Denise Foley has hung up her postie bag after 38 years of service to the island.

 

Denise, as a Real Estate agent, had a public-facing office, and was responsible for holding packages and registered mail that couldn't be delivered since 1988.

 

Known my many on the island, she was a valuable resource, even redirecting mail after people moved. A letter turned up for me two years after I'd changed my island address (when I moved onto the boat) and Denise made sure it found me.

 

 

Chatting with Denise, I was interested and a little disappointed to hear that Australia Post had no plans to replace her with another person on the island, with undelivered mail being returned to Pelicans Nest for collection by the resident.

 

'First you have walk to the jetty, then down the long jetty, catch the ferry to Victoria Point, the walk up the long jetty there, and then walk to Pelicans Nest to pick up a registered letter if you weren't home when the postie came', explained Denise.

 

 

It's the little things we often take for granted until they are gone. Denise's presence and service to the island is very much appreciated, and will be missed, especially when we get to pack a water-bag to pick up a letter. It seems to be a sign of the times, with bureaucracy impacting our lives, and sometimes feeling like death from a thousand paper-cuts.

 

The good news is that the Coochie Community will do what it always has done, with people helping each other. We can delegate collection or have it transferred to a different Post Office (although that does incur a fee of $7.20) *There are some instances when items are sent 'person to person', eg; certain replacement credit cards, passports or phones; where the named recipient must collect in person, unless they have a legal Power of Attorney/Guardian collect it.

 

We are still incredibly lucky to be living on the best little slice of Paradise in Moreton Bay, with Mother Nature showering us with more gifts than man has taken away, the dolphins, dugongs and turtles who visit regularly, the Emerald Fringe that Heritage fought for and won, the Melaleuca wetlands, and the little Welcome Swallows who are returning to the jetties, hatching and raising their young.