Channing.

A Telegraph Office was opened for public business at the Railway Station in December 1884.

The Telegraph Office opened on 5 October 1874. It was a designated repeater station.

In 1880, 3,401 messages were sent including 420 OHMS messages. The staff of the Telegraph section consisted of one Electric Telegraph Station Master, one operator, one line repairer and one messenger.

In 1922, QANTAS began its first regular flights from Charleville.

Charleville Post Office (about 1904) with the country mail leaving in the stage coach.

The Telegraph Office appears to have been opened at the Railway Station.

Used: about 15 May 1935 for one strike
but there is no record of other dates.

Size: 24 × 37 mm (e = 0.76).

Rated: RRR.

Number in the Census: 4.

The Telegraph Office opened on 5 October 1874.

In October 1878 there was talk that the post master at Cunnamulla would give up his post office and enable it to be transferred to the ETO.

In 1880, 3,070 messages were sent including 280 OHMS messages. The staff of the Telegraph section consisted of one Electric Telegraph Station Master and one line repairer.

"Cunnamulla: Dear Ma Our post office in the far west and can you recognise anyone? Hope this will find you far better than last reports have said. Kindest regards to all at Mountford. Wal".

Additions have been made to the photo to make Wal's annotations clearer.

Right:

Cunnamulla Post & Telegraph staff in 1890.
Source: Australian National Archives J2879 QTH349.

The Telegraph Office opened on16 January 1863. The Post Office was originally established on the Darling Downs as Myall Creek on 1 August 1854 by New South Wales in the Moreton Bay District. It changed its name to Dalby about 1858 before being transferred to Queensland on 1 December 1859.

Postcard showing the Dalby P&T Office.
Printed by the Intelligence and Tourist Bureau.
Has a printed note on the reverse side:
"The average to Credit of each Depositor in Queensland Banks
is higher than in any other State".

The Dalby Herald of 22 January 1872 reported that "the lightning struck the telegraph wire and the electric fluid entered the office in Dalby in a manner that somewhat astonished the telegraph station master. He happened at the time to be in a room adjoining that in which the instruments are kept, and his attention was called to something wrong by hearing two loud explosions in quick succession. He hurried to the instruments to find that the earth wire had been fused and the gutta percha covering burning and drops of flame falling on the cedar counter. The fire was at once extinguished and subsequently the wire (of which about three inches had been consumed) was again made all right".

Soon after that incident - perhaps partly because of it: "During the last few days, two new telegraphic instruments have been fitted in the Dalby office. They are by Siemen Brothers and the new feature they possess in telegraphy is that of marking the messages on the tape in ink instead of by mere indentation and thereby facilitating the reading. The instruments are highly finished and are ornamental as well as useful".

In 1880, 5,770 messages were sent including 432 OHMS messages. The staff of the Telegraph section consisted of one Electric Telegraph Station Master, one line repairer, one clerical assistant and one messenger.

In the late 1800s, a telegraph operator - with too much time on his hands - "sent out a message that, as Mrs. Blank and her infant of Dalby were very ill, the superintendent would take it as a personal favour if a good milking goat could be sent to her. Within a few days, Dalby had more goats than people. There was a most generous response."

On 15 December 1866, The Queenslander reported that "Twenty eight suburban lots near the town of Dalby were offered at an upset price of £4 per acre. For seven of them there were no bids. The others fetched from £4 up to £19 per acre".

(Ed: Local postage was then 1d and there were 240 pennies in £1. Compare the above prices using 240 times our cost for posting a local letter now.)

The Queensland Times of 31 March 1868 reported on a free train (for one day) allowing people to go to Dalby and return so as to test out the facility. The report details the progress - but then:

"If it were really possible to conceive of its being desirable for any individual to die of melancholy, we should unhesitatingly say to that person "Go to Dalby" for a more uninviting spot in the shape of a town mortal man surely never set eyes upon. It is such a village as one can imagine Maitland may have been some fifty yeas ago - a struggling, flat, dull, dusty, frowsy place with nothing to recommend it that we could discover except one or two good inns, a neat little episcopal church, an exceedingly pretentious-looking Post-cum-Telegraph office with a tentious-looking Post-cum-telegraph office with a clock-tower, Walter Taylor's smart dispensary and a great many haystacks".

Dirranbandi.

Dirranbandi is south of St George and just above Hebel on the NSW Border.

The Telegraph Office opened in XXX but closed on 30 June 1887. It re-opened on 5 October 1888.

The Gazette had two relevant notifications:

• of 28 November 1885, it was announced that 2 acres had been reserved at Dirranbandi for a Post and Telegraph Office.
• of 6 February 1886, that "the Post Office hitherto known as Currawildie will in future be called Dirranbandi".

The Post and Telegraph Guide for June 1889 listed a Post Office as being established at Dirranbandi.

Drum Range.

Although the date stamp is inscribed DRUM RANGE, it is probable that the name of the locality was DRUMMOND RANGE and that the abbreviation was used to fit the space available on the date stamp. That location is north of a point about midway between Alpha and Emerald.

