Connecting the Community
The Lauder Post Office opened on 9 May 1905 within the Lauder Station itself.
All the early postal work was performed by the railway staff. Being the ultimate multitasker, Frank Davies was the first Station Master, the porter, postmaster and telephonist from 1921-1943. The NZ Railways paid the wages.
The Station Master also ran the telephone line. A meeting of farmers was held at the Lauder Hotel to discuss the ability of the new form of telephone communication between the local farmers and the Lauder Post Office in 1907.
POST AND TELEGRAPH
LAUDER
22nd Jan 1968, Hauled Goods Above Omakau. Snow present on the Thomsons Range.
G.W.Emerson Collection
Lauder postmarks. S21-529b MS-3888-031- P.2 Hocken Collections - Uare Taoka o Hakena, University of Otago
Lauder postmarks. S21-529b MS-3888-031- P.2 Hocken Collections - Uare Taoka o Hakena, University of Otago
At 2pm, “the up train” would arrive in Lauder with the mail and the paper, with locals often getting their paper for the day around 6pm.
The Post Office later moved to the right side of the Station and was run by postmistresses. Before closing its doors on 3 December 1965, the role of the postmistress was held by Mrs Florence M Murphy.
Once the Post Office closed in 1965, the locals promptly sawed the postal box off the station and reattached it to the front of the Lauder store.
“We will be able to have a yarn with our friends without hardly leaving the fireside”.
Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 594, 16 October 1907, Page 5 .
