set up in June 1841, travelling from Albany to Perth via Kojonup and Williams. The following year, a service through Guildford commenced. The tough conditions of the mail route saw a different contractor providing the service each year. The 1845 contractor James Martin had particular trouble with debts, which led to his mail horse being seized; while he managed to acquire a replacement animal, he also had trouble servicing the resultant debt of £2. In 1847, the Perth–Albany route was adjusted, so that the mail would travel from Albany to Kojonup, then head to Bunbury on the coast, and subsequently up to Perth via Rockingham and Fremantle. The new route still had difficulties, such as flooding in the winter of 1847 that resulted in a "terrible trip" which took a month to complete. The people of Albany, who could travel as passengers on the mail cart, found the trip to Perth long and deplorable. With the arrival of the convict ship Scindian on 1 June 1850 and the advent of convict labour, early completion of the Perth–Albany road seemed assured. Investigations of a direct route via Kelmscott, Hotham, Williams and Kojonup began in late 1851. Assistant Surveyor A. C. Gregory reported in 1852 that the direct route would be shorter than the route via Bunbury, and shorter than the York route. Construction was recommended in late 1852, after the mail contractor George Maxwell completed a journey along the proposed route in September, and soon commenced. had been completed by October 1853, and the whole road was finished in 1863. The road served as the main link between Perth and Albany until the 1880s, when the Great Southern Railway opened. Early 20th century The rise of the motor vehicle era in the early 20th century saw the road gain prominence once more. The newly formed Main Roads Board took over control and maintenance of the Perth–Albany road and twenty-one other important roads between 1926 and 1928, which were declared "main roads". At this stage the Perth–Albany road was not much more developed than a bush track. To increase the usability of the overall main road network, the Board's work schedule prioritised upgrading the worst individual segments, rather than any one road. In 1928/29, twenty-two separate sections of the Perth–Albany road were improved, but many were short, and drivers would experience quite varied conditions, from new sealed road to gravel road, and