The letters in front of DRUM RANGE are T.O.K. meaning Telegraph (or Telephone) Office Keeper. Drum Range is the only known office in Queensland which had such an inscription.

Isolated examples are also recorded for Lalalty (NSW) and for Victoria.

T.O.K. Drum Range date stamp of 22 July 1970 on cover sent to Redcliff, Qld.

The Telegraph Office was opened on 29 April 1881 - probably at the Post Office.

On 25 March 1881, the Gazette called for tenders to construct a Telegraph Office at Eulo with a closing date of 29 April. On 3 May 1881, a tender was opened from Albion and Co. to construct the new telegraph station at Eulo within 6 months for £647.

Flagstone Creek.

Flagstone Creek is located about 10 miles east from Toowoomba.

A silver mine operated there in the 1890s with about 8 tons of silver being sent to Footscray via Aramac each day. It is now on the Beaudesert - Tambourine-Beenleigh Road.

The Brisbane Courier of 3 January 1891 reported:

"Flagstone is at a great disadvantage in having no mail communication, the nearest point to a mail service being Pretty Bend station, a distance of twenty miles from Flagstone. A petition is being warmly supported to obtain a branch horse service from Pretty Bend to Flagstone to run in connection with the weekly coach service to Normanby. A suggestion was made to run the Normanby coach service via Flagstone Creek but, as there is no road yet made between Flagstone and Normanby, the horse service should certainly be adopted in the mean time as the residents on the silver-field are put to great inconvenience, expense and delay in getting their letters from Pretty Bend".

Details about post and telegraph services are incomplete. A Receiving Office was opened on 1 January 1887 with a Post Office opened in January 1909. That Office closed on 28 August 1929.

It is not known if the Post Office had telegraph facilities.

The two date stamps shown here indicate some type of postal office was operating in the 1960s and 1970s - perhaps with telegraphic facilities.

The Darling Downs Gazette of 28 December 1870 broke the good news that "so we are to have the telegraph at last - after a lengthened promise of some 5 years and a final fight of some 19 hours. The roads are also to be seen to at once and our P.M. has been appointed".

Harrisville.

In the Gazette of 22 February 1879, a one acre reserve block was set aside for a Telegraph Office at Harrisville.

Hebel/Curriwillinghi.

Hebel is about 4 km north of the border between Queensland and New South Wales.

Curriwillinghi Post Office opened on 1 January 1864 - named after the Curriwillinghi pastoral station which is still operating. It was renamed Hebel Post Office in 1889.

During the 2020-21 Covid-19 pandemic, the Queensland Police operated a border crossing check-point at Hebel.

Originally the town was regarded as being in New South Wales but it was later found to be in Queensland. Hungerford spans the Queensland-New South Border. It is included here in Queensland on the basis that in the 2016 Census, there were 23 people in the Queensland part and only 15 in the New South Wales part.

On 1 October 1880, responsibility for Hungerford's operation was transferred to Queensland only to be returned to NSW control on 1 October 1881.

The Post Office opened on 7 April 1870 as Currawinga but changed its name to Hoodsville on 1 August of the same year. It closed on 15 June 1875 but reopened as Hungerford on 1 January 1876. It closed again on 15 July 1876 only to reopen again one month later. The Post Office was upgraded to a Post and Telegraph Office on 7 May 1891. After another good 10 year run, the combined office was destroyed by fire on 8 August 1901. After re-opening the Post Office in 1906, the operation was finally transferred back to Queensland on 24 February 1941.

Cobb & Co. stopped their service to Hungerford in 1904.

Miles.

The Telegraph Office opened on 22 August 1878.

Used in blue: 28 February 1903.

Size: 22 × 30 mm (e = 0.68).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

Mitchell Downs.

Mitchell Downs - renamed to Mitchell - is east of Charleville.

On 5 October 1874, the line was complete but it was not until 16 November 1878 that the Telegraph Office was opened. The Brisbane Courier of the 30th reported "Our new telegraph office is completed; as to situation and design, it is a mere matter of taste. However, the workmanship is good and creditable to the contractor. Mr. Scott, the telegraph master, inspected on the 14th instant, and took possession on the 15th. There is only one officer here and, as he has to do the duty of line repairer, the office is very often closed - to the inconvenience of the public".

The Telegraph Office

Mount Sturt Railway Station.

Mount Sturt is east of Warwick. It is named after the nearby mountain.

In mid-1884, the railway line from Warwick incorporated a railway station on its way to Emu Vale. That station closed in May 1964.

Mulgowie is located south of Gatton and Laidley.

A Post Office was established at Mulgowie about 1915 and it closed about 1918. It was reopened on 1 July 1927 and closed on 12 March 1976.

It is almost certain that telegraph facilities were offered at Mulgowie.

Nangwee.

The office was opened in ??.

Nangwee is south of Dalby and Bowenville which are on the line from Toowoomba to Dalby.

The Office was issued with a BO3 - ETO date stamp.

Used on telegram: ?

Size: 26 mm × 39 mm (e = 0.75).

Rated: RRRRR.

Number in the Census: 1 (archival).

No date - archival strike.
Provenance: Carl Burnett, Johnstone.

