Mel Matheson knew if he held onto an old postcard someone once sent his grandmother Antoinette Matheson it would eventually be 100 years old.
Thursday was the day the card dated October 6, 1916 and sent from Stan Miller in Melbourne to Antoinette Matheson in Kaimamaku made it to its centenary.
That same month and year 100 years ago also resonates with the Matheson family for a tragic reason, the death of Antoinette Matheson's eldest son Kenny at the Somme.
Antoinette Matheson was German, and had lived in Germany until she married and moved to her husband's farm at Kaimamaku, north-east of Whangarei.
Her grandson Mel said it always seemed particularly sad that her eldest son, a New Zealander, was killed in a battle against her native country.