| Queensland Postal Markings to 1913 | ||||||||
| A Brief History | ||||||||
| The History | ||||||||
| Queensland is situated in the north-east of the continent of Australia between the longitude 153.5 | ||||||||
| and 138 degrees. Although visited by many explorers, particularly the Dutch, it was not until 1770 that | ||||||||
| Captain James Cook claimed possession of the east coast of Australia in the name of King George III. | ||||||||
| After the landing of the first fleet in 1788 at Sydney Cove the need arose for the more difficult to handle | ||||||||
| convicts to be placed at penal settlements isolated from the growing populace and the explorer John Oxley was | ||||||||
| despatched north to find a suitable location. | ||||||||
| He came across the Brisbane River in 1823 and although the first penal colony was established slightly | ||||||||
| north at Redcliffe, it was soon found to be an unsuitable location and in 1825 the settlement moved to what is | ||||||||
| now the site of the capital city of Brisbane | ||||||||
| It remained a penal colony closed to free settlement until 1842 then Brisbane became the staging | ||||||||
| point for a large number of immigrants seeking their claims of squatting land throughout the state. | ||||||||
| During this time the eastern half of the continent was known as New South Wales and the area | ||||||||
| around the Brisbane River was called the Moreton Bay District. During the 1850's, moves were under | ||||||||
| way for the separation of the north-east part of the continent from New South Wales and in 1859 the | ||||||||
| colony of Queensland was proclaimed. | ||||||||
| The Postal History | ||||||||
| The office of Captain Henry Miller, first commandant of the new penal settlement, was used as a | ||||||||
| post office when the settlement was first established in 1825. The work was done by his son | ||||||||
| Henry Miller until Henry Flood, a convict, took over the duties till 1829. He was later found to have been | ||||||||
| altering convict records in order to obtain an early release and subsequently convicts were barred as | ||||||||
| working as commandant's clerks. | ||||||||
| A free man by the name of William Whyte was appointed clerk and Postmaster of the Moreton Bay | ||||||||
| settlement in April 1830 with the office being operated from the Commissariat's Store which still stands | ||||||||
| today at North Quay and is Brisbanes oldest standing building. | ||||||||
| Upon the closure of the penal settlement in 1842, Mr George Slade was appointed the first non- | ||||||||
| military postmaster of the new open settlement. Also during this time, settlers were making their way | ||||||||
| from the south with many staking claims through the Darling Downs and Burnett regions. Post offices | ||||||||
| were opened at Drayton in 1846 and soon followed by Ipswich (1846), Warwick (1848), Maryborough | ||||||||
| (1849), Callandoon and Gayndah (1850). | ||||||||
| The opening of post offices throughout the state was dependent on the population and what | ||||||||
| authorities would deem economical use of these establishments. Usually a receiving office would open | ||||||||
| in small villages and if it was thought that the area could sustain an official post office it would be | ||||||||
| upgraded to offer all the facilities a normal office would. By the same token if it was found to be | ||||||||
| operating uneconomically then the post office could be downgraded to a receiving office or closed | ||||||||
| altogether. It was not uncommon for offices to spring up for only short periods due to the transient | ||||||||
| nature of the population during the gold rush days. | ||||||||
| The railroads also played an important role in the establishment of many towns and also in the | ||||||||
| carriage of mail. Travelling post offices were mobile offices where mail was sorted and delivered during | ||||||||
| transport. | ||||||||
| The stamps of New South Wales were used for postage together with implements issued from | ||||||||
| Sydney. Stamps and covers of early NSW featuring strikes of numerals and datestamps issued to offices | ||||||||
| in the Moreton Bay district are keenly sought. After separation, Queensland issued it's own first stamp | ||||||||
| featuring Queen Victoria as depicted in a painting by Alfred Chalon. The chalon was issued in various | ||||||||
| forms of watermark and perforation variety until it was replaced in 1879 with the first of the sideface | ||||||||
| issues. These continued to be used right up to 1913 when the first Commonwealth stamp (roo and map) | ||||||||
| was issued. Queensland became a member of the Universal Postal Union in 1891. | ||||||||
| The Postal Markings | ||||||||
| I will provide all the recorded markings used by every office from the period of Moreton Bay settlement | ||||||||
| through to 1913 when the kangaroo stamp was issued. These markings come in many forms such as | ||||||||
| numerals, datestamps, registered handstamps, machine cancels, receiving office cancels as well as | ||||||||
| instructional and tax markings. Each town will be listed alphabetically with all the known markings | ||||||||
| together with opening/closing dates and available rarity ratings. | ||||||||
| Information has been garnered from "Queensland Postal History" by Hugh Campbell and | ||||||||
| "Queensland Post Offices 1842 - 1980 and Receiving Offices 1869 - 1927" by Joan Frew. In addition | ||||||||
| to these sources I have updated information from auction catalogues, exhibits and personal contacts. | ||||||||
| I advise that you use the above references in conjunction with this site as I have carried over the | ||||||||
| identification techniques used in these earlier references. | ||||||||
| GO TO INDEX PAGE | ||||||||
| Contact | ||||||||
| stampmad@bigpond.net.au | ||||||||
| © Marius Wytenburg 2004 | ||||||||