Latest news with #postie
Daily Mail
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Golden Logie winner Samuel Johnson reveals how being the town postie has helped him with his battle with alcohol
Samuel Johnson has opened up about his decision to become the town postie and how his new career has helped him keep his drinking in check. Last year, the Golden Logie winner, 47, who found fame as Evan Wylde in the TV series The Secret Life, revealed he was taking up work as a volunteer postman in Tallarook, Victoria. He announced in July he would be working for Australia Post on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The rural town has a small population of 950 people and is an hour north of Melbourne. Samuel has now admitted that his new job helps him fight the urge to drink every night. 'The problem is, I really love alcohol. It's fun - but I like [it] a little bit too much,' he said on Australian Story. 'Having a postie round on Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning makes sure there's three nights of the week where I'm not misbehaving.' Despite admitting that he's on the right track, he wasn't going to peddle a 'bullsh*t narrative' about his drinking. 'I'm a work in progress. There's no neat bow on the end. It's not a cold turkey kind of thing,' Samuel said. 'I had the angel and the devil, and they duked it out and the angel won.' Samuel has long been open about his battle with alcohol following a series of tragic events. The Daylesford-born star turned to drink to cope with the death of an ex-girlfriend in 2006 which he claims 'ruined' him emotionally. Tragedy struck the Johnson family early on, as Samuel's mother committed suicide when he wasn't yet one year old, shortly after his father left her. And in late 2005, a close female friend called Heather - with whom he performed in short films at the Victoria College of the Arts - also took her own life. Tragically, just months later, Samuel's former girlfriend Lainie Woodlands committed suicide at her home at Victoria's Hepburn Springs. 'I kind of bailed on her and then she killed herself, which was charming, so considerate,' he told Meshel Laurie's Nitty Gritty Committee podcast last year. 'I was probably already not doing that well but when my girlfriend [killed] herself, the night that I left her, s*** got pretty heavy.' He previously told ABC Radio Melbourne: 'The three key women in my life have left me. It floored me. 'You know, I mean, it's still floored me. It's just ruined me emotionally and I'm very sad now.' As he struggled to cope with the grief, Samuel faced a bitter, two-month legal battle with Lainie's mother against her estranged father to have her buried in Hepburn Springs, near Daylesford. Eventually, Lainie was laid to rest close to her chosen home - but due to legal costs and not working, Samuel was forced to sell his home in Daylesford and pay off debts. 'I was going downhill pretty quickly and I was certainly going through a very self-destructive kind of phase,' he revealed in tell-all ABC documentary The Sum Of Sam in 2008. 'We all want to mask the pain somehow in some way and, you know, I had my issues there and I think I already had a problem with alcohol before it happened but it certainly accelerated my usage.' This downward spiral continued as Samuel self-medicated with drink and drugs, until he hit rock bottom in September 2007 while attending a wedding party with his partner Sarah Hallam at Star City Casino in Sydney. The Underbelly star was involved in a drunken brawl with guest Ben Benson, punching him repeatedly before stomping on his head as he lay prone on the floor, the Sydney Morning Herald reported at the time. The court heard Samuel was receiving treatment for depression following Lainie's death and magistrate Brian Maloney acknowledged that the violent attack was out of character. Samuel faced even more tragedy in 2017, when his sister Connie Johnson lost her lengthy battle with cancer. Connie was diagnosed with bone cancer at age 11, before uterine cancer at 22, before her death at age 33 from breast cancer. Earlier this month, Samuel underwent a radical transformation in a heartfelt gesture to honour his late sister Connie. He shaved his head during a recent community event for his charity Love Your Sister, which is dedicated to the memory of his sibling. Samuel took to social media to share a series of photos capturing the emotional moment he shed his locks to raise money for the charity. The event drew a large audience and marked a significant milestone in the ongoing fight against cancer, a cause dear to Samuel's heart. He expressed his gratitude to supporters, emphasising the event's success was a testament to community solidarity. 'My sister Connie would be beyond proud right now,' Samuel wrote, reflecting on the charity's enduring impact. 'It's not over until we stop losing loved ones to cancer. We vanquish cancer with joy, together we are stronger.' The event, which raised thousands of dollars, saw Sam humbly redirecting praise to the generous donors who made the achievement possible. 'Please don't hop into the comments and congratulate me,' he urged, echoing his sister's humility. 'It's YOU who need to be thanked, congratulated, loved and owed forever.'
