The Hopetoun Licensed Post Office is located within the Hopetoun General Store at 24 Veal Street, and provides a range of services, with post office boxes available but no passport business. It is open Monday to Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, closed Saturday and Sunday.
Hopetoun is a town located on Mary Ann Haven on the south coast of Western Australia in the Shire of Ravensthorpe. Hopetoun is about 590 kilometres south-east from the state capital Perth and 160 kilometres west of Esperance.
Hopetoun was established in 1900 as a coastal town servicing the Phillips River Mining District, and named after the 7th Earl of Hopetoun and first Governor General of Australia, John Hope. It was a terminus of one of Western Australian Government Railways' isolated branch lines between Hopetoun and Ravensthorpe, and became a shipping port for the mining industry, with a jetty built in 1901. The railway closed in 1925 and the port closed in 1936, with the jetty remaining until its destruction in 1983.
For many years Hopetoun relied mainly on tourism and commercial and amateur fishing for it's continued existence. Commercial Abalone divers operate from the town, while the amateur fishermen can target a wide range of ocean species as well as excellent Black Bream fishing at Pitchie Richie a short drive inland.
The discovery of nearby nickel deposits saw renewed activity in the area, with BHP Billiton's Ravensthorpe Nickel Operations (RNO) encouraging supporting developments around Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun, but after initial development the falling nickel price saw the project shelved. One interesting side-effect of the downturn was the transformation of a 'Truck Wash' on the outskirts of Hopetoun, built to wash mine trucks, into a 'Cars Boats & Caravans Wash'.
First Quantum Minerals Australia Nickel bought RNO on 9 December 2009 from BHP Billiton. Nickel was first produced in October 2011 during commissioning, and first exports were shipped on 25 November 2011. Commercial production was achieved on 28 December 2011 and the plant continues to perform consistently at design throughput. RNO directly employs over 450 people and has a commitment to residential living for key staff in the Hopetoun–Ravensthorpe region.