Collecting postal history - using Victoria as an example

(a) What is Postal History?
It is the story of the carriage of mails either officially by a Government Post Office or by private companies and includes the accumulating, carriage and delivery of mail matter, the study of postal routes, rates, postal treaties and the postal systems that incorporate the various stages involved in transmitting an article from point A to point B.

(b) Why Postal History?
Collecting Postal History is a hobby which produces great pleasure and a keen knowledge and feel for history. It has achieved the fastest growth in popularity in philately during the past decade and altogether aside from the aspect of enjoyment, offers excellent investment potential. It has an inherent link with history and manifests a growing interest in historical subjects of all kinds. It is the natural philatelic extension to a stamp collection and offers limitless scope for research, even for the collector of modest means.

(c) Why Victorian Postal History?
The early history of the Colony of Victoria makes fascinating reading. The first permanent settlement in the Post Phillip District (as Victoria was known prior to separation from New South Wales on July 1,1851) took place in 1834 and Melbourne was established in 1835. The first official Post Office was established in Melbourne in 1836 (,J. Foster, Postmaster) and the first two country Post Offices were established in June (Geelong) and in November (Portland) of 1840. The history of the Colony from 1851 to the 1860's is dominated by gold discoveries and the ensuing rushes when people from the four corners of the globe flocked to Victoria in search of their "El Dorado". These rushes created havoc on the roads and in the temporary camps set up on the goldfields. Lawlessness was rife, agitation was growing (Eureka Stockade 1854), not unlike the California goldrush era. There are many links between the gold era and Victoria's Postal History. Letters are known which were recovered from mails stolen by bushrangers; Express handstamps on mail carried by companies operating in areas where government postal facilities were inadequate or non-existent; others are known bearing datestamps and numeral cancellations of gold rush towns which vanished as quickly as they sprang up.

Victoria has more private local posts than all other British Colonies with the exception of Canada (the count includes the Express companies which did not issue adhesives but used handstamps on mail they handled). It was the only British Colony outside North America to have Expresses operating on the gold fields and Adams & Co's Express was the only instance of an American Express Company operating a branch office outside the American continent and Hawaii.

By 1912 there were 2,100 Post Offices operating in the state; each presumably with a datestamp, numeral canceller and various types of instructional markings, hence the enormous scope in collecting this Colony.

(d) How To Collect Victorian Postal History.
Victoria's Postal History can be neatly divided into several distinct phases.

The first is the pre-stamp period. Adhesive stamps (the "Half Lengths") were first issued in January, 1850. Prior to that time postage of letters could be prepaid in cash by the sender, or the letter sent unpaid and postage collected from the addressee. The first Port Phillip marking, introduced in 1836, is a circular one inscribed "MELBOURNE / N.S.W." without date and is particularly desirable. Markings indicating the dates of despatch and receipt of letters were first introduced at the Melbourne Post Office in 1839. All Post Offices received these markings and some are very rare. Each Post Office also received a "PAID" marking to indicate prepaid mail. Many of these early covers still surviving were written by, or to, prominent historical identities in early Victoria - Latrobe, Lonsdale, Fawkner and others.

The adhesive period, 1850 - 1912, can be divided according to the types of obliterator used to cancel stamps. Victoria, following the lead of many other countries, introduced numbered obliterators, each number signifying a Post Office. There were three types. The first was of such a design that it has become known as the "Butterfly" type. These were issued to each Post Office opened to the end of 1849 - probably 49 in all. The "Butterflies" were superseded at the beginning of 1852 by the "Barred Oval" type. 109 of these were issued to all Post Offices opened up to late 1855. The third type, the "Barred Numeral" began to appear from 1856 and remained in use until obliterators were superseded by circular datestamps in 1906. In all 2,100 "Barred Numerals" were used. These numbered obliterators are a popular field and can be collected either on stamps off-cover, or on complete cover, where the numeral is "tied" to the Post Office which used it. By no means all the Post Offices using each number in the three series is known and, indeed, quite a few of the numbers have yet to be seen at all.

Associated with the numbered obliterators are the town date stamps used to denote despatch and receipt of mail. These are preferably obtainable on complete covers.

Each Post Office was also supplied with various instructional markings to deal with and direct improperly despatched mail. Thus, markings may be found inscribed "MISSENT TO", "DETAINED ", "INSUFFICIENTLY PAID", "NOT KNOWN ", "TOO LATE" etc. Obviously covers bearing these markings are much scarcer than normal ones, and for many smaller Post Offices the amount of mail treated in this way must have been very small.

The collecting of these postal markings can be approached in two different ways - collecting one series of markings, e.g. all the "Butterflies", all the "Missents", or collecting all the different markings of one town or district.

Additionally a number of other collecting fields are available dealing not with specific Post Offices, but rather with different postal themes or services. In this category are:

1. The Travelling Post Offices 1865 - 1912. This is the mail transported and sorted on board trains. The covers were cancelled with special postmarks signifying which route they were on.
2. Registered mail. The registration service was available from the 1840's and has its own special markings.
3. Official mail. Up to 1850 this was carried free of postage and "FREE" markings were used to signify this. Between 1850 and 1864 postage had to be paid but from 1864 a new system was introduced, each Government Department being supplied with a Frank Stamp to signify the official nature of a letter.. These frank stamps occur in various types and colours up to 1902.
4. Maritime mail. Up to about 1870 most covers were endorsed in manuscript with the name of the vessel which carried them. In addition, there are a few instances in Victoria of covers surviving from shipwrecks.
5. Military mail. Various military camps were held in Victoria from the 1860's. The later ones, at least, had special postmarks in the form of a shield. Victorian troops saw service in The Sudan, the Boxer Rebellion and the Boer War prior to Federation. Covers from these troops are scarce but can be identified (No covers from the Sudan have been seen by present day collectors). Military personnel were also supplied with Frank Stamps. Apart from the Victorian Military, visiting troops (nearly always British) sent letters from Victoria at - a concessional 1d rate.
6. Postal rates. This is quite a complex field which is best illustrated by covers carried at the various rates (both inland and overseas). The result can be a colourful collection of different combinations of stamps and manuscript rate markings. For example at one stage mail to England could be sent either via Marseilles, or via Brindisi, with a different rate for each.
7. The Gold fields. This is a romantic field in which there are several interesting by-ways. Apart from the various goldfield Post Offices, there are covers (they are very rare) recovered from mail robberies, letters carried by the Gold Escorts and the private Express Companies, which operated a mail service (occasionally with distinctive markings) in areas where the government service had yet to reach.
8. The Local Posts. Several private individuals issued stamps for their own local mail services. These stamps are generally very scarce, and covers are rare. The full details of the postal services provided are still obscure. The stamps involved are those of the Burdell's Express (1854-55), Murray Steam Navigation Co. (c. 1870), Boyd's City Messenger Service (c. 1890's), and McCulloch's Parcel Stamps ( 1878-80).
9. Mail to Victoria. This is a field requiring patience to find and acquire new material. Its interest lies in the knowledge gained of the treatment of mail to Victoria by overseas postal administrations. Apart from the address, such mail can be identified by arrival backstamps applied in Victoria.

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This is an excerpt from the 1984 illustrated pamphlet published by Rodney A Perry Auction Galleries

© 1984 Rodney A Perry Auction Galleries.