Edgar Somers Doak

Pat was Chief Postmaster for New Zealand at the time of the Royal Visit in 1953. HIs nickname came from the fact that he had an older half-brother named Mike (George Michael) and "they made a pair of Irishmen".

Both of Pat's wives died of dementia and he lived on to the ripe old age of 95 at Sevenoaks Retirement Village at Paraparaumu. He was an affable and welcoming old man and well into his nineties still had an excellent memory. He spoke of how his father and a brother after some years in Auckland after arriving in New Zealand later set off to tramp (apart from crossing Cook Strait!) to North Canterbury where a fellow Irishman promised he could find permanent work for them. They struggled through the King Country at night to avoid the possibly hostile local Maoris which necessitated hiding during the hours of daylight. One of their jobs was digging up moa bones from a swamp in Canterbury for a "German". (This would have been Julius von Haast whose collection later became the foundation of Canterbury Museum).