Australia - War years and recovery: 1940-1957.
Ordinary rate delivery form: AW-DO-9

General characteristics:

Heading and notes: Form T.G. 42 in top left corner.
Only one boxed advertisement in heading.
TELEGRAM below one line C of A heading.
COMMONWEALTH extends well over LH box.
Has three distinct sections in heading.
Message area: Blank.
Reverse side: Advertisement (on first printing only) or blank (see below).
Colours (text & form): Blue on cream.
Size of form overall: 100 × 190 mm (approx).

Distinctive characteristics of the form:

  • has only one box in the heading and that is on the left;

The main distinctions amongst the seven formats are:

Form number Note to
"Turn over"		 Schedule number Gap between left box and Schedule number.
9A Present inside the box and an advert on reverse. Sch. C. 2941-9/1940. None
9Ba Present inside the box and an advert on reverse. Sch. C. 2941 - 9/1940.
Form number ends in B.		 None
9Bb None Sch. C. 3873 7/1942.
Form number ends in B.		 Yes
9C Present outside the box and an advert on reverse. Sch. C. 3365 - 7/1941 Yes and Schedule number is in small font.
9D Present outside the box and an advert on reverse Sch. C. 3365-8/1941. None
9E Present outside the box but no advert on reverse. Sch. C. 3365-8/1941. None
9Fa None Sch. C. 3365-8/1941. Yes
9Fb None Sch. C. 3873 7/1942. None
9G None None. No schedule number
9Ha None S.P.L. - A834 - 6/1942. Schedule number starts S.P.L.
9Hb None Sch. C. 3873 7/1942. None
Sydney Monto to Manly, Queensland.
3 December 1941.
AW-DO-9A.
Printed in September 1940.

Characteristics:

  • has PLEASE TURN OVER inside the box in the top left corner;
  • probably has advertisement for "Birthday Greetings ..."
    printed in orange on reverse but reverse side not sighted.

Very special telegram commenting on a most important naval event.

AW-DO-9Aa Puckapunayl (sic) Mil PO to Camberwell E.6.
8 September 1942.
AW-DO-9Aa.
Printed in September 1940.

Characteristics:

  • has PLEASE TURN OVER inside the box in the top left corner;
  • has advertisement for "Birthday Greetings ..."
    printed in orange on reverse (see below).
AW-DO-9Aa rev Puckapunayl (sic) Mil PO to Camberwell E.6.
8 September 1942.
AW-DO-9A (reverse side).
Printed in September 1940.

Characteristics:

Reverse side of the above delivery form to Camberwell showing
a single advertisement in orange for "BIRTHDAY GREETINGS ...".

Note in box concerns the time differences across the states.

Advertisements also recorded on the reverse side are:

  • BE SURE TO FULLY ADDRESS ...;
  • ... FULLY ADDRESS ... with ARMY example.
DO-9Ba Printed in September 1940 same as for AW-DO-9A above.
Mil P.O. Darwin to C.T.O. Melbourne
1 July 1941.
AW-DO-9Ba.
Form number is T.G. 42B.
Printed in September 1940.

Characteristics:

  • in top left box has (PLEASE TURN OVER)
    under MONEY ORDER TELEGRAM;
  • "Commonwealth ..." stops before the right edge of the box
    and is 100 mm wide.
  • reverse side has "BE SURE TO FULL ADDRESS ..." in orange.

Slogans on reverse also known are:

  • TIME BY TELEPHONE;
  • "BIRTHDAY GREETINGS ..." in orange.
DO-9Bb Military base to Toorak
23 December 1942.
AW-DO-9Bb.
Form number is T.G. 42B.
Printed in July 1942.

Characteristics:

  • type B form number;
  • in top left box MONEY ORDER TELEGRAM in top left corner
    has no instruction to PLEASE TURN OVER;
  • "Commonwealth ..." extends to the left beyond the RH edge
    of the box and is 100 mm wide;
  • no advertisement on reverse side.
DO-9C Eltham, Vic to Everton Park, Qld.
23 January 1943.
AW-DO-9C.
Form number is T.G. 42B.
Printed in July 1941.

Characteristics:

  • font for heading is all sans-serif capitals;
  • MONEY ORDER is in larger letters;
  • PLEASE TURN OVER is moved to under the text box;
  • schedule number is fully left justified and
    is in much smaller letters;
DO-9C rev
AW-DO-9C (reverse side).
  • Advertisement for TIME ....;
  • has printing date for reverse side is also 7/1941.
AW-DO-9D Footscray to Newport W.15 Vic.
20 June 1942.
AW-DO-9D.
Printed in August 1941.

