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It appears that the controversy over where and how our mail service is conducted is nothing new to the Wide Bay .

In the 1860’s the main route for the mail was from Maryborough to Gayndah. Gladstone mail also travelled this route. Mail was brought up to Maryborough by the boat "Clarence",

which arrived on Wednesday night. The officials, set the departure time of the Gayndah mailman for Wednesday morning, consequently any mail for that area sat in the Post Office for a week before being sent on to its destination.

The poor mailman has always had to take the blame for any deficiencies there may be in our postal service. Heck, even the dogs hate him! However our posties of today fare well compared to their predecessors.

This trusty fellow had to collect the bags of mail, jump on his horse and following strictly the route set out for him, arrive safely in Gayndah four days later. The ghost of Ban Ban constantly bombarded the Editor of the Chronicle with letters of dissatisfaction regarding the postal service. The postman had been repeatedly asked to go by way of Ban Ban, but preferred to keep clear of that haunted place.

He was also at the mercy of the squatters on the stations along the way, where his change to a fresh horse took place. On arrival it was not unusual to find his horse had been used in his absence, being worked on the property and not in the condition to carry on at the pace required. Any complaint brought forth the threat of not being able to leave his horse there and therefore not being able to fulfil his contract.

It was a catastrophe when he did not make this trip in his allotted time, as the newspaper came up short on content for it’s weekly edition. He was expected to cross flooded rivers without getting the mail wet, and if his horse was washed out from under him and he had just managed to save himself, he was maligned for his tardiness.

Comments such as these appeared constantly in the local paper, "It seems our letters may be scattered by some vicious un-broken horse through the lone bush, or detained days upon the roadside, through the inability of the wretched lot to do their work. The postman may be hours behind this week and days behind another time and quite unable to explain why."

No matter that he had been thrown from his horse and badly injured, he was still expected to arrive on time and if this hapless fellow went missing all together, not too much thought was given to his plight, the only consideration being "the mail must go through." This belief that "The mail must go through on time" cost many a mailman his life and many a bag of mail scattered in the wilderness, never to be retrieved.