Few logos in Australia are as instantly recognisable as the red Australia Post emblem. It’s been through several redesigns since the organisation’s formation, but the core symbol has stayed remarkably consistent for close to fifty years. Here’s how it’s evolved.
Where the Story Begins: 1901 to 1975
Australia Post’s roots go back much further than its current branding. Postal services in the colonies were unified under the Postmaster General’s Department in 1901, following Federation. That department also handled telecommunications for the country, and it stayed in place until 1975, when it was split into two separate organisations. One became the Australian Postal Commission, which would go on to become Australia Post. The other became Telstra’s predecessor.
The Original Logo: 1975
With the new organisation came a need for its own visual identity, and the job went to Pieter Huveneers, a Dutch born designer who had relocated to Australia and already built a strong reputation locally, having created identities for brands including Westpac, Myer, Dulux and TAA.
Huveneers designed a mark based on the postal horn, the instrument European postal workers historically used to announce their arrival. Cleverly, the negative space within the horn shape formed a “P”, tying the symbol directly back to the word “Post”. The shape is built around the postal horn, an instrument once used to signal that mail had arrived. This dual meaning, an instrument that’s also a letter, is a big part of why the mark has had such staying power.
A Long, Stable Run
What’s notable about the Australia Post logo is how little it fundamentally changed for decades. The mark stayed largely intact from 1975 through to 1996, with the wordmark style shifting slightly in 1991. Through the 1990s and 2000s, refinements were made to the layout, the wordmark, and how the emblem sat alongside the text, but the postal horn symbol itself remained the anchor of the brand.
The 2019 Refresh
In 2019, Melbourne design studio Maud led a refresh that deliberately revived elements of the original 1975 design, moving away from some of the more boxed in, contained versions of the logo that had been used in the years prior. The update kept the historic red and white colour palette but placed the circular emblem directly on a white background, rather than inside a solid block shape.
This wasn’t a case of Australia Post trying to look dramatically different. If anything, it was the opposite, a conscious decision to lean back into decades of brand recognition rather than chase a trend. Given how recognised and trusted the brand already was, the agency treated a from-scratch rebrand as the wrong move, instead refining the existing elements individually.
Why the Redesign Still Worked
A refresh built around reviving a heritage mark is a genuinely difficult brief to get right. Lean too far into nostalgia and a brand can look dated. Change too much and you lose the recognition built up over decades. Australia Post’s 2019 update managed to modernise the typography and layout while keeping the postal horn symbol itself almost untouched, which is exactly why long time customers still recognise it instantly.
What This Logo Teaches Other Businesses
The lesson here isn’t really about postal horns. It’s about restraint. Australia Post had a genuinely strong, meaningful symbol from the very first version, and instead of replacing it every time a rebrand felt due, each update built on what was already working. For a business with a logo that’s already earned some recognition, that’s often a more valuable strategy than starting over.
About Business Logo Design Australia
Business Logo Design Australia designs custom logos for businesses across the country, from new startups to established businesses going through a rebrand. Every project starts with a real conversation about your business, followed by original concepts, a set number of revisions, and a complete set of final files ready for web, print, signage and everyday use. Pricing is laid out clearly before you commit to a package, so you always know what’s included.
Thinking About Your Own Logo’s Longevity?
A logo built with a genuine idea behind it, not just a nice shape, tends to age the way Australia Post’s has. Business Logo Design Australia designs logos with that kind of long term thinking from the very first concept.