The Bulletin

The British Society of Australian Philately Founded 1933

CONTENTS

CONTINUING RESEARCH ON THE GV 1D VARIETIES (Part 34 ) by Gordon Monk; Bert Wajer and Paull Kaigg……………………………………..……..…...92 NEW DIE 3 FLAW? (Query 765) By Gordon Monk.…………………………………………..95 AUSTRALIAN GEO. V ½d ‘UCV B11’ IDENTIFIED by Rod Bu chko………………………94 AN 1887-88 LETTER FROM DARWIN TO QUEENSLAND by Coli n Tabeart ……..……101 RYALSTON NSW POST OFFICE: CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN WILLIAM ARMSTRONG, THE NEW POSTMASTER, AND THE GPO, 1851-52 (Part 2) by Brian Peace FRPSL…………………………………………………………………………...104 IMPORTANT CORRECTIONS TO THE 2015/16 PROGRAMME…………… …………...115 FROM THE EDITOR…………………………………………………………………………....115 ISSN 0953 – 5578 VOLUME 70 NUMBER 5 October 2015

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2292. CONTINUING RESEARCH ON THE GV 1D VARIETIES (Part 34) by Gordon Monk; Bert Wajer and Paull Kaigg (1727)

Pane 6 # 33 1st State Normal 2nd State October 1914 - Final 2a Bottom Left Corner. A compartment dot appears off the corner in mid print run, as the run

progresses it increases in size. Variable. 2b Left Frame. A compartment dot appears very late in the print run at L69, inconstant. 2c Top Left Corner. The island flaw is variable in shape and size; early it is two dots and as the

ink builds up becomes a line, variable. 2d Cross. Top of cross is dished. 2e Right Frame. Compartment dots appear very late in the print run at R46, R48 and at the top

of the Emu’s tail, inconstant. 2f Right Frame. Early in the print run, before compartment marks appear, the TRC appears to

extend to the right. This quickly changes to a square corner, before compartment marks appear, with ink build up. Variable.

2g Bottom Frame. Early in the print run, before compartment marks appear, there are two small

notches at 5 and 3 mm from BRC. As the ink builds up the notches disappear before compartment marks appear, 5mm first then the one at 3mm, variable.

Note This is a difficult unit to plate as a single unit. 2a is the most constant of the flaws.

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2547. AUSTRALIAN GEO. V ½d ‘UCV B11’ IDENTIFIED by Rod Buchko (1219) Recently “the Pom”, a fellow collector from the “Stampboards’” internet website, posted a scan of the elusive Geo. V ½d unlocated constant variety (UCV) cracked cliché ‘B11’ he had obtained in a used collection on Ebay (see Fig. 1). It is documented in Dix & Rowntree’s “George V Halfpenny” checklist (BSAP 3rd edition, 1995) as ‘B11’. The ‘B’ prefix designated UCVs they attributed to a cliché from one of electros 4 to 7 (V to VIII). All known examples were comb perforated. This classification was generally accepted until 2002. In a June 2002 ACCCNSW Bulletin¹ article a single line perforated copy of the cliché ‘B11’ was shown. Since some Electro 3 Geo. V ½d stamps were the only ones known with this perforation the Dix & Rowntree classification was proven erroneous. The cliché had to be from one of electros 1 to 3. In a subsequent 2002 Bulletin² article, a different collector noted his two copies of ‘B11’ had a small notch with an adjacent damaged area in the left outer frame slightly above the lower left corner. This second flaw was not noted in Dix & Rowntree’s checklist. Whether it occurred concurrently with the crack still had to be observed. Nonetheless it could potentially assist with identifying any possible clichés. Later, in a 2005 Bulletin³, a third member discussed a copy he had that showed the left vertical watermark line - indicative of a stamp from the left side of a pane. Originally assumed to be one of 240 plate positions it could now be any one of the 20 clichés from the first column of pane 3 Left (3L) or 3 Right (3R) i.e. 3L1, 7…49 & 55 or 3R1, 7…49 or 55), excepting those 8 already identified from that column where none of these flaws are found together with the crack. Its potential location could now be reduced to one of 12. Since Electro 3 stamps are probably rare in multiples and relatively scarce as singles, any copy without a second flaw would have been almost impossible to plate unless the cracked cliché stamp was attached to another plateable position. Based on my fellow Stampboarders’ recent find, the two preceding flaws and especially the incorrectly identified ‘nick in frame’ which is actually a nick and damaged area, I began a search of examples in my collection. A thorough inspection found nothing in the 5 NWPI blocks of 30 (3L31-60, 3R1-30 x 2 and 3R31-60 x 2) and one prospective vertical strip of 3 (3L13, 19 & 25). I had focussed on the area surrounding the crack hoping to see any signs of an incipient one while knowing well I did not have a copy of the full-blown ‘B11’. A second look proved successful. When viewing a 1200 dpi (dots per inch) scan of 3L19 I noticed the right end of the point of the left outer frame opposite the left wattle spray was partially missing. Somewhat innocuous but similar to the left end of the crack on unplated ‘B11’. Still not conclusive. Checking for the frame notch and white area was initially unsuccessful. I was looking for a significant notch and spot; forgetting that the flaw could have been progressive i.e. beginning as a smaller opening. A third inspection revealed a considerably smaller, almost incipient flaw. Fortuitously the perforation tips straddled the flaw. It could have been easily removed by them (see Fig. 2). ¹ ACCCNSW Bulletin, June 2002, “½d KGV Cracked Cliché found with Single Line Perf”, p. 103. ² ACCCNSW Bulletin, August 2002, “More information on the ½d Green KGV cracked electro in single line perf, known as B11”, p.127. ³ ACCCNSW Bulletin, October 2005, “KING GEORGE V ½d SINGLE LINE PERF. WITH CRACKED ELECTRO”, p 132.

