Here for auction is a nice unused freight destination-station label of New Zealand Railways, for THAMES.

Clean & unused. The paper is slightly age toned. Size: 45 x 72 mm.

This dates back some years, when all stations had fulltime staff, & accepted crates & parcels to be railed to any other station within NZ. Any carton accepted for freight would have one of these labels glued to it, showing the name of the station it was consigned to. On arrival at that station, the clerk would send a postcard to the addressee, advising them that the box is ready to be collected at the NZR station. So these L-11 labels are NZ's earliest parcel-freight service. (The Post Office only dealt in letters, hence the reason all early stamps are only low values.)

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Thames is a town at the southwestern end of the Coromandel Peninsula. It is close to the mouth of the Waihou River, & originally called Grahamstown.

Many folk migrated to Thames at its peak, and it was soon the second-largest city in NZ (the largest being Dunedin then Auckland). Population is 6,756. Until 2016, a historical oak tree that was planted by Governor George Grey stood on the corner of Grey & Rolleston streets.

The town was initially built during a gold rush, with the first major discovery of gold being made in 1867 by William Hunt, in the Kuranui Stream at the north end of Thames. Official figures for production of the Thames Mines recorded a yield of 2,327,619 oz bullion with a value of $845 million. Near the end of the 19th century, Thames was the largest centre of population in New Zealand with 18,000 inhabitants & over 100 hotels & 3 theatres in 1868. Thames also benefited from extensive Kauri logging in the surrounding ranges around the same time.

The Thames branch railway connecting the town with Hamilton was opened in 1898 and was closed in 1991 and the tracks were taken up. It now provides part of the course for the Hauraki Rail Trail.

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