Queensland - 1861-1988.
TELEGRAPH OFFICE (T.O.) date stamps.

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.
Dell Type 5.

Used on 4 June 1964.

    
Gladstone.

Gladstone
Telegraph Office Gladstone/QLD.
12 August 1970 (only date recorded).
Diameter: 30.5 mm.

Dell Type 4.
Large arcs at sides.

    
Rockhampton.

Rocky
Telegraph Office/Rockhampton.
21 December 1914
(also recorded 7 December 1914).
Diameter: 25.5 mm.

Dell Type 4.
Has small squares on each side.
Used on 1/- Emerald Kangaroo on Map.

£1 Rocky
Telegraph Office/Rockhampton.
14 December 1931.
Diameter: 30 mm
(not elsewhere recorded).

Dell Type 4.
Has small arcs on each side.
Used on £1 grey Kangaroo on Map.

  
Toowoomba.

Too
TelegraphOffice/Toowoomba.
29 August 1906.
Diameter: 25 mm.

Dell Type 2.
Has unfilled circles on each side.
Used on delivery envelope
(QC-EO-5).

Too blue 1914
Telegraph Office/Toowoomba.
8 February 1914 (in blue).
Diameter: 25 mm.

Dell Type 2.
Has filled circles on each side.
Also known used on 19 Setember 1919.
On 2d grey Roo with McP perfin.

Tel rtoo
Telegraph Toowoomba.
16 May 1968.
Diameter: 30 mm.

Dell type 5.
Has small side arcs.
Used between 2 December 1963 and
6 October 1968.
Used on window delivery envelope (AA-EC-3Ad (67)).

 

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.

2p Rocky
Telegraph Office/Townsville.
November 1932.

On £2 punctured Kangaroo on Map.

1942 Towns
Telegraph Office/Townsville.
10 May 1942.

Diameter: 30 mm.
Has squares on each side.
On AW-DO-10.

Used 10 May 1942 to
30 December 1943.

 

2. T.O. date stamps.

Hidden Valley.
Near Yeppoon on East Coast line.

Used from 24 November 1945 to
24 February 1959.

Diameter: 30 mm.

Rated: RRR.
Dell type 5.

Hidden Valley
T. O. Hidden Valley.
24 March 1954.

Hidden 1959
T. O. Hidden Valley.
24 February 1959.

Hidden Valley with TO removed.
Used from 18 November 1964 and
to 15 March 1967.

Rated: Scarce.
Dell type 5x.

   

Townsville.

 

Townsville
T. O. Townsville.
15 June 1964.
(Used on Phonogram form).
Diameter: 30 mm.

Dell Type 5.
Known used between 5 April 1945 and 16 June 1964.
Has arcs on each side and QLD-AUST at base.

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.

Risenshine T.O.
T. O. Risenshine.
27 November 1963.

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.

The Weir
The Weir T.O.
10 April 1964.

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.