Looking to semi-retire and escape the bustle of coastal life, Rob and Kerry Anderson found the lure of a well-renovated former bank opposite a post office in country New South Wales too tempting to pass up.
For Ungarie residents in the state’s Central West, the Andersons’ move would eventually end a bureaucratic nightmare and uncertainty surrounding the town’s volunteer-run post office.
“Kerry was here for 24 hours and they were on her doorstep wondering about me and when I’d like to volunteer,” Mr Anderson said.
Ungarie’s post office has been entirely run by volunteers since 2021, when former postmaster Jeff De Rozario died suddenly, with residents taking on responsibilities from mail sorting to delivery.
The couple moved to Ungarie in 2023 wanting to become a part of a small-town community after Mr Anderson retired from his decades-long banking career in Coffs Harbour.
Fast forward to 2024 and the Andersons have decided to buy the business, leaving residents hopeful about the post office’s future.
“Australia Post approached me about taking it all on I just said, ‘Oh yeah, right-oh. I’ll have a go’,” Mr Anderson said.
“It’s funny because my first job in banking, I would put stamps on envelopes or I would hand-deliver all the statements to the traders in the local street in suburban Brisbane.
“Today being the local postmaster — it’s very different — but it’s got some sort of circle-turning moment.”
No will but community finds a way
Without a will, Indian-born Mr De Rozario’s assets, including the post office, could not be sold.
The task of settling the tricky estate fell on West Wyalong solicitor Pat O’Kane.
“In my 47 years as a solicitor, I’ve never run into anything as complicated as this,” he said.
Mr O’Kane appealed to the Indian Embassy during efforts to find a birth certificate, and asked the NSW Supreme Court for assistance to settle the estate.
“I didn’t realise what I’d taken on when I started. I don’t think anyone would have taken it on,” he said.
There was a breakthrough when Riverina MP Michael McCormack stepped in to help, with his office finding that the mandatory registration of births and deaths in India only began in 1969, meaning Mr De Rozario may not have one.
After that, the path to settle the estate became clearer.
“We were able to get the will sorted, get the Ungarie community back with a postal service,” Mr McCormack said.
“That’s a good outcome in what is a very sad story and a complicated story.”
President of the Ungarie Advancement Group, Robyn Sherd McVey said the town’s elderly population relied on the postal service and knowing it has a future was reassuring.
“It means a vital community asset has been able to continue,” she said.
“Kerry and Rob really lifted the community and blended in very quickly which is great, and we’re just so happy to have them here”.
Ungarie’s post office used to have banking services as well, but will now only be licensed to deal with mail.
But Ungarie Advancement Group member, Nicole Lewis and said it would lobby Australia Post to reinstate banking options.
“A lot of services have been taken away, and this would just mean another,” she said.
Ms Lewis said a lot of businesses have closed in the town, which has led to families moving away.
“Once you lose people … it’s hard to get them back,” she said.
A spokesperson for Australia Post said in a statement the decision to remove banking services from Ungarie’s post office “follows careful consideration of the surrounding network”.
“We look forward to officially welcoming Rob as the new postal operator.”
Ungarie residents remain optimistic about their town’s future, and while residents have learned how to deliver mail and run a business, Mr O’Kane said there was another important lesson to learn from the past three years.
“The moral of the story is make a will,” he said.