Characteristics:

  • normal printing with upper and lower case letters;
  • PLEASE TURN OVER is underneath the text box;
  • no space between the instruction and the schedule number.
AW-DO-9D-rev
AW-DO-9D (reverse).

Reverse side of the above delivery form:

Characteristics:

  • has the advertisement for BIRTHDAY GREETINGS, ... printed in orange;
  • spacing of words in the box is different;
  • has printing date on the reverse side and it is also 8/1941.
DO-9E Sth Melb South Melbourne to Caulfield S.E.S.
3 October 1942.
Scarce rubber datestamp.
AW-DO-9E.
Printed in August 1941.

Characteristics:

  • normal printing with upper and lower case letters;
  • PLEASE TURN OVER is underneath the text box;
    Unfortunately, despite the instruction to turn over,
    the reverse side is blank (so no advertisement);
  • no space between the instruction and the schedule number.
DO-9Ea Military PO Darwin to Melbourne (Chief Telegraph/Office) date stamp of
11 June 1942.
AW-DO-9Fa.
Printed in August 1941.

Characteristics:

  • no instruction to PLEASE TURN OVER;
  • gap between the box and the schedule number in the top left;
  • letters of TELEGRAM are close together;
  • the reverse side is blank.
DO-9Eb Moreland to Boronia, Vic.
9 February 1943.
AW-DO-9Fb.
Printed in July 1942.
Cut at a significant angle.

Characteristics:
(identical to AW-DO-9Fa EXCEPT):

  • no gap between the box and the schedule number in the top left.
DO-9G Coolangatta to Toowong
5 October 1944.
AW-DO-9G.
No printing date.

Characteristics:

  • no schedule number or printing date;
  • no instruction to PLEASE TURN OVER;
  • "No." moved to be 1 mm to left of T/C/B.
DO-9Ga Adelaide Railway to Alberton, SA
27 August 1942.
AW-DO-9Ha.
Printed in June 1942.

This type of schedule number has not been previously recorded
but two are known at Alberton on the same date.

Characteristics:

  • very different schedule number;
  • underline extends between L and start of A of TELEGRAM;
  • MONEY ORDER TELEGRAM is in larger letters;
  • date has only two numerals for the year;
  • text under TELEGRAM and under DEPARTMENT is centered;
  • no gap between box and schedule number;
  • letters of TELEGRAM are spread out
    (45 mm wide rather than 39 mm wide as for DO-9E).
DO-9Gb DELETED (Military service) to
Mt. Lawley.
12 April 1943.
Scarce rubber date stamp.
AW-DO-9Hb.
Printed in July 1942.

Characteristics:

  • underline extends between L and start of A of TELEGRAM;
  • MONEY ORDER TELEGRAM is in larger letters;
  • text under TELEGRAM and under DEPARTMENT is centered;
  • no gap between box and schedule number;
  • letters of TELEGRAM are spread out
    (45 mm wide rather than 39 mm wide as for DO-9E).

Details of use and rarity.

Form
sub-number		 Schedule number Earliest recorded date Rarity rating
DO-9A Sch. C. 2941-9/1940. 3 December 1941 at Manly, Queensland. C
DO-9Ba Sch. C. 2941 - 9/1940. 13 June 1941 at C.T.O. Melbourne. NC
DO-9Bb Sch. C. 3873 7/1942. 16 December 1942 at C.T.O. Melbourne. C
DO-9C Sch. C. 3365 - 7/1941 23 July 1943 at Everton Park, Vic. RR
DO-9D Sch. C. 3365-8/1941. 20 June 1942 at Newport, Vic. RR
DO-9E Sch. C. 3365-8/1941. 19 September 1942 at Amphitheatre, Vic. C
DO-9Fa Sch. C. 3365-8/1941. 11 June 1942 at CTO, Melbourne. C
DO-9Fb Sch. C. 3873 7/1942. 2 January 1943 at Burwood, Vic. C
DO-9G None. 5 October 1944 at Toowong, Qld. RR
DO-9Ha S.P.L. - A834 - 6/1942. 27 August 1942 at Alberton, SA. RRRR
DO-9Hb Sch. C. 3873 7/1942. 12 April 1943 at Mt. Lawley, Vic. C
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Previous ordinary rate delivery form (AB-DO-8).
Next ordinary rate delivery form (AW-DO-10).
Overview page for the Australian ordinary rate delivery forms.
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