Queensland Postal Rates and Charges 1832-1913

Description

Queensland postal rates have proved to be a particularly difficult subject, since the survival of primary sources such as Postal Guides has been poor. Contemporary almanacs have filled some of the gaps.
Up to 1860, of course, New South Wales Postal Acts, and postal rates, applied. Although mail could theoretically be sent to all the places mentioned in the N.S.W. rates tables of the period, the author notes in his introductory remarks to the pre-1860 overseas postal rates that he has seen only two covers to countries other than the United Kingdom.
The overseas letter rates from 1860 up to admission to the U.P.U. in 1891 fill 20 pages, and the corresponding newspaper rates a further four pages. Particularly interesting and complex are the overseas registration rates for this period, since apart from the registration fee, mail to many countries was also liable to double the usual postage rates.
The period from  1889 saw the standardisation of many charges, and this trend becomes even more apparent following Federation in 1901.
Throughout, the monograph is Iiberally illustrated. There are 124 covers shown from the author’s collection which demonstrate most of significant rates changes, and their frequent association with changes in mail contracts and routes.
Essential in a work of this nature is the ease of its use. Inevitably, covering such a broad time period, the book must consist largely of tabulations of rates. The layout in this book is admirable in this regard, and an index of localities makes reference easy. This is a model well worth inspecting by students thinking of undertaking a similar project.

Published in 1995