In concert with the other States, date stamps with the inscription TELEGRAPH OFFICE were issued to some Telegraph Offices in Queensland. The offices chosen to have this inscription in the early days were the main ones in the various lines/regions - Cairns, Gladstone, Rockhampton, Toowoomba and Townsville although Gladstone received a date stamp with that inscription in 1970.
In the recent modern (post 1950's) era, the inscription T.O. was more common. There are a large number of offices using this inscription although many were small establishments with the consequence that the T.O. date stamp is generally at least scarce.
Dell and Price have developed classification scheme for the steel post-Federation date stamps which is sumarised below.
1. Telegraph Office date stamp:
Cairns | E.T.O Cairns. Diameter: 30.5 mm. Used on 4 June 1964. |
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Gladstone. |
Dell Type 4. |
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Rockhampton. |
Dell Type 4. |
Dell Type 4. |
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Toowoomba. |
Dell Type 2. |
Dell Type 2. |
Dell type 5.
Also recorded with 2.5 m side arcs and the postcode at the base (Dell type 6) between 23 September 1971 and 22 March 1979. |
Townsville. |
On £2 punctured Kangaroo on Map. |
Diameter: 30 mm. Used 10 May 1942 to |
Hidden Valley. Near Yeppoon on East Coast line. Used from 24 November 1945 to Diameter: 30 mm. Rated: RRR. |
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Hidden Valley with TO removed. Rated: Scarce. |
Townsville. |
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Dell Type 5. |
Phonogram with date stamp T.O. Townsville like that above but used on 10 January 1964. Also has a blue OVERSEAS TELEGRAM label. |
Note: Some Offices also had a TO date stamp but they were only Telephone Offices.
These Offices include: Crediton,
Deeragun, Delta, Mount Dangar, Risenshine, Sybil Creek and The Weir.
All of these date stamps are rated as very rare.
Diameter: 31 mm. On a cover from ?? to Epping which was possibly missent to the Telegraph Office but returned before being on-forwarded. Provenance: Dave Jeffrey. |
On 5d blue booklet QEII on a cover - the later of two strikes recorded. Provenance: Dave Jeffrey. |
Dell and Price classification scheme.
The scheme, which applies to all postal date stamps used after 1901, is also used for date stamps issued for telegraphic purposes. The basis of the scheme is the details included at the top and base:
Each type has additional code to indicate if time is included (t) or if a short date line is used (s).
Classification | Top | Base | Telegraph usage |
Type 1 | Office name. | Queensland | |
Type 2 | Function (e.g. Telegraph Office, Registered, Paid, etc). |
Office name | |
Type 3 | Function (e.g. Telegraph Office, Registered, Paid, etc). |
Brisbane and Qld or Q. | |
Type 4 | Office name. | Queensland | |
Type 5 | Office name and function. | QLD - AUST | |
Type 6 | Office name and function. | Includes postcode. |