Australia Post – Post Office Speeds the Mail (1970)
Synopsis
This is a short program produced by Bennett Honda for the Australian Post Office to introduce and promote the new use of motorcycles by postal delivery officers.
Curator’s notes
Australia Post’s postal delivery officers were known in 1970 as PMG (Postmaster-General’s Department) postmen. They walked or rode pushbikes to deliver the mail in cities and towns all over Australia. This programme, about the Postmen adopting motorbikes for their delivery runs, was actually titled The Australian Post Office Speeds Your Mail. The National Archive’s RecordSearch lists the title as Post Office Speeds the Mail.
For the changeover from pushbike to motorbike, which began in 1971, the PMG purchased a fleet of Honda CT90s, a tough little motorcycle also known as the Trail 90. Honda produced the CT90 from the mid 1960s through until 1979, when it was superseded by the CT110. Made to order for Australia Post with several design alterations and improvements, the motorbikes differed from the standard Honda CT110 model, which actually went out of production in the late 1980s. Since then, they have been produced exclusively for Australia Post. These red ‘postie bikes’ are the only motorcycles in Australia permitted to travel on footpaths. Ridden today by both male and female posties, they are now as familiar a sight in Australian suburbs as the postman on his pushbike was in the 1950s and 60s.
- Overview
- Curator’s notes
- Video 1 clip
- Find a copy
- Make a comment
- Add your review
