Dead Letter

The European craze for collecting and sending picture postcards arrived in New Zealand in the early 1900s, reaching its peak in popularity just prior to the outbreak of World War One. Novelty postcards, such as this one from Rakiura (Stewart Island), made use of natural materials which were abundantly available on the island and were a unique souvenir. Since about 1900 it had become customary for tourists visiting Paterson's Inlet Post Office in Stewart Island to dispatch dried leaves of the shrub muttonbird scrub as postcards.

This practice of sending tree leaves through the postal system gave the New Zealand Post Office problems. A circular of 1 March 1906 stated: "The transmission of tree-leaves posted loose and bearing written communications to the United Kingdom or to countries in transit through the United Kingdom is forbidden".  In September 1912 it was again mentioned that "Loose-tree-leaves are not to be accepted for transmission by post to any address". Despite these warnings postcard senders were not discouraged and, in February 1915, another memo stated: "Loose tree-leaves are prohibited, and if posted are to be sent to the Dead Letter Office for disposal".