However, as his life and places of residence changed to adapt to new circumstances, the thing that has sustained him has been the human element of his work - the great teams of people he has worked with, the public he has dealt with and the community he has lived in.

Initially, Don started work as a telegram boy in Gloucester when he was just 16 - finishing school on the Friday and starting work the following Monday.

Later in his career, he was made redundant twice.

The first time was when the telephone exchange at Gloucester was made automatic in 1980, prompting his move to Wauchope Post Office, where he worked until 1993.

Then, the mail sorting function was centralised at Kempsey.

When he and his new bride were initially transferred to Wauchope they were in the process of building a house at Gloucester and thought they would return as soon as possible.

However, after living here for 12 months they decided it wasn't such a bad place and decided to stay.

They have now lived in Wauchope for 32 years.

"I just love it here," Don says.

But, he wasn't always able to work in the town, first following the mail sorting work to Kempsey, where he worked for two years, before transferring to Port Macquarie.

Don then worked at the old post office in Clarence Street for eight years, followed by five years at the business post centre in Barton Crescent and finally back to Wauchope for the last seven years of his career.

During his long stint with Australia Post, Don has tried his hand at most roles, from his start as a telegram deliverer, to mail sorter, postman and retail officer behind the counter.

Over those 48 years, Don says the biggest changes took place when the original Post-Master General's organisation was corporatised in the 1970s and divided into Telstra and Australia Post.

That was when the post offices branched out into selling goods and services other than stamps and mail delivery.

Which is just as well, he says, now that the internet and social media have taken over the bulk of private communications that once used to be sealed in an envelope and posted.

But Don remains optimistic that post offices will continue to exist in one form or another well into the future.

Still an active sportsman, enjoying regular social tennis and playing in the Wauchope fourth grade cricket side as a wicketkeeper-batsman, Don hopes to take part in an over 60s cricket tour to New Zealand early next year, as well as enjoying some travel.

While his last day at Wauchope Post Office was last Friday, Don has gone on nine months' long service leave before officially retiring next year.

And while he "fell into" his post office career, following in the footsteps of his father who had been a postie for 44 years, Don has no regrets at all about the decision.

In those day, in a small town like Gloucester, if you didn't work in the railways, dairy farming, sawmilling or in a bank, you had to leave town to find a job.

So when the post office opportunity came along he "grabbed it with both hands".