Islands

AUSTRALASIAN NEW HEBRIDES COMPANY

The establishment of the Compagnie Caledonniene des Nouvelles-Hebrides in 1892 was with the explicit aim of establishing French control in the New Hebrides. In 1887, alarmed missionaries persuaded the Victorian and N.S.W. governments to subsidize shipping services to and from New Hebrides and Australia. This was followed in 1889 by the emergence of the Australasian New Hebrides Company, whose Victorian backers included two ministers, four other members of the Victorian

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AUGUST ENGELHARDT, NATURIST, KABAKON, COCONUT PLANTATION

The cover has a printed Engelhardt & Co., Kokosplantage KABAKON, Post Herbertshohe, Deutsch-Neu-Guinea and the green ½d and grey 2d ‘Roo on Map of Australia’ stamps are both cancelled with a purple diagonally-placed straight Herbertshohe handstamp. The cover is addressed to 18 York Street, Sydney N.S.W. There is a red ink manuscript ‘Censored, Stuart W. Cameron, Lieut RANR’ as well as a re-addressed purple crayon ‘Box 216′ (GPO). The reverse

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ARTHUR HENRY VOYCE (1899-1984) Missionary, Philatelist, Conchologist, Hymenopterist & Horticulturist

Reverend A.H. Voyce first came to my attention when I acquired a cover of the Australian War Memorial, Canberra 5½djoined pair which were issued on February 10, 1958. This cover was not a first day cover, but it was postmarked with a special postmark: R.S.L. NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS/ 14TH B.E.S.L./ CONFERENCE/ 17-21 FEB 1958/ 20 FEB 58/ CANBERRA AUST. It was addressed to ‘Rev. A.H. Voyce/ Methodist Mission, Kihili, Buin, Bougainville,

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LETTER from CRETE to DR. CONSTANTINOS KYRIAZOPOLOUS, MELBOURNE

The vendor describes the cover as “1904 usage of orange 20 lepta & green 5 lepta (Hera) stamps of Crete Greece stamps on private cover with cachet at left “New Freedom (Neas Eleftherias)” sent from Heraklion to Dr. Konstantine Kyriazopoulos, 168 Victoria str., North Melbourne, Australia with a Melbourne backstamp. An enlargement of the purple cachet is also shown (Figures 1 & 2). A printed BANQUE D’ATHÈNES cover is addressed

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GEMO ISLAND, PAPUA NEW GUINEA 1948

A simple cover can lead one on a voyage of discovery, without leaving the computer. This cover was seen on eBay auctions and immediately the ancient disease of leprosy sprang to mind. The cover was addressed to the “Sister in Charge/ Gemo Island” and was posted with two Australian stamps, the purple 1d Princess Elizabeth and the ½d orange Roo, postmarked PORT MORESBY/ 23 JE 48/ PAPUA NEW GUINEA (Figures

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CHARLES HINCKLEY WETMORE M.D., HAWAIAN MISSIONARY

This cover was seen at auction for an amount that was surprisingly high, namely a reserve of AUD 600. In addition it was described as a commercial cover, but I found evidence that suggested that this was probably an incorrect surmise. The quality of the cover suggested that it was a philatelically inspired registered cover with 4 strikes of REGISTERED/ A/ MY 27/ 98/ SYDNEY, N.S.W, plus a large ‘R’

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CARL LAUBMAN / HAROLD PANK, CERTIFIED OPTICIANS to TUTUILA, SAMOA

The advertising cover for Laubman & Pank shows an array of 8 Gold Medals won in Exhibitions, dated 1920-25. The company is shown as Certified Opticians, 75 Rundle St. Adelaide, and the cover was addressed to Mr. Leon Hertado, Naval Radio Station, Tutuila, Samoa. The three red 1½d KGV Head stamps are cancelled ADELAIDE/ 3/ 5-A 23 AP 25/ STH AUSTRALIA. The reverse had no postal markings (Figure 1). Carl Wilhelm

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WALTER GUDGEON, ADMINISTRATOR, SOLDIER, JUDGE, & HISTORIAN, COOK ISLANDS

The registered cover had a lilac ‘TWO PENCE’, an orange ‘THREE PENCE’ as well as a block of four green bantam stamps of Victoria cancelled with GEELONG/ 1 A/ AP 24/ 02/ VICTORIA, and there was an orange crayon cross hatching plus a large R in a circle. The cover was addressed to Colonel Gudgeon, British Resident, Raratonga, Cook Islands Federation (Figure 1). On the reverse there was an incomplete double circle

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PAVITT FAMILY, U.K., NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA & NORTH BORNEO

The printed to private order wrapper was produced for the TASMANIAN MAIL, HOBART and it had two embossed QV stamps of Tasmania, a pink ‘ONE PENNY’ and an orange ‘HALF PENNY’ incorrectly addressed to Mr. E.A. Pavett (Correct: Pavitt), Sandakan, North Borneo (Figure 1). The reverse had a written message probably addedby  a co-worker collector of covers and wrappers which read: Dear Mr. Pavitt, Would you mind letting me have

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PAUL T. DIEFENDERFER, ANTHROPOLOGIST, SWAINS ISLANDS & U.S. SAMOA

The cover was addressed to Mr. Paul T. (D)iefenderfer, Supt. Of Education, Pago Pago, Tutuila, American Samoa . The carmine rose 2 cents USA stamp (Scott 690, General Count Casimir Pulaski) was canceled with a double circle PAGO PAGO SAMOA/ MAY/ 15/ 1931 and the top L.H. of the cover had a purple SWAINS ISLAND handstamp with a ms. ‘A.E. Jennings’, as the sender. The reverse was not seen (Figure

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