From stamps to SIM cards, money transfers to milk, telegrams to tomatoes, one Gulf of Carpentaria post office licensee has seen huge changes during four decades behind the counter.
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At the Burketown Post Office, Joy Arnold is preparing to sell the business, which includes a convenience store as a going concern as she plans to retire and move closer to the east coast to be near her son and daughters who live in Townsville and Cairns.
"When I bought the business in 1981 it was owned by the Postmaster-General's Department and I was called the postmistress," Ms Arnold said.
"Stamps were then and are still the most popular post office item we sell and in the general store it's cartons of soft drink, meat and groceries.
"I really hope someone buys the business and carries on because if it closes the nearest post office would then be 340km east at Normanton."
The 78-year-old said the business at Sloman Street, had expanded to include groceries after the demise of the general post office, which converted her to be a licensee in 1993.
'I decided to stock more stationery," she said. "And then my daughter Shea took my own wet season supplies to sell in the shop."
Now she stocks a wide variety of food including fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh meat, fresh milk, dairy products, drinks, pantry items, batteries, mobile phones and is visited by locals as well as the many tourists who visit the region.
Despite the advent of email and satellite phones, the region still relies on Ms Arnold and her team to receive letters and parcels as well as online shopping, which is delivered to the business by freight.
"Twice a week we have a run to Doomadgee and the Northern Territory, twice a week we have a mail run to Gregory and our contractor calls in to all the properties along the way to pick up and drop off mail bags," she said.
"And we have two planes a week to and from Cairns and then two days a week it's a one in each direction service and we also do a road mail service to and from Cloncurry."
Looking back, Ms Arnold said while technology has made great advances, people still want that personal connection.
"When I started here we were in the 1866 Oregon pine building when I purchased the block in April, 1981," she said.
"Then I had a one-line exchange from Normanton, which was a party line to Inverleigh Station and Wernadinga Station, although customers could call around town without going through the exchange.
"The in 1988 the town's telephone system became fully automated."
As the town expanded, Ms Arnold recognised the need for the business space to grow too.
"The town is very different from when I came here but the post office general store is still a real gathering spot and around two-thirds of the post office boxes are still rented," she said.
"My partner and I built a steel structure in 1985 and the Burke Shire Council purchased the old post office building and moved it near to the town's cenotaph and it's now a tourist information centre."
Growing up in the United Kingdom, Ms Arnold yearned for a warmer climate so made the 17,000km journey to Australia.
"I was 23 years old when I left Tunbridge Wells in Kent near London to come out on the Achille Lauro to Melbourne," she said. "The sun brought me here."
After disembarking Ms Arnold worked for a time at the Lorne Hotel on the Victorian west coast.
She was chatting one day with a girlfriend who also worked at the hotel and they decided to drive to Queensland's far north in search of adventure.
"I had done showjumping in the UK and was on Lorne beach with a horse-minded girlfriend and we decided after the Easter weekend we would set off north," she said.
"We had a car her father helped us get as he worked in the Ford factory in Geelong and we followed the coast up to Townsville
"Later we turned west and got jobs at a Hughenden sheep station during the shearing and I was a rouseabout helping to sort the sheep."
Eventually the pair made the 400km trip west to Cloncurry and from there eventually headed north to Burketown.
According to Ms Arnold, the combined post office and store is ideal for a family or couple wanting a laid-back rural lifestyle.
"We have one full-time and a couple of casual employees to run the business, which operates Monday to Friday between 9am to 5pm and Saturday from 9am to noon," she said.
"The freehold includes a three-bedroom residence with the business premises attached to the front.
"One thing to know is the purchaser must possess Australian citizenship or permanent residency status and all Australia Post training will be completed prior to settlement."
