Last Wednesday, Harry Moshonas delivered mail in Richmond Victoria for the very last time. For 45 years, Harry was a postman on the Richmond route and along the way made many friends and collected many memories. But the time had come to hang up his delivery bag for one last time and bid farewell to his Australian Post friends and the community in Richmond that has embraced him so lovingly over the years.
“Just last week I had an Australian lady waiting for me to make me coffee and she was crying,” says Harry about leaving behind many loyal residents who have for the past 45 years waited to receive letters of hope, love and news… not just bills.
“It was very emotional as it was getting closer to the retirement day,” Harry tells Neos Kosmos, “I am trying to be strong and I have to get through it and that’s part of life.”
When Harry first arrived in Australia, he worked in a factory for three years but in 1967 decided to get a “proper job”.
“Someone said to me you speak a bit of English, you should try the council or the post office, so I went straight to the post office and starting delivering mail on the first day.”
He remembers it being quite difficult in the early days, trying to navigate around Richmond, but after two to three weeks he was set on his road to becoming the most memorable postie in Richmond.
For the first 30 years he carried a shoulder bag and travelled by foot and tram before upgrading to a bicycle.
His was a time when there were many Greek families living in Richmond who’d all wait patiently for him to deliver news from Greece, as this was their only method of communication in an era before mobiles, emails and skype.
“In those years, on my round there used to be a lot of Greek houses and every morning they would all be out there waiting for me to bring a letter from Greece from their loved ones,” he says reminiscing.
“People would wait outside to get good news from Greece and sometimes I knew I didn’t have a letter for them and I’d try to get through the street without them noticing me because I didn’t want to disappoint them,” says the caring postie who laments the loss of the written word through advancements in technology.
In the 45 years, he’s seen members of the family pass on, grow old, have children and seen their children have children. Harry himself feels part of their families as he’s watched so many people grow old with him.
And now with the retirement day been and gone, he leaves Australia Post and his working years behind him with mixed feelings.
“I have to retire,” he says, “it comes to a stage in my life where it’s the end of the road.”
And as Harry Moshonas faces a new chapter in his life, he will be sorely missed traipsing around the streets of Richmond, delivering nothing but good news to the neighbourhood.