Mahony, Francis Patrick, 1909-1999

Date: 18 Dec 1984

From: New Zealand Post Office Oral History Project

By: Mahony, Francis Patrick, 1909-1999

Reference: OHInt-0070/09

Description: Frank Mahony recalls his family background, family mail delivery and carrying business - J Mahony & Sons Ltd, childhood in Napier, education, influenza epidemic 1918, early memories of the Napier Post Office, work as rural mail contractor, sorting and delivery procedures, the changes from horse to truck at J Mahony & Sons Ltd, competition, goods carried, early Post Office work, the Arapawanui mail and wool run in 1930, the routine, the hazards, reference to Archie Curtis, Stan Evans, Ella McKinnon (nee Dobson), Jack McKinnon, Petane, Tongoio, types of trucks, the depression 1930s, work on transformers, the Napier earthquake in 1931. Talks about the rural delivery service, changes in the Post Office, attitude of the Post Office towards himself, hospitality on the mail runs, Mrs Manning, mailrun passengers, the Tongoio Post Office, work during World War II, social life, Ridgemount Station, flood in 1938, other services for clients. Accompanying material - Handwritten notes (4 pages) about the background of the Mahony family; copy of 'Floods, slips don't stop the mailman' from the Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, 27 October 1984; copies of photographs of Frank Mahony and trucks, on Ridgemont (?) Beach 1936; sheet of blank memo paper with J Mahony & Sons Ltd letterhead. Venue - Napier Interviewer(s) - Judith Fyfe Venue - Frank Mahony's home at Napier Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-000761 - OHC-000763 Quantity: 3 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 2.58 Hours and minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete AB 119. Search dates: 1909 - 1984