AW-DU-9

Australia - War and recovery: 1939-1957.
Urgent rate delivery form: AW-DU-9.

General characteristics:

Heading and notes:	Form number T.G. 42A. Heading changed to URGENT TELEGRAM in sans serif font of 2 sizes.
Message area:	Blank.
Reverse side:	Some blank, some with URGENT TELEGRAM.
Colours (text & form):	Black on pink to salmon paper (wide variation).
Size of form overall:	100 × 190 mm and 125 × 201 mm (slight variations).

Distinctive characteristics of this form:

the main distinctions between the varieties are:
9A: advertising box in top left corner has "PLEASE TURN OVER" and there is a single advertisement on the reverse side in blue;
9B: no instruction in advertising box and small letters for URGENT TELEGRAM;
9C: pink band across heading and rest of form is pale yellow;
9D: orange band across heading and rest of form is pale yellow;
9E: URGENT TELEGRAM is in larger letters; reverse side has the same text in blue;
9F: has a horizontal line across the form above the heading and the text below the line under the heading starts "CHL. NO.";
9G: no line above the heading but the text below the line under the heading starts "CHL. NO.". Printed in two sizes.

This form was printed throughout World War 2 and up to 1952. Paper shortages forced changes to colour of paper used and to size of the forms. The format is almost identical to the ordinary rate delivery form AW-DO-9 printed at the same time.

Printed in September 1940.	AW-DU-9A. Sydney to Rockdale, NSW (27 January 1942). Characteristics: PLEASE TURN OVER is printed in the box in the top left corner; has a single advertisement on the reverse side printed in blue; has a single, large advertisement on the reverse side; letters for URGENT TELEGRAM are small (4.8 mm high).
Reverse side of form AW-DU-9A.	The reverse side of the above September 1940 delivery form showing the advertisement for TIME - BY TELEPHONE. Also has date of printing at left of box at base. No other advertisement is recorded on this form - possible because few forms of this format are recorded.
Printed in October 1941. Message has been cut off possibly because it was war related or personal.	AW-DU-9B. Auburn to Sydney (date stamp of 18 March 1946 at CTO Sydney). Characteristics: paper is very bright salmon-pink; no note to PLEASE TURN OVER in the advertising box; heading is 4.8 mm high; reverse side is blank.
Printed in October 1941 - the same printing number as the previous form (AW-DU-9B).	AW-DU-9C. Cooktown, Qld to Hindmarsh, S.A. (12 May 1944). Characteristics: printed on cream paper with pink band over text; URGENT TELEGRAM reverse printed on back in a pink band; size 103 × 190 mm. formatting the same as for AW-DU-9B. This form was an emergency war-time printing because of the difficulty in obtaining pink paper.
	AW-DU-9C. Reverse side of above delivery form showing reverse printing in pink.
Printed in 1942.	AW-DU-9D. St. Kilda Rail, Vic to Yerong, Qld. 26 September, 1944. Characteristics: printed on cream paper with orange band over text; reverse side has the orange band across form but no text; schedule number is very different format - 42/68141. Clearly an urgent, economy printing during the War.
Printed in December 1943.	AW-DU-9E. Katoomba to Rockdale, NSW (16 September 1944). Characteristics: heading is 7 mm high; no line at top above text; "Office of Origin" is below the line under the heading; reverse side has URGENT TELEGRAM printed in large (8 mm) letters in blue.
	AW-DU-9E. Reverse side of above form. Text printed in blue.
Printed October 1949.	AW-DU-9F. Unused delivery form. Characteristics: has thick horizontal line above main heading to match that below. text under lower line begins with CHL No. size is 127 × 201 mm.
Printed in August 1950.	AW-DU-9Ga. Unused delivery form. Characteristics: no line above C of A heading; smaller format - 100 × 191 mm.
Printed in August 1950.	AW-DU-9Gb. Unused delivery form. Characteristics: larger format - 123 × 211 mm. Printed for teleprinter rolls.
Printed in August 1952.	AW-DU-9Gb. Unused delivery form. Both the 1951 and 1952 printings were the same in format and size although the 1951 printing has a slightly wider gap between the heading and the box/text on each side and thicker letters. This unused form, from the 1952 printing, has been incorrectly cut so the heading appears above and below the message area. Hence the height of the form can be measured as 123mm.

Details of use and rarity.

Form sub-number	Schedule number	Earliest recorded date	Rarity rating
DU-9A	Sch. C2941 - 9/1940.	27 January 1942 at Rockdale, NSW.	R
DU-9B	Sch. C. 3458 - 10/1941.	18 March 1946 at CTO Sydney.	NC
DU-9C	Sch. C. 3458 - 10/1941.	12 May 1944 at Hindmarsh, Vic.	R
DU-9D	42/68141	26 September 1944 at Yerong, Qld.	RR
DU-9E	Sch. C. 4325 - 12/1943.	16 September 1944 at Rockdale, NSW.	All these forms are common unused but at least RR used.
	Sch. C. 4495 8/1944.	24 April 1945 at Mortdale, NSW.
DU-9F	Sch. C. 6092 - 10/1949.
DU-9Ga	Sch. C. 6361 - 8/1950.
DU-9Gb	Sch. C. 6361 - 8/1950.
	Sch. C. 6621 - 10/1951.
	Sch. C. 6815 - 8/52.