Tallarook, with a population of 748, is about as ‘small town’ as small-town gets.
It has a general store, a hotel and café – and that’s about it. Its post office is probably the most significant historic site, having opened its doors in 1861.
But these days, Tallarook, located an hour-and-a-half drive north from Melbourne, is famous for another reason: its postman.
The man delivering mail three times a week is Samuel Johnson, the actor known for The Secret Life of Us and for his Gold Logie-winning portrayal of music impresario Molly Meldrum.
He is also an Order of recipient, having raised millions for breast cancer research through his charity, Love Your Sister, established in honour of his late sister Connie, who died from the disease aged 40 in 2017.
Seven years after his triumphant night at the Logies where he nabbed silver and gold statuettes, Johnson, 46, seems to have turned his back on acting altogether. Indeed, he has only had a few TV credits since 2016, the most notable of which was winning Dancing with the Stars in 2019.
Apart from running his charity, Johnson’s main occupation appears to be delivering letters and packages to a town of people who – I recently discovered – mostly speak about him in whispers.
Tallarook’s social centre comprises a local pub – the Tallarook Hotel, and the general store across the road which doubles as a post office, café and newsagency.
Tallarook, with a population of 748 in the most recent census, is about as ‘small town’ as small-town gets and has recently become famous for its postman, actor Samuel Johnson (pictured above)
Samuel Johnson delivers mail three times a week – he doesn’t work full-time
The locals who run the general store also own the rural supplies store and are close to the publican.
It’s a one-street town surrounded on all sides by a state forest and farms with old homesteads set far apart from each other.
Everyone knows everyone in Tallarook. And everyone loves to gossip – until you mention their famous postman.
Johnson announced in July he would be working as a postman in Tallarook on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
It was his lifelong dream, he said. It would be the perfect gig to do on the side while he continued raising funds for Love Your Sister.
‘I’ve wanted to be a postie forever and this is my chance. It really is the perfect part-time gig for me,’ he said on Instagram at the time.
He petitioned his social media followers to help him find an electric bike to trail the 32km stretch of dirt road which would be his regular route.
It’s a walk in the park for someone who once rode 15,000km on a unicycle in a year-long attempt to break a Guinness World Record and raise $1million for the Garvan Institute of Medical Research to find a cure for breast cancer.
He ended up raising $1,477,630.
Johnson received an Order of for his services to the performing arts and his cancer research charity, Love Your Sister, which he set up with his sister Constance in 2012
Seven years after his triumphant night at the Logies where he nabbed silver and gold statuettes for his portrayal of Molly Meldrum, Johnson seems to have turned his back on acting
Johnson is best known for his lead role as Evan Wylde in hit TV show The Secret Life of Us
I was told a woman who worked at the rural supplies store had given Johnson an electric bike for free to help him get started in his new job.
On the surface, it appeared to be a long-expected move for Johnson, who had been saying for years he intended to quit acting to focus on his charity work.
The Victorian countryside also seemed a better fit for a man who, even at the height of his fame, never seemed to settle into the Melbourne celebrity scene.
I had come to Tallarook expecting a story about a big-city celebrity who had charmed a small town, but the reality was quite different.
My notepad wasn’t filled with gushing praise from locals. Instead I was met with sighs, eyerolls and, in some cases, hostility. Most of my conversations would begin with a warm greeting only for the tone to sour at the mention of Johnson’s name.
One resident, who asked not to be named, said the town ‘didn’t think highly’ of only having a part-time delivery service.
Others went so far as to pretend they had no idea who Johnson was.
‘Tallarook has a postie?’ scoffed an out-of-towner who passes through often and always eats at the post office café where Johnson fetches the mail.
‘Nah, I got no clue who that is,’ another told me.
One tradie did know who Johnson was but seemed to genuinely have no idea he was the local postie. He was thrilled when he found out.
His co-worker had a vague recollection of the actor and said it was ‘strange’ Johnson would give up the limelight to live out his ‘dream’ of delivering parcels.
But I did find one person willing to speak about him.
Apart from running his charity, Johnson’s main occupation seems to be riding around Tallarook delivering letters and packages
Tallarook’s social centre comprises a local pub – the Tallarook Hotel, and the general store (pictured) across the road which doubles as a post office, café and news agency
For ten minutes, I could barely get a word in as she launched into a breathless rant about how Tallarook deserved a proper full-time postman.
I was told he might be a great actor and fundraiser, but he wasn’t cut out to be a small-time postie. She added that most locals ‘couldn’t care less’ about his fame.
