A 167-year-old letter sent from Whanganui will go under the hammer this month.
The letter, dated October 1857 from Reverend William Woon, is being auctioned by Ōtaki’s Mowbray Collectables.
It is addressed to “Alica Jones, up the Whanganui, kind care of Mrs. W. Kells”.
“As there was no regular postal system in the area at the time, this letter was likely carried privately up the Whanganui River – and is one of the earliest examples of mail in the area,” Mowbray Collectables managing director David Galt said.
According to NZ Post, the Local Posts Act of 1856 “gave provincial councils the authority to create their own mail services”.
This was replaced by The Post Office Act in 1858 - a year after the letter - establishing the Post Office as a government department.
Reverend William Woon was also known as Te Wunu.
“Interestingly, Woon used the correct spelling of Whanganui on his letter even after the town had been officially named ‘Wanganui’ in 1854,” Galt said.
Galt said Woon’s understanding of the language may have stemmed from the two years he spent in Tonga, printing scriptures in Tongan, before arriving in New Zealand.
The letter provides updates on Woon’s work as a reverend and details some global events of concern including flooding in Australia and the murders of British colonisers in India.
“Ran down with a gale of wind. You will recollect – it blew fearfully all the 18th. And the weather is still very unsettled. I fear the floods will visit us as in N.S. Wales,” Woon wrote.
Woon signed off the letter: “Yours affectionately, William Woon.”
Galt said the letter was expected to sell for around $350.
Meanwhile, a token for a 10-shilling discount from the Manawatu Farmers Co-Op will also go under the hammer.
The token, dated 1892, was made from cardboard and is one of two known to still exist today due to the frailty of its material.
The Manawatu Token.
The Mowbray Collectables coin, banknote, medal and stamp auction will take place on September 20 and 21 at the West Plaza Hotel in Wellington.
Olivia Reid is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.
