Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Traditional Healer rape case postponed due to delayed DNA test results
  • Rhodes University mourns the sudden passing of respected, award-winning alumnus, Eusebius McKaiser
  • Juniors football to make come back on Youth Day
  • Abuyile AmaTaliyane emva kwethuba elide
  • 9/10ths programme participants graduate from Rhodes University
  • Final report on Makhanda High Court move delayed until end October
  • Dozens of local kids turn out for Spelling Bee
  • Mbangeli makes a difference in the community through sports
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»Uncategorized»Go postal today
Uncategorized

Go postal today

Grocott's MailBy Grocott's MailOctober 8, 2012No Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Few growing up in Facebook World would associate scrawlings on a piece of paper tucked into an envelope with the words 'post' or 'message' – but for the past few hundred years, the postal sector has played a crucial role in people’s and businesses’ everyday lives.

Few growing up in Facebook World would associate scrawlings on a piece of paper tucked into an envelope with the words 'post' or 'message' – but for the past few hundred years, the postal sector has played a crucial role in people’s and businesses’ everyday lives.

Although old-fashioned snail mail could have provided only the merest inkling of the far-reaching impact of digital communication, it too was critical for the social and economic development of countries around the world.

Today is World Post Day, celebrated each year on 9 October, the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1874 in the Swiss capital, Bern.

We celebrate it by offering some fascinating postal facts and figures:

* The first telegraph office in South Africa was opened in 1860 in a little kiosk in Adderley Street, Cape Town.

* During 1878, two years after Alexander Graham Bell had invented the telephone Mr G A Boettger, a jeweller in Cape Town, imported some “Microphonic Apparatus” models or telephones from Siemens. In 1880 there were eleven sets of these telephones in use. By 1887 there were some 356 sets in use.

* The first telephone exchange in South Africa opened in Port Elizabeth on 2 May 1882 at the corner of Main and Jetty Streets, in a building later known as Union Castle Corner. It was demolished and replaced by the General Post Office building in 1900. The telephone exchange had a capacity for 50 lines and it started off with 44 subscribers.

* The first airmail delivery in Africa was between Kenilworth and Muizenburg Post Office. A total of 2 597 special postcards to mark the occasion were printed. On 27 December 1911, Evelyn (Bok) Driver delivered by air, 729 of the special postcards to the Muizenberg Post Office, taking off from the Kenilworth Race Course and landing at Oldham’s Field on the verges of Zandvlei in Muizenberg, a distance of almost 13km. The entire flight lasted 7.5 minutes.

* Stamps issued by the South African Post Office in 2012 were South African Native National Congress (SANNC) 100; Reverend John Dube – 1st President of the SANNC; George Pemba 100th Anniversary; National Symbols of South Africa; Commercial and Medicinal Plants of South Africa; South Africa’s Role in Astronomy; Transit of Venus.

Sources: Wikipedia and saeverything.co.za

Previous ArticleFort Beaufort couple’s dream takes off
Next Article Stamps tell tales of war, innovation
Grocott's Mail

Comments are closed.

Tweets by Grocotts
Newsletter



Listen

The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

Humans of Makhanda

Humans of Makhanda

Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

© 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.