Tasmania - Delayed

The hand stamps below show the Detained/Delayed message in its various forms as used in Tasmania during:

the Colonial period (to 1900);
the Interim period (1901 - 1916);
the Commonwealth period (1917+).

The Colonial period.

As was usual in the early days of telegraphic communication, operators simply wrote an appropriate on a message of the received telegram delivery form to indicate that a message had been delayed. Their annotations were, of necessity, always short.

Examples of these annotations are shown below. The earliest recorded date is 18 November 1871 for a message to Hobart.

Transmission form (TC-TO-2) for a message to Launceston on 18 November 1871.
In lower left corner, in manuscript, is the message LINE INTERRUPTED".

The Interim period.

NC-DO-5D.

To Hobart.
13 October 1903.

DELAYED BY
INTERRUPTION TO LINE.

Applied in blue.
13 × 61 mm.

Message lodged at 9:30 am and received at 5 pm.

The hand stamp is also known used on a similar telegram form at Hobart on 19 December 1902.

The Commonwealth period.

Provenance: Clemente.

AW-DO-9Bb.

Sydney to Hobart.
31 October 1945.

DELAYED BY INTERRUPTION
TO LINES

Applied in red.
9 × 57 mm

Message sent at 11:44 am but received at 2:14 pm.