Alan White has met many faces on delivery routes throughout his four decades as a postie in Childers.
At almost 100 years old, the passion he had for the job is still evident in his voice when he talks about the good old days.
Alan delivered parcels and letters on his trusty push bike around the region for more than 40 years after moving on from helping out on the family farm.
“My parents had a farm in Childers, they grew sugarcane and had cattle too,” he said.
“My great grandad had it before my grandad, who then passed it on to my father.”
Alan said he switched up farm work and school books for his first job as a messenger at the local post office at just 14 years old.
It was the start of a career that spanned the majority of his working life.
“It was good, I liked it and I loved meeting and talking to people,” Alan said.
“Half a day I would spend on the push bike and the other half I would go on to the counter.”
Alan said his career also took him to other parts of the state, including Woolloongabba in Brisbane and Yarraman in the Toowoomba region where he worked as a postie in between his time in the army.
“The post office and the army has been all of my life,” he laughed.
“I went to Darwin just when the bombing was nearly finished and I finished up a corporal.”
He said he also lived at Woodgate Beach for periods of time.
“I had a holiday home there for 20 years,” he said.
“Woodgate is really great!”
In 1980 Alan retired from his post office role at just over 60 years old and began tinkering.
“I did odd jobs on the farm- there’s always plenty of work to do let me tell you,” he said.
“We used to do it all by hand with hoes and horses as not many people had a tractor but now there are lots of tractors.”
While the Childers man never married or had children, he said he was blessed to have plenty of relatives in his life within the local area, Bundaberg and beyond.
He said while his upcoming 100th birthday on 7 November wouldn’t be a big affair, he may just enjoy a beer or two to celebrate.