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limited unoverprinted Australian collections. Currently I will be able to add 15 new flawed clichés while augmenting the flaws of 8 others.

New find: ‘B11’ Fig. 1

3L19 either: State 1(a) & (b) or

State 2(a) & (b) Fig. 2

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steamer Airlie arrived at Port Darwin from Hong Kong on 9 Dec and was quarantined for 2 days. She then took in cargo etc and left on 13 Dec for Sydney, the date stamped at Port Darwin. One of her passengers was a murderer, being sent to Adelaide for execution under police guard. Contemporary newspapers then record her progress as follows: Thursday Island 16 Dec, Cooktown 18 Dec, Townsville 21 Dec and Sydney 27 Dec. As the Brisbane date stamp is for 30 Dec it is clear that the letter was not dropped off on the Airlie’s voyage south for whatever reason. As the population of Palmerston/Darwin was only about 300 at this time this may well have been the only letter from Darwin carried on this voyage, so easily overlooked. It would seem that, on arrival at Sydney on 27 Dec, the letter was discovered, and put aboard the next northbound steamer. This was the AUSN’s Glanworth, leaving Sydney next day, to arrive at Brisbane on 30 Dec, where backstamped that same day. Thence to Rockhampton and on to Marlborough. The Waverley Station was about 125 miles inland from Rockhampton.

Both the sender, John Langdon Parsons, and the recipient John Arthur Macartney, have

entries in the Dictionary of Australian Biography, extracts from which appear below.

John Langdon Parsons 1837-1903. (Above). In 1878 Parsons was elected to the House of Assembly for Encounter Bay, and in 1881 for North Adelaide. Having served on the Council of Education in 1877-78, he wished to improve the school attendance of 'gutter children', and to raise teaching standards. He had married on 4 August 1877 Marianna Dewhirst, daughter of an inspector of schools. While minister of education (1881-84), Parsons sensitively chaired the select committee and subsequently the royal commission on education, which examined the administration of John Hartley. Parsons was also minister controlling the Northern Territory. His tour of that area in 1882 and to Mackay, Queensland, next year, fired him with the Territory's possibilities, particularly concerning sugar-cane. As minister, government resident (1884-90), and member for the Northern Territory (1890-93), he pressed for developmental measures: the building of a railway from Palmerston (Darwin) to the gold-mining settlement at Pine Creek (completed 1889), and from Oodnadatta to Pine Creek; and immigration of indentured Asian labour. He invested in land, but despite his optimism agriculture in the Territory failed to prosper; mounting costs led to a royal commission in 1895 to which he gave evidence. He continued to explore the Territory's potential,

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Letter from James Raymond, Postmaster General, setting out requirements for Armstrong’s new

post. Note item 2 referring to the annual salary of £5 and item 9 requiring two sureties

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Page two of Bond for William Wield Armstrong: William Tindale (£50) and George Tailby (£50)

were guarantors. Note wafer seals