Slogan - Happy Thoughts ...

Australia - 1917-1988.
Slogan cancellations: Happy Thoughts ....

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Special aspects

A slogan postmark advertising the benefits of sending

HAPPY THOUGHTS!
CHRISTMAS AND
NEW YEAR GREETINGS
BY TELEGRAM

was introduced during December 1940. It was used at 10 Post Offices including all main Post Offices, except Hobart and Perth, and at several local Offices.

the earliest recorded date of use is 9 December 1940 at Brisbane (Box 3).
the latest date of use is at Redfern on 15 December 1969 although that is a very late usage date. The next two latest dates are 29 December 1955 at Ballarat and then 1952 at Dubbo (see Occleshaw).
there is a significant break in the use of this slogan between 29 December 1941 (at North Sydney) and 22 December 1955 (at Ballarat).

This slogan die generally had a shorter use compared to other slogan dies - there are only 36 examples of its use in the Census.

Four types of die were produced for this slogan - combined wth circles or box date stamps:

Die 1A: has an ! mark after THOUGHTS and spaces between the three words on the third line; 4th line is indented; the size of the text on each of the 4 lines is 3 mm. Latest date recorded for this die is 22 December 1955 at Ballarat (see Wallen).
Die 1B: a rare variation on this die - which appears to have been quickly corrected - is recorded for Sydney. The exclamation mark (!) was inverted.
Die 2: the four lines are left justified; the size of the text on each of the 4 lines is 3 mm.
Die 3: no ! mark after THOUGHTS; the four lines are left justified; no spaces between the three words on the third line. text size is 4 mm high (1st line) and 3.5 mm (other 3 lines). The earliest date of use for Die 3 (without !) is 9 December 1940 at Brisbane and the latest date of use is 6 January 1941.

There are 36 examples of this slogan in the Census.

Use of the slogan by Office:

Click the hyperlinks for information about the various dies used for the HAPPY THOUGHTS slogan at that Office.
The example shown is usually only one of the several dies used.

Adelaide. Number of dies recorded: 3; Earliest date recorded: 18 December 1940. Latest date recorded: 2 January 1941. Number in Census: 10.	18 December 1940.
Ashfield. Number of dies recorded: 1; Only recorded example at Ashfield: 21 December 1940. Characteristics: Circle. Die 1. Number in Census: 1.
Ballarat: Number of dies recorded: 1; Earliest date recorded: 22 December 1955 (Wallen). Latest date recorded: 11 January 1956. Number in Census: 5 (all are circles die 1A).	29 December 1955.
Brisbane: Number of dies recorded: 1; Top inscription: BRISBANE/Q'LAND. (2nd line is an arc). Base inscription: POSTED/ INTERSTATE BOX. (1st line is an arc). Only recorded date for this format: 9 December 1940. Number in Census: 1.	9 December 1940.
Geelong: Number of dies recorded: 1; Earliest date recorded: 26 December 1941. Latest recorded date: 26 December 1941. Number in Census: 2 (Dies 1A and 2).	26 December 1941.
Homebush. Number of dies recorded: 1; Only recorded date: 1941 (See Wallen).
Melbourne: Number of dies recorded: 3; Earliest date recorded: 20 December 1940. Latest date recorded: 6 January 1941. Base inscription: VICTORIA or VIC AUST. Number in Census: 11 (including 2 circle date stamps).	6 January 1941.
North Sydney, NSW. Number of dies recorded: 1; Characteristics: Circular date stamps. Die 1, Only recorded date : 29 December 1941. Number in Census: 1.	29 December 1941.
Redfern, NSW. Number of dies recorded: 1; Top inscription: REDFERN/N.S.W. Base inscription: PAID. Characteristics: Die 1. No time of cancellation but a large gap between dd/mm and year. Only recorded date: 15 September 1969. Number in Census: 1.	15 September 1969.
Sydney: Number of dies recorded: 3; Characteristics: Die 1A and Die 1B. Earliest date recorded: 23 December 1940. Latest date recorded: 24 December 1940. Number in the Census: 2.	23 December 1940. Die 1B: Error in the slogan.
Detail of this very rare error.	23 December 1940. Die 1B: Error in the slogan.

Wollongong.

Number of dies recorded: 1;

Characteristics:
Die 1A.

Only recorded date:
23 December 1941.

Number in Census: 1.

23 December 1941.

An example has also been noted for Murwillumbah, NSW.