I couldn’t help but wonder what Johnson would think of this assessment. He would agree on the fame part, no doubt. He couldn’t care less about his own celebrity either.
Whatever impact Johnson had on n TV from the 2000s onwards, the impression he made in this country town has certainly been more muted.
Johnson has 127,000 followers on Instagram, where he posts countryside photos, bawdy jokes and the occasional celebrity selfie.
His profile picture features an image of him grinning with a parrot on his hand and his bio reads: ‘Skylarking, malarkey, tomfoolery, shenanigans.’
He presents a very down-to-earth Aussie kind of vibe.
Maybe Johnson isn’t the world’s finest postie, but he’s only been at it for a few months. His boss has only seen him a few times as his charity work often takes him interstate.
Becoming a postie was Johnson’s lifelong dream, he said. It would be the perfect gig to do on the side while he continues raising funds for his Love Your Sister cancer foundation
‘I’ve wanted to be a postie forever and this is my chance. It really is the perfect part-time gig for me,’ he wrote on the Love Your Sister Instagram account at the time
This 32km stretch of dirt road is Johnson’s regular postal route
He zoomed into the post office at Tallarook General Store on the morning of September 25, clad in his high-vis uniform and a black helmet
I tried to speak with Johnson in Tallarook. He wasn’t interested, but the impression I got was of a man content with the work he was doing – even if he hadn’t quite won over the locals.
When he zoomed into the post office at Tallarook General Store on the morning of September 25, clad in high-vis and a black helmet, I almost didn’t recognise him.
Had I not known for certain he was the only postman in town, my eye would have skipped straight over him.
I was still in school when Johnson shot to fame in the 2000s and had barely graduated when he won a Gold Logie for his portrayal of Meldrum.
While I may have been too young to appreciate Johnson as an actor at the height of his powers, I would still have recognised his face anywhere – that is, until he donned the postie uniform.
Johnson blended into the background as he began his morning with a coffee in the general store before starting his shift 20 minutes later.
When he reached the dirt country roads along his 32km route, he pulled over into the bush as cars and trucks went flying past, driven by motorists with the blind confidence of people who learned to drive on farms.
His caution is unsurprising given the shocking car accident in June 2021 that almost killed him, leaving him with severe injuries and some very bizarre symptoms
Johnson’s caution was unsurprising given the shocking car accident in June 2021 that almost killed him, leaving him with severe injuries and some bizarre symptoms.
Following the smash, he ‘spoke with a Russian accent for several days’ and even thought he was a ‘Japanese schoolgirl, aged eleven’ due to a brain injury. He would later confirm a diagnosis of post traumatic amnesia.
Johnson was driving to a relative’s house that day when he pulled over and crossed the road to relieve himself, because he was ‘bursting’ and didn’t think he could wait an extra half hour.
As he went to return to his vehicle, he was accidentally struck by a car.
He broke his skull, suffered bleeding on the brain, injured the ligaments in his neck, partially dislocated his jaw and endured deep bruising down the side of his body.
Johnson, in his own words, ‘nearly died’ and spent six weeks in hospital, but said he considered himself ‘lucky’ compared to others who had been there for months.
By the time I saw him in Tallarook in September, Johnson seemed fit and mobile. He kept his head down, pedalled hard, and at all times stayed close to the side of the road.
Johnson kept his head down, pedalled hard, and stayed very near the side of the road
Johnson started the cancer research charity Love Your Sister in 2012 with his sister Constance ‘Connie’ Johnson. She died of the disease in 2017
He flew out of Victoria that same day, a few hours after his brief shift. I was told he had flown to Queensland for charity work. But in an Instagram post that followed he said he was in Tamworth, NSW.
If Johnson is somewhat distracted from his postie duties, it’s easy to see why: his charity Love Your Sister is entering a new fundraising phase.
Its next venture is called Sam’s 1000, which involves getting one thousand businesses to partner with Love Your Sister in an effort to bring precision cancer medicine to .
According to its website, Love Your Sister has raised nearly $20million for medical research into cancer since it was co-founded by Sam and Connie Johnson in 2012, doubling its initial $10million goal.
Connie suffered a hard, life-long battle with the disease, being diagnosed with bone cancer at age 11, uterine cancer at age 22 and then breast cancer at age 33.
By the time Connie died, the charity she began with her famous brother had raised almost $6million. She received the Medal of the Order of on September 7, 2017, aged 40, one day before she passed away.
Since then, Johnson has doggedly carried on her legacy – a life’s work that surely matters more to him than hard-to-please locals in a sleepy country town.