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On 1 September 1900, Burns, Philp & Co. Ltd. agreed to carry the mails for a
period of 10 years. In 1901, following federation, the NSW Post Office
was merged with other Australian Colonial Post Offices to form the
Commonwealth Postmaster-General's Department.
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1. |
To New Hebrides and Banks via Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands, leaving Sydney on 1st February, April, June, August, October and December. |
2. |
New Hebrides Inter-Island Service, Monthly from Vila. |
3. |
To Santa Cruz and Solomon Islands, via Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands and Vila, leaving Sydney on 1st Janusry, March, May, July, September, and November. |
4. |
To Ellice and Gilbert Groups, via Vila, leaving Sydney on 1st April, August, and December. |
NSW 2½d as correct rate on letter to Bundaberg / Queensland. Inscribed by
sender: "Shipletter Para Vanulava, N-H.".
Correct 2½d rate from Vanualava, Banks Islands to Bundaberg, Queensland
bearing New South Wales 2½d (tied by PCH type 1 cds) and transported:
- from Vanualava to Vila by the Queensland blackbirding vessel Para;
- from Vila to Sydney by Burns Philp's SS Katoomba, (Captain James
Grahl), arriving on 25 June 1895;
- from Sydney to Brisbane by overnight rail, arriving on 27 June 1895;
- from Brisbane to Bundaberg by rail, arriving on 27 June 1895.
Cancelled at Vila on 16 June 1895, in transit at Sydney on 26 June 1895
and Brisbane on 27 June 1895 and on receipt in Bundaberg on 27 June 1895, being
11 days in transit. (Treadwell coll.)
The following 3 cover are FAKES. Somehow somebody made a cliché from a real cancel and forged these cancellations. I found out which piece was the "mother of all fakes". It is shown below the faked covers at left.
4 September 1897
A double impression of the cancel can happen when the device jumps in the moment it is applied to the cover. This happens often. It is impossible
that 4 strikes on the same day have the same "jump offset", here in the direction of 10 o'clock.
If further proof was needed that the covers are fakes, No. 86 Oxford Street was occupied by Steinhardt & Co., fancy goods importers in 1897 and
'Kearley & Tonge' was renamed 'International Tea Company’s Stores Limited' in 1895 and only much later in the 20th century became 'International Stores'.
A full discussion of these fakes is to be found in "New Hebrides: Fakes, Forgeries, Imitations, Phantoms and Leaps in the Dark", by J Crompton and R Klinger, PISC 2008, at pp59-66.
NSW 2½d as correct rate on letter to the UK. Addressee is Mr. Wm. R. Dover,
5 Lorne Road, Finsbury Park, London N4, redirected on arrival to Ash Lea, Elmdale Road,
Palmers Green, (London N13). Backstamped transit Sydney ?? Oc(?) 97, Finsbury Park No 15 97 - (?) Redirection,
arrival stamped London N No 15 97. Illustrated in Robson Lowe Encyclopedia vol IV
p. 566, ex Ray Baldwin. ("Namba 2" coll.)
Picture shows the address in 2001.
NSW 2½d as correct rate on letter to the UK. Addressee is W. R. Dover, 26 Lorne Terrace, Finsbury Park Road, London, redirected on arrival to Ash Lea, Elmdale Road, Palmers Green. Backstamped Finsbury Park 15 November 1897. Backstamped Sydney 9 Oct 1897 so this letter was carried by Birksgate (Capt. C.E. Saunders) or Mt Kembla (Capt. Agutter) - both arrived in Sydney on 9 October. (Millet coll.)
28 September 1897
NSW 2½d as correct rate on letter to the UK. Addressee is W. R. Dover, 26 Lorne Terrace, Finsbury Park Road, London, redirected on arrival to Ash Lea, Elmdale Road, Palmers Green. "No such Terrace (?) in Finsbury Park Road" in manuscript on reverse. Backstamped transit Sydney ?? Oc 9?, Finsbury Park (S.O.) N 11:30AM No 15 97, Palmers (Green?) 9.15PM NO 15 97. The stamp is cancelled with PCH type 1 on 28 SP 1897, another cds besides the stamp, a LONDON N(ON) 5.15PM (?), a No. 19 (Finsbury Park ?) cancel on the top right corner and another Finsbury Park cds on the stamp. (Klinger coll.)
The 2d and ½d NSW stamps tied with Sydney cancels,
backstamped on arrival on 28. August 1899, London E.C.
The addressee is Mr. Wm. R. Dover, 57 & 59 Ludgate Hill, London E.C.
This was the address of the publishing house Messrs. Trübner and Co. and of the
"Sunday School Union" with the periodical "Young England".
On the reverse the cover has an oval sender cachet: "Rev. W. Watt, Tanna, New Hebrides".
Mr. Watt had been in Tanna from 1869 till 1910, first in Kwamera in the south,
then at the ex-Matheson and later at the ex-Neilson places in Port Resolution.
Of course we
will know if this letter was given to a captain of a ship in Tanna or mailed
by Mr. Watts in Sydney only if we can find out whether or not Mr. Watt made a trip to Australia
in July 1899. Anyway, this letter shows that the other two above were from
Reverend Watt too. (A British Gentleman's collection)
NSW 2½d as correct rate on letter to USA. Backstamped with transit cancels Sydney? and arrival in Brooklyn. (Klinger coll.)
