John D'ewes was appointed Acting-Postmaster of Victoria on December 8, 1859 at the annual salary of �0. He had been a Police Magistrate at Ballarat, Australia Initally he had an assistant but due to cut-backs D'ewes ended up running the post office single-handedly, except on mail days, when a ship would arrive. The Treasurer of the goverment seems to have given D'ewes a free hand to operate the service and he run it to suit himself.

Soon after D'ewes was appointed Acting-Postmaster the first supply of Colonial postage stamps arrived in Victoria. They had been shipped from London on December 29, 1859 and reached the Colony sometime in the spring of 1860 and were in use by July 1860. The stamps were to replace the practice of hand-franking envelopes.

In early 1861 there were rich finds of gold in the Cariboo. Victoria was the gateway to the interior and there was an immediate boom due to the gold find. Left almost entirely to himself to operate the post office D'ewes was able to take advantage of the situation.

In September of 1861 D'ewes took a leave of absence leaving the pst office in the hands of a temporary assistant. D'ewes was to pay into the treasury all public moneys that had been advanced to him and all collections on hand. Neglecting to do this D'ewes went on leave with �0 advanced to him, �9, 11s, 6d in postal funds for letters to be transmitted through San Francisco and an unknown amount in Colonial postage. In addition he left with a considerable amount of undischarged debts.

On the 20th September 1861 it was reported that D'ewes had left a total of $1.15, which was in the daily postage box. Few colonial postage stamp seem to have been sold by D'ewes. Instead he continued to use the old hand-franks which could not be properly accounted for.

Apparently D'ewes went to Homberg, Germany and after losing all the money committed suicide by shooting himself.

John L. Bucley was placed in temporary charge of the post office for a few weeks. On 23 Oct 1861 Henry Wootton was appointed Postmaster in addition to his duties as Harbour Master.

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