Philatelic 'cover' [envelope]

This extract originally appeared in Te Ata o Tū The Shadow of Tūmatauenga: The New Zealand Wars Collections of Te Papa (Te Papa Press, 2024) on page 217.
This extract was authored by Patrick Brownsley.

This letter addressed to Alfred Harper, a Waikato Volunteer, shows how difficult it was on occasion to get mail to soldiers on the front line. From March to November 1864, a period of eight months, this letter was repeatedly redirected around virtually all the redoubts and stockades in the South Auckland and Waikato area in an attempt to reach Harper. It went from Auckland to Ōtāhuhu, Papakura, Kihikihi, Drury, Lower Wairoa, Queen’s Redoubt, Ngāhinapōuri, and back to Auckland. The letter bears 17 inscriptions, including seven date stamps, although many of these were not actually field post offices.