The North Shore towns where mail arrives by boat

Along the upper reaches of the North Shore, where the Hawkesbury separates the region from the Central Coast, a few small, isolated communities still rely on a boat to get their mail delivered.

On the waterfront: The Riverboat Postman, operating since 1910, is currently run by Catherine and Justin Pigneguy. Australia Post entrusts them with servicing the small villages along the Hawkesbury like Dangar Island, Bar Point and Marlow.

Steering the ship most days of the week is veteran skipper Rob, who relates historical anecdotes about the region to passengers over the PA system. 

“I’ve played with boats all my life”, he told us as we passed under the Hawkesbury River Bridge. “I’ve surfed, scuba dived, sailed … and sunk, in the ‘98 Hobart [Yacht] Race”. 

“In another life”, Rob said, he was a manager at Commonwealth Bank, but for the last 26 years he’s been piloting boats around Sydney’s oceans, harbours and rivers. He’s meant to retire from the role soon. “But [Catherine] reckons I’ll pull a John Farnham, and keep coming back”, he said.

Onwards: The first stop along Wednesday’s route is Dangar Island: a small forested island known for its bowling club, colourful locals and golf buggies.

Dangar is one of the few stops where locals have access to a grocer or general store. The rest rely on boats to get nearly everything. The most common items carried by the Riverboat Postman are booze and toilet paper. 

Changing industry: Since the 2000s, when the region's aquaculture industry was devastated by disease, this section of the Hornsby Shire has shifted focus to its tourism industry. The Riverboat Postman supplements its postal route by running a concurrent tour service, offering passengers views, history and a ploughman’s lunch at noon. 

Next to a pile of packages and letters, we sat with a table of retirees relating stories of pubs that no longer exist and old Parramatta Eels games. 

Delivery! At each stop, a bag of letters or assortment of parcels is carried off the ferry by Tom, second in command for the day. At Dangar, he greets a young man taking deliveries for the rest of the island. At Milson Island — a former prison, now used as a state-run sports facility — a NSW Government employee trades one bag of mail for another. 

And at Bar Point, an older man donning a ponytail wheels his goods back down the pier. Nobody is home at Marlow, and a bag is left hanging on a post. 

On the wharf of Milsons Passage, an older couple collect their Dan Murphy's order, accompanied by three dogs. Tom knows each by name, and feeds them some leftover roast beef from lunch. Even river postmen still have to placate the dogs.