A giant stringy bark gum near Cradle
Mountain between Lorinna and Sheffield in Tasmania, was known as “Middlesex
Post Office,” between 1912 and 1914, when the local population increased
suddenly with new rural settlers.
The tree had a large hole in its base, where people deposited parcels, letters, sacks, etc. Regularly but unofficially it was visited by the Postmaster from Lorinna about five miles distant. He was literally a “post office on horseback,” carrying stamps, postal notes, delivering and receiving mail. The Post Office tree as it is known to this day was quite a gathering place, like small rural post offices today, where people meet to “locals” consisted mainly of timber workers and farmers who collected their mail from an unlocked box left at the “post office” if they missed the postman. The system had most of the convenience of home delivery, with the added excitement of meeting neighbours.
The old tree was cut down when a sawmill was established at Daisy Dell (now a ghost town) nearby but the service continued from the old tree, which became a community symbol.
The tree is no longer used as a post office but for many years since 1914 residents would leave a letter at the tree and the next person going to town would take it in to the nearest post office.
The locals’ crude mail system was a rather chancy business particularly during bad weather and if the letter was urgent. But, the mail always seemed to get through.
Today, the Post Office Tree of years gone by is chiefly a place of interest for tourists, evoking romantic thoughts of lonely settlers, and the postal services that brought them periodically in contact with civilisation.
The old wooden sign pictured above erected by the Scenery Preservation Board to preserve the historical importance of the tree has recently been replaced by a cement monument erected by the Kentish Council.
The tree had a large hole in its base, where people deposited parcels, letters, sacks, etc. Regularly but unofficially it was visited by the Postmaster from Lorinna about five miles distant. He was literally a “post office on horseback,” carrying stamps, postal notes, delivering and receiving mail. The Post Office tree as it is known to this day was quite a gathering place, like small rural post offices today, where people meet to “locals” consisted mainly of timber workers and farmers who collected their mail from an unlocked box left at the “post office” if they missed the postman. The system had most of the convenience of home delivery, with the added excitement of meeting neighbours.
The old tree was cut down when a sawmill was established at Daisy Dell (now a ghost town) nearby but the service continued from the old tree, which became a community symbol.
The tree is no longer used as a post office but for many years since 1914 residents would leave a letter at the tree and the next person going to town would take it in to the nearest post office.
The locals’ crude mail system was a rather chancy business particularly during bad weather and if the letter was urgent. But, the mail always seemed to get through.
Today, the Post Office Tree of years gone by is chiefly a place of interest for tourists, evoking romantic thoughts of lonely settlers, and the postal services that brought them periodically in contact with civilisation.
The old wooden sign pictured above erected by the Scenery Preservation Board to preserve the historical importance of the tree has recently been replaced by a cement monument erected by the Kentish Council.
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