The post office in West Street was the winning entry of architect Phillip Dungeon in 1882. The original design was for a town hall that included a postal agency and museum. It was built during 1885 and was unequaled in size and grandeur in that time. The original building consisted of a tower over the pediment portico and its two wings. The building has been extensively enlarged at the rear but it remains one of South Africa’s finest classical buildings. It is an elegant composition of restrained classical elements and fine detail in plaster work. After his escape as a Boer prisoner of war, Winston Churchill made a public address from the steps of this building. It also was the scene of the 1908 convention that brought the four colonies of South Africa together to form the Union of South Africa in 1910. A bronze plaque commemorates the occasion. It became the General Post Office of Durban after the present City Hall was completed.

The Drakensberg
Geology The Drakensberg Mountains had their onqm some 200 million years. ago when a vast landmass...