ABC News
11-05-2025
- General
- ABC News
Cunnamulla's outback postie Ruby Gamble a larrikin and a lifeline
A few things are certain in the outback around Cunnamulla. Dingoes do not want pats, the next drought is never far away, and Ruby Gamble will make her deliveries. Now in her early 70s, Ruby the outback postie has spent nearly three decades delivering mail, medicine, beer and just about anything else her remote customers need. Cunnamulla, 750 kilometres west of Brisbane, is home to about 1,200 people spread out over a region bigger than the size of Tasmania. Ruby's vehicle of choice — a two-wheel-drive Toyota Hilux — covers up to 10,000km a month across vast, sunbaked, bulldust-covered roads. "They forget when they're in the bush." The Australia Post contractor's customers live and work on isolated sheep and cattle stations the size of European countries. Some do not see another soul all week. That makes Ruby more than just a delivery driver — she is a lifeline. The postie even maintained connections with her customers when devastating floods across Western Queensland earlier this year made it too dangerous to go bush, forcing her into one of the longest breaks of her 28-year career. "I kept ringing them to make sure they're all okay, and if they need food or anything," she said. Now that the waters have receded, Ruby is back on the road. Ruby's three-year-old ute is already pushing half a million kilometres. It has been modified with an extra-long tray to carry hay bales — and the occasional case of beer. "Just about ready to trade it in," Ruby said. She and her late husband Col took up the delivery contract in 1997 and shared the run for more than a decade, until her partner of 43 years passed away. "The bastard handed in his rifle on the Paroo River," she said. "We caught a heap of fish, he drank a six-pack … then he comes into the caravan, towel around him, throws it open and says, 'Anyhow Ruby, I'm the only one who knows how to find all the good fish holes.' "I told him, 'Shut up, you skiting bastard' — they were the last words I ever spoke to him." Within 10 minutes, Col had died from a massive heart attack. Ruby took a break from work to grieve after Col's death while friends filled in on the mail run. But before long, her customers came calling. "After a couple of months [they said], 'Ruby, we need you out here,'" she said. "They made me get out of bed and keep going." Joanne Woodcroft, the licensee and self-titled postmistress of the Cunnamulla Post Office, said Ruby was part of the town's identity. "Ruby and her husband Col, stalwarts of the post office … the fabric of our community," she said. Fourteen years since Col's death, Ruby has not remarried, despite encouragement from her kids. "One of 'em says, 'Mum, you know, we were never meant to be on our own and if you find somebody else that's OK with us,'" she said. "I said, 'You bastards have only been here four days and I can't put up with you … how am I gonna put up with someone else?'" Seven hours a day in the car gives Ruby a chance to reflect on the adventures she's had on her mail run. "A few years ago, I got bogged — no phones out there, I can't get anybody on the UHF," she said. Thinking quickly, she hit SOS on her GPS and, 30 minutes later, spotted a jet circling above. "I'm looking for a tree to hide under, thinking, 'What have I done?'" Ruby said. Rescued and brought to safety, Ruby inadvertently went about the rest of her day without telling the authorities she was OK. "The police caught up with me later that day at the pub," she said. "They had called my son to ask if I was on any medication, he told 'em, 'Yep — VB and Panadol.'" After nearly three decades, Ruby is showing no signs of slowing down. But of an afternoon, odds on you'll find her enjoying a VB at the old Billabong Hotel in town, ready to share a tale from the road. "It's been a good life, I wouldn't swap it for anything."
