Dalgety District Community Association president Vickii Wallace and volunteer Jay Kuchar at the community-operated Dalgety Post Office opening day. Photo: Vickii Wallace.
The determination of a small Snowy Mountains community has seen the town’s post office reopen nearly 18 months after it closed.
Dalgety’s Australia Post branch, which was operated from commercial premises, closed in December 2021, apparently due to pressures from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thanks to some committed locals, a new-look post office opened on 25 March, saving locals a drive of more than 50km to pick up their mail and access postal services.
Dalgety District Community Association (DDCA) president and former local councillor Vickii Wallace started a campaign to reopen the post office soon after it closed.
She said people in the town had not had mail delivery and had been forced to travel to Cooma to obtain their mail.
The decision for the Dalgety District and Community Association (DDCA) to run with this project will result in Australia Post payments to the DDCA, which intends to use the funds to benefit the community, possibly through music events, tennis coaching and the like.
Ms Wallace said the township’s lack of street mail delivery had left many residents isolated.
The new postal service is being run by the DDCA, with locals able to pick up mail and parcels from the Dalgety Showground on Campbell Street.
Ms Wallace said: “The DDCA would like this service to bring the community back together and be a hub for community events.
“The DDCA is very interested in hearing of other thoughts that the community has to make life more enjoyable and interesting for them.
“We are also very keen on having more volunteers. This comes with free membership of the DDCA in appreciation of them serving the community.
“Since opening, we have had such great feedback from the community.
“We had more than 300 letters on the first day, a backlog of mail that had been held at Cooma Post Office, and parcels were on top of that.
“The DDCA and the Dalgety community would like to thank all of the staff at Cooma Australia Post, who have had to work extra hard over the past year to deal with their normal mail plus ours, which is no mean feat but always done with a smile.
“This service has been a great benefit for so many, reducing the long distance to Cooma – for some 60km, for others even more, only to find that the parcel they were expecting was still not there. This was very frustrating for all.
“Time and money have been saved through this service coming back to the community for the community, a real win-win.”
The new Dalgety Community Postal Agent will be open from 11 am to 2 pm on Saturdays, and 4 pm to 6 pm Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Loading ...
