The Heretaunga Post Office opened on 15 April 1918 under the control of Miss L C Moir and closed on 5 February 1988 when Mrs S T Hudepohl was in charge.

Residents of Heretaunga were about halfway between the post offices at Trentham to the north and Silverstream to the south. During World War 1 there was an increasing demand for a post office at Heretaunga, which Upper Hutt’s newspaper proprietor A.J McCurdy cynically recorded was to service 50 golfing families residing there.

On 2 December 1915 a telephone exchange opened at the Golf House initially serving 13 subscribers under the control of W Kay, followed by Mrs L V Baires from 8 July 1916 until it was transferred to the new post office building on 15 April 1918.      

The Post & Telegraph department purchased a section on the corner of Bathurst St and Main Road (now Ferguson Drive) and a small brick building was erected which was officially opened on Saturday 20 April, five days after being opened to the public. A residence for the Postmistress was also provided at the rear of the building.

The offices at Trentham and Silverstream were then closed^*1 and would not reopen until 1924 and 1949 respectively. The locals were not happy despite the erecting of “at least seven posting boxes that would be cleared twice daily”^*2 For some years the names and dates of the staff were not recorded on the Heretaunga Post Office file, those known occupying the position of Postmistress and Assistant^*3 were –

Postmistress	Start		Postmistress	Start
Miss L C Moir	15 Apr 1918		Mrs N Gibson	20 Apr 1965
MissC E M Keasberry	1926		Mrs J M Gleeson	9 Jan 1968
Ms E McAloon	10 May 1938		Mrs D C Soster	1 Feb 1971
Not Recorded	1946 – 1959		Mrs V Davis	10 Dec 1973
Mrs J M Knox	18 Jan 1960		Mrs B P Tari	2 Feb 1976
Mrs J A West	13 Oct 1960		Mrs B L Beilby	20 Nov 1978
Mrs M R Hunter	10 Apr 1961		Mrs Gotty	Not recorded
Mrs I O Valentine	18 Jul 1961		Mrs Stewart	Jan 1986
Mrs M J L Brown	20 Nov 1961		Mrs S T Hudepohl	11 Aug 1986

Assistant	Start	Assistant	Start
Mrs J Cook	14 Nov 1974	Mrs M Roe	26 Feb 1976

The photograph^*4 below is the official opening of the Heretaunga Post Office on 20 April 1918 by the Postmaster General Sir Joseph Ward^*5 who lived nearby on Golf Road.

A 1976 view of the same building with a telephone box at the front of the office, an office clock at the top of the central front window and posting box, can be viewed at the top of the article.

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^*1 Source – Evening Post 26 February 1918 – https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19180226.2.20

^*2 Source – Dominion 15 March 1918 – https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19180315.2.36

^*3 Source – Archives NZ – Post Office Record Cards listing the names and dates of Postmasters – https://collections.archives.govt.nz/en/web/arena/search#/?q= R26283355

^*4 Source – Archives NZ – NZPO Heretaunga PO History File – https://collections.archives.govt.nz/en/web/arena/search#/?q= R21726651

A “thank you” to Andrew McNiven for sending this article to The Upper Hutt Connection.

01/12/25