By Shelby Brooks
After almost four decades, Greg and Ann Harry have finished up at the Gembrook Post Office.
The couple celebrated their last official day in store on Thursday 3 October as they handed the keys to the new owners.
Ann and Greg took over the business in 1986 after Greg worked as a relief post master while the previous owner took a holiday.
“I liked it so much I said ’whenever you’re ready to sell, I’ll buy it’,” Greg told the Gazette.
“Four months later she called and said she was ready to sell.”
Greg and Ann said the people of Gembrook were the reasons they loved it so much.
“We were made to feel comfortable in town immediately, even though we never had anything to do with it before that,” Greg said.
“The people are fantastic and Gembrook has such a good vibe. It’s the city without being the city. Gembrook is Melbourne’s country cousins.“
The post office has changed premises three times during Ann and Greg’s ownership, beginning in a 2mx3m office when there were only 200 hours and 100 post boxes.
“Now we’re in a large shop overwhelmed with parcels and have 1400 houses and 600 post boxes,” Greg said.
“We’ve been a general store- post office, a hardware- post office and now for about 20 years have been a post office- newsagency.”
But more than just a postal service, Greg and Ann provided the rural community a point of connection for 36 years.
Greg described the post office as the centre of information flow in the town.
“Ann especially has looked after the community in that way,” Greg said.
“Through the post office we’d hear if someone was unwell so we’d organise working bees and cakes- we’re the conduit for the town.
“Ann and I feel it’s been such a privilege to serve the town and take on the responsibility of everyone banking and therefore knowing everyone’s business.”
Ann agreed.
“I’ve loved getting involved in the community and with the local families,” Ann said.
“It’s been so rewarding knowing each individual family and the births, deaths and marriages they go through as part of their families.”
They’ve also watched the town population and postal habits of locals change over the years.
“When we started, Gembrook was mainly a potato and timberwork industry,” Greg said.
“Now, there’s the last handful of potato farmers and no forestry industry anymore. It is still a hardworking independent town and has maintained that beautiful culture but now the population has changed to a lot of commuters and small farms.”
The rise in online shopping and parcel delivery has also kept Ann and Greg on their toes.
“We’ve geared up and adjusted the way we’ve done business,” Greg said.
“The staff here is fantastic and all busting arses off with the extra workload. Letters might have dropped down but parcels have been crazy.
“Australia Post has completely revolutionised their business, and we were able to as well.”
Greg said he thought Gembrook and Cockatoo’s parcel delivery had increased 10 fold in recent years.
“We hadn’t caught onto online shopping before the pandemic,” Greg said.
“The town has totally embraced online shopping.”
“The computer service was so bad, but now there’s been no choice.“
Greg and Ann said they were looking forward to becoming customers of the Gembrook Post Office and supporting the new owners, who previously owned the Grantville Post Office.
“We’ve done things same way for a long time,” Greg said.
“It’s time for new and better ways that are more modern.”
Ann said they had been overwhelmed with best wishes in the lead up to their retirement.
“We’ve seen four generations of families come through and employed a lot of local people,” she said.
“We got messages from people saying their job at the post office prepared them for their future careers.
“We’ve had so much love from the community it is a bit heartbreaking.
“We raised two boys along the way and they spent a lot of time in the shop too, we haven’t known any other way. The shop always came first.
“Now I’m looking forward to that next chapter, being a grandmother and catching up on the gardening and the housework which hasn’t been done in 36 years!”
