The Philatelic Database - Stamp Archive

Why I Love Collecting Queensland

Bernard Manning.

There are many philatelic commonalities amongst the different areas that we all collect. To explain further, if we collect Postal History or stamps of a particular country or period, then our individual reasons for collecting them will in general be similar.

Figure 1 (see right)

The reasons that will differentiate our collecting habits will be more ephemeral ones such as an affinity with

that country or period because we live there or served there during the war, or know a fellow collector who has been a mentor, or we read a book or our family has a connection or there is an historical interest etc.

So when I say I love collecting Queensland, I mean that philatelically it is an interesting state, and one where my wife was born and grew up, as well as one that as a young man I would hitch hike through, enchanted by its natural beauty and one where I find that I can relate the post office names to historical events such as the Palmer gold rush and mining ghost towns such as Maytown, O K, Irvinebank and Eromanga; and going back further we have the Moreton Bay period when Queensland was administered as part of New South Wales.

So I love it because I am Australian and to me that tropical heat and windswept beaches and sighing gum trees symbolises what I love about Australia. Queensland’s history with its reputation as the last frontier, the gold rushes, the pastoralists and the Aboriginals as well as the wonderful native wildlife and the islands and mountains and rainforests and coral reefs, all blended together with its wonderful stamps and postal history creates a blend of magic and intellectual excitement that I find hard to resist.

The Stamps
Queensland’s first stamps were engraved and printed by the famous English firm Perkins, Bacon and were issued in November 1860. The stamps were based on the 1838 painting of Queen Victoria by A C Chalon and hence are known colloquially as Chalon Heads. The first stamps have beautiful rich shades, and were printed in carmine, blue and green the corresponding values being 1d, 2d and 6d (see Figs 1-4).

Figures 3 and 4.

The first item is a die proof of the 2d. Only two examples of the die proof that are not cut down are known. The mint pair of the 1d is the largest multiple known outside the block of 4 in the Queen’s collection. Also, the 2d pair is one of only three known pairs unused (the largest multiple being a strip of three) and the 6d is only known mint in singles (less than 10 known).

The existence of these classic stamps gives Queensland a high philatelic pedigree. Queensland stamps also include a number of rarities that complement the early Chalons. Some of these are shown in Figs 5-7.

Figures 5, 6 and 7.

The stamps illustrated include a used vertical strip of three of the Chalons imperforated horizontally in between, being the 1864-65 watermark small star issue. This represents an error in the printing process, and has not been previously recorded used.

Of the issued stamps, one of the rarest is the 1911 9d Commonwealth stamp perf 11mint of which three examples are known.

Another Queensland rarity is the two cornered 6d stamp. About 18 used examples of this stamp are known, most with a 1902 date and cancelled by the Parcels Branch in the GPO. Extensive and often robust debate has raged since the early 1900s when the stamp was first identified, as it was never officially issued, so its appearance is a mystery.

There are two possible explanations. One is that it was prepared for issue (and there are proof examples to support this theory) but was replaced by the 4 corner 6d, and a sheet or two was mistakenly included with other sheets of the 4 corner 6d for use, or someone inadvertently picked up a proof sheet for use by mistake.

Figure 8.

The other scenario is that a block of four of the 2 corner 6d die was inadvertently included in a plate with the result that a number of sheets were printed with 116 4 corner 6ds and 4 2 cornered 6ds. A run of sheets was printed before the error was noticed and the sheets destroyed.

My preference is for the former occurrence ie some proof sheets were inadvertently used by the Parcels Branch at the GPO, as this would logically explain why most examples are recorded in the same time and place, and a few sheets (possibly only 1 or 2 would account for the survival rate). If the stamps were mistakenly printed as a block of 4 on a sheet of 120, then many more sheets would have needed to be printed to account for the survival rate, and there is a chance that some mint copies would have been retrieved, not to mention the possibility of a wider distribution of the stamps.

Figure 9.

Postal History
Another aspect of Queensland that I love collecting is the Postal History of the state. Queensland abounds in Postal History subjects from the postmarks, numeral cancellations, instructional markings, registration, rates and routes etc The tracking of the opening and closing of the Post Offices mirrors the developing history of Queensland. The opening of Port Denison, renamed Bowen is linked to the pioneering work of George Dalrymple, which then explains how the town of Dalrymple and various other namesakes came about. Similarly researching the history of Richard Daintree we find links to the town of Daintree and the Daintree River (I am sure he never thought that his name would be as well known as it is today).

Figure 10.

Sometimes an old cover may fill another part of the jigsaw. Such as when I was reading Glenville Pike’s “Pioneer’s Country” and the history of mining towns such as Irvinebank and Montalbion (later Mount Albion) in the far north and reference was made to John Atherton who lived at Emerald End for 26 years, and after whom the town of Atherton and the Atherton Tablelands were named. Rediscovering an old tatty front I had with the scarce two lined Registered Mont Albion handstamp, I found to my great delight that it was addressed to “Mrs John Atherton of Emerald End”. Another link with history. Just looking at that front takes me back to the early 1900’s and the bullock drays and miners dreaming of a fortune in the Queensland jungles.

Figure 11.

The first item is a previously unrecorded two lined handstamp “Registered/ Port Denison”. The Port Denison Post Office opened on 1 April 1861 and the name was changed to Bowen in 1865. Not only is the office unrecorded with the instructional handstamp, but the actual size of the letters indicates a previously unidentified smaller type than that previously recorded. The previous Type 1 was identified as being 32 to 41mm in length and 3_ to 5mm in height. The example shown is 30mm in length and 3mm in height. Only one other example is known, being for the Banana post office.

The second item is a cover from Dalrymple to Canberra sent October 2, 1883 and showing the cds of Dalrymple and tieing the office to the numeral “40. The BURDEKIN Post Office was opened on April 1, 1864 and the name was changed to DALRYMPLE in 1868. The Office closed December 21, 1887

The stamp is cancelled by numeral 367 (rated 4R), which was allocated to Daintree. The DAINTREE Post Office was opened on January 1, 1884 and closed in October 1907.

Figure 12.

Collecting “rates and routes” is a popular past time for postal historians. Displayed are two such covers. One is an example of the short term “Panama Route” which operated from the 23rd May 1867 until it was discontinued in January 1869. The cover was sent on June 27, 1867 from Brisbane to Scotland. The rate was an expensive 1/4d per half ounce.

The second cover was sent on February 24 1880 from Aramac to London, via Brindisi. Postage was paid by a pair of 6d Chalons and a 2d sideface, for a total of 1/2d being the double rate for a letter weighing over a _ oz. and not more than 1 oz. This 7d per _ ounce rate was in existence for only one week, from February 20 1880 until February 28 1880, when it was further reduced.