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Kōrero: Mail and couriers

Kaitāia post office

Image
Kaitāia post office

The important job of running a small country post office was often held by a woman. Here Miss Sophie Matthews, postmistress at Kaitāia in the Far North, stands at the door of her post office in about 1915. The sign overhead says ‘Money Order Office, Post Office Savings Bank’. A post office like this was often the only financial institution in a small community.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library, Northwood Collection (PA-Group-00027)

Reference: 1/1-026523; G

by Arthur James Northwood

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.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Tim Shoebridge, Mail and couriers – Mail in the steam era, 1850s–1890s, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/23051/kaitaia-post-office (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Tim Shoebridge, i tāngia i te 12 April 2010.