post office provided the main means of communication. Settlers eagerly awaited letters bringing news of developments on the other side of the world, although coming by sea, such 'news' would be months old before reaching its destination. The 1850s gold rush brought an influx of people to Victoria, and a rapid increase in the volume of mail. However, the advent of the telegraph from 1854 made communications more immediate.

While in the USA town hall is a generic term for 'local government', in Australia it refers to a building used for civic functions. Traditionally, Melbourne's town halls were the focal point for the municipality, providing public meeting spaces, council chambers and, often, libraries and municipal offices.

Melbourne has a rich history of strike action, occurring regularly as part of an ongoing struggle between trade unions and employers. A conflict between newspaper proprietors and printers in 1857 saw a wage rise at the Argus, but the proprietors brought non-union labour from Great Britain, and many strikers lost their jobs. Wage rates at the Age were reduced in 1858 and the union was defeated. In 1882 tailoresses in Melbourne struck successfully against a reduction in pay in what may have been the first Australian strike by females. May 1903 saw a nine-day strike by railway employees, which ended in the face of the threat of non-union labour and a Railway Strikes Suppression Bill.