These publications were produced from 1868 to 1949 on an annual basis to enable people in Queensland to be contacted. They were produced initially by the Queensland Post Office but later they were outsourced to a commercial publisher. They were discontinued because people preferred to use telephone directories once telephones became widely used. Like telephone directories, the Queensland PostOfficedirectories usually had two main sections, listings of names and listings of businesses organised by category allowing larger entries for advertising. Listing in these directories was not free or compulsory, but the benefits of being able to be contacted meant most businesses and most heads of households are listed.