Australia Post customers gobsmacked by meaning of logo

Another day means another realisation that something right in front of our eyes is not what it seems.

Many Australians were surprised to find out the hidden meaning behind the Australia Post logo, thanks to a Melbourne man who is passionate about educating people on designs, cities, and interesting places.

"Ever wondered what’s going on with the Australia Post logo?" Julian O'Shea asked his followers on TikTok this week.

"Now clearly the 'P' is trying to represent 'P' for post but what is this thing all about?", he said, referring to the horn-like circle on the right side of design.

"The shape is based on the post-horn which was an actual instrument that would be blown to let people know the mailman was here to come down and bring your packages. [It] was used in the 18th and 19th century but notably the symbology [sic] has been used for a lot longer," he explained.

While the symbol inspired the AusPost logo in 1975, O'Shea said it's also been used in plenty of other contexts.

"This shape is in a whole lot of mail service logos, from Argentina to Germany to Iceland — they all use this symbol," he said in the TikTok. "You see similar things with the phone symbol."

Yahoo News Australia reached out to Australia Post who confirmed the logo's origin story.

'This is something they should teach us in primary school'

The video explaining the symbol was viewed almost 60,000 times, with many people having no idea about the story behind the logo. And TikTok users were quick to praise the Melbourne man for his enlightening content.

"This is crazy! How did I never know this??" one person commented.

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"Honestly thought it was just a circle with a 'P' in it," another said. "Didn’t even realise the horn shaped detail."

"I’ve learnt something today," a third person said.

The conversation also prompted people to discuss other types of mail service logos around the world.

"The horn seems to be more a continental European thing," one person said on Instagram. "The UK uses a crown, Ireland’s An Post uses a stylised cancellation mark, Canada Post uses a winged envelope, the US Postal Service has an eagle taking flight (and pre-1971, a courier on horseback), Mexico a carrier pigeon."

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