WHEN Peter Gorman worked as a postie in Casterton as a young lad, an unusual letter just like this (above) turned up one day.
Instead of writing an address, the sender had merely scribbled an outline of a fish and a house, followed by the town name.
Peter was mystified, but after a few days the mail sorting staff told him to “try this man” and sent him to the address of a well-known local identity whose nickname was “Fish”.
Sure enough, Fish, whose real name was Reg Holmes, confirmed the letter was for him.
Peter worked as a postie from 1959 until around 1965, completing his 37km round on a push bike twice a day.
“During that time, a letter turned up regularly each month addressed the same way,” recalls Peter, who later became the local postmaster.
The creative address was apparently courtesy of Fish’s musical family, who founded the Casterton Vice Regal Band which is still going strong today.
And while Fish died long ago, the memory of the letters remains strong for Peter, who recreated this modern-day replica with a little help from his substantial philatelic collection.