Quinalow.

Quinalow is about 30 kms north-east of Dalby and north of Jondaryan. The township was established in 1889.

A Receiving Office was opened in February 1893 and that was upgraded to a Post Office in 1904. It reverted to a Receiving Office in about 1923 before being reclassified as a Telegraph Office in 1924. The Office was closed in 1941.

In May 1909, a new 2 mile telegraph line between Quinalow and Cooyar was completed with Offices in both places being opened on 16 May.

The Daly brothers, who had established the area, were conditionally given a licence to construct a butter and cheese factory there in September 1894. In May 1907, Mr. J. J. Daly was refused a licence to open a hotel on the grounds that Quinalow did not need a second hotel.

Between 1948 and 1996, it again operated as a Post Office. The Dalby Herald of 17 August 1948 reported:

Mr. C. F. Adermann, M.P. has been advised, in response to a petition from residents of Quinalow, that the Deputy Director of Posts and Telegraphs has approved of the establishment of a non-official post office at Quinalow. Steps are being taken to establish the office on September 1 and activities will be conducted in the store owned and occupied by Mr. Norman C. Eising".

The Office was issued with the usual Commonwealth-type postal date stamp for use with telegrams.

Used: 3 October 1929
(Earliest recorded date in the TO period).

Diameter: 28 mm.

Rated: RRR (by Smithies).

Number n the Census: 1.

Roma.

The Telegraph Office opened on 17 November 1866. Roma was an officially designated Repeating Station.

In 1880, 11,138 messages were sent including 1,498 OHMS messages. The staff of the Telegraph section consisted of one Electric Telegraph Station Master, 2 operators, 1 line repairer, 1 clerical assistant and one messenger.

St. George.

The Telegraph Office opened on 2 December 1874.

The Dalby Herald of 9 January 1876 provided the following update on the operation of the St. George Telegraph Office:

"The business of the Telegraph Office is going on in a very satisfactory manner and, I believe, its receipts can compare favorably with those of many more pretentious inland towns in the colony. It has been found necessary by the heads of the department, on account of pressure of business, to place this office in direct communication with the head office in Brisbane, instead of having messages repeated from Roma. One gentleman has informed me that he has sent a message right away to London and considers it something to "blow" about. I'm not much of a judge on these matters, but I think so too".

In 1880, 5,167 messages were sent including 312 OHMS messages. The staff of the Telegraph section consisted of one Electric Telegraph Station Master and one line repairer.

Stockyard Creek.

Stockyard Creek is south east of Toowoomba between Helidon and Warwick.

A steel oval Electric Telegraph Office was issued to Gatton.
It was type5-BO7-ETO.

Used in black: No date.

Size: 26 × 38 mm (e = 0.73).

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.

It was an officially designated repairing station.

In 1880, 3,401 messages were sent including 420 OHMS messages. The staff of the P&T office consisted of one Postmaster and one line repairer.

The Telegraph Office was opened on 6 December 1881. The only postal staff prior to then was one Postmaster. On 8 April 1881, the Gazette called for tenders to construct a Telegraph Office at Thargomindah with a closing date of 13 May.

On 2 April 1884 "The Thargomindah telegraph office narrowly escaped being destroyed by fire through an explosion of kerosine. Fortunately the flames were quickly subdued. The station master was severely burnt on the arm. The letters and papers were uninjured".

In 1885, William Henderson "repudiated his tender" for the erection of additions to the P&T office and was disqualified from tendering for 12 months.

On 8 February 1888, the Ratepayers Association passed a motion "instructing the secretary to communicate with the postal authorities to urge the necessity of having a messenger appointed to the telegraph office". In July 1888, there was a report that a new Post and Telegraph Office was being constructed.

The usual postal date stamp was used.

Yelarbon.

A Post Office was opened about 1911.

Located between Goondiwindi and Inglewood. The name means "a large lagoon adjacent to a Station".

There is no record of a telegraph date stamp being issued to Yuleba.

Two postal date stamps used on telegrams are included here:

Format 1:

Used on a telegram: 12 April 1937 to 19 June 1939.

Diameter: 28 mm (2 mm side arcs).

Rated (on a telegram): RR.

Number in the Census: 3.

Used on a telegram: 19 November 1946.

Diameter: 30 mm (dots for separators).

Rated (on a telegram): RR.

Number in the Census: 1.

Yuleba.

Yuleba was established in 1878 and was connected to the railway in 1879. As a railhead for the region to the west, the town was an important centre until the railway was extended again to Roma in 1910.

Due to an error in assembling a sign for the railway station - and therefore for the telegraph - the station and the town were originally known as Yeulba. In 1938, the name was changed to the original intended name of Yuleba meaning "place of the waterlillies".

On 16 August 1924, the last Cobb and Co stage coach ran between Yuleba and Surat.

There is no record of a telegraph date stamp being issued to Yuleba.

For the postal date stamp shown here (with the original mis-spelling):

Used: 30 April 1920.

Diameter: 29 mm.
4 mm side arcs.

Rated: RRRR.

Number in the Census: 1.