getting areund lord Howe

Fifty years ago on Lord Howe Island the most common and most sensible mode of transport was the sled. In the above picture, taken 1910, the ringht-hanb horse is bearing a sled, the other is pulling a "spring cart".

Personalities in this picture are also interest ing: The lady on the right is Mary, the daughter of one of Lord Howe's first resi dents, Nathan Thompson, an American whaling man. Nathan had married a Gilbertese girl. The lady, left, is Mary's daughter, Elsie, from her marriage to another famous Islander family, the Wilsons. Elsie Wilson married a Young, to give birth to Brian Young, the island's present milkman.

Lord Howe's roads are rough and 50-years ago they were even rougher, as the above picture shows. This young man, his girl friend, and his sled, are taking a fast bend round Windy Point on what is now Lagoon Road. Things haven't changed much. The historic picture at left shows the island's first post office with postmaster. Jack Stevens, in the doorway. On the sled is Frank Payten (a carpenter when not delivering mail) and the large bundle represents the island's mail for .the month, freshly collected from the Burns Philp ship that serviced the island in 1910. Coral Court guesthouse now stands in place of the old post office.