Skip to main content

Story: Mail and couriers

Letter from Thomas Buddle, 1845

‘You have not written [for] a very long time’, wrote Thomas Buddle, the senior Wesleyan missionary in Auckland, to his fellow missionary James Buller in Kaipara, on 15 January 1845. Buddle’s letter, sent by the ship Strathisla, was written on two sheets of paper. The outer one was sealed with wax – the mark of the sealing wax is still visible beneath the (very brief) address. In his letter, Buddle asks for news of a possible attack on Auckland by Kaipara Māori.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, James Buller Papers

Reference: MS-Papers-0180-03

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Tim Shoebridge, Mail and couriers – Beginning of the postal system, 1810s–1850s, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/23037/letter-from-thomas-buddle-1845 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Tim Shoebridge, published 12 April 2010.