The days when ‘the post’ came by horse, coach and train

Some of us can recall a time when all letters and accounts were handwritten and were vital for communication.

The idea of mail being delivered instantly to mobile phones belonged to science fiction.

With the discovery of gold in Gympie in 1867, there was an urgency for a mail delivery from Brisbane.

A bush track was laid out and, the following year, Cobb & Co coaches began a mail and passenger service.

The Gympie Times advertised the first journey on November 19, 1868: Gympie to Traveston (15 miles), then to Ward’s, later Murray’s (16 miles), to Maroochy – Low’s (10 miles), to Cobb’s Camp (8 miles), to Lander’s (11 miles), to Glasshouse (13.5 miles), to the punt at Caboolture River (13 miles), to Petrie’s (15 miles) and on to Brisbane (16 miles): a total of 117.5 miles (189km).

The journey took two days, with a night stay-over at Maroochy (Yandina), close enough to the halfway mark.

Later on, Cobb’s Camp Hotel at Woombye became the regular overnight stop. The coach service operated until 1879.

The first wet season in 1869 was hazardous for Cobb & Co. At Woombye, four coach horses were drowned. The coachman narrowly escaped being drowned as well.

The mail for Yandina and One Mile was lost and the mail bag for Gympie was not recovered until the next day.

As the Maroochy River was also flooded, the Gympie coach waited on one side of the river and the mail was swum across by horseback.

The district’s first post office was established in 1868 on Maroochy River, opposite Dunethin Rock and on the edge of Yandina Cattle Run (and so the name, Yandina Post Office).

A few months later that same year, it was relocated to the Brisbane-to-Gympie Road at South Maroochy Crossing, taking the name along (later the town of Yandina).

At that time, postage on an ordinary letter was two pence and a postmaster was paid 12 pounds per year: a worthwhile amount when wages were generally five shillings a day.

After Cobb & Co ceased, different combinations of packhorse or horse and buggy delivered the mail.

Receiving offices and post offices were established as the population grew.

They were opened in 1875 at Buderim, in 1878 at Woombye, in 1885 at Rosemount and in 1888 at Petrie’s Creek (Nambour).

Changes in technology influenced communication. In 1891, with the opening of the rail link from Brisbane to Gympie, some rail stations took on post office duties, with mail delivered by train.

In 1908, William Coulson obtained the mail contract to service farms on Maroochy River between Yandina and Maroochydore. It, too, would succumb to progress by road transport.

 Audienne Blyth is a member of the Nambour Historical Museum, open 1-4pm Wednesdays to Fridays, and 10am-3pm on Saturdays.