Hi Laurent!
I have done a little research on Huon during the first allocation period 1853 to 1861. Its quite confusing as the town Huon was actually called Franklin-Huon from 1853. Before this it was called just Huon, but is not the modern day location of Huonville.In fact the location of the original Huon and Huon-Franklin was what today we call Franklin, maybe 10 k downstream from the current Huonville.
Franklin (Huon) was the first location settled in this area and it was at the end of the stretch of the Huon river that was navigable by wooden ships in the 19th Century. The original Town of Huon, later Franklin-Huon still has old colonial stone buildings while the more modern town of Huonville is further up the River where its possible to have a bridge has no really old buildings.
To find the postmaster of Franklin-Huon its no use googling Huonville or Huon. Huonville did not have even a basic Postal Service until 1867 which is well after the First Allocation period . The First allocation numeral listings by Askeland refer to Huon but this is misleading as the name a that time was Huon-Franklin.
I have found a newspaper notice stating "
Mr A N Spong to be postmaster at Franklin (Huon), vice Mr T F Merry, resigned; to take effect from the 1st January (1859)". We can assume before 1859 the postmaster was T F Merry. This would explain why we see two different styles of the number 46 on stamps during the first allocation.
Finally, there was also a town called Victoria close by which is sometimes referred to as originally being Huonville. This is not quite correct. Victoria was at what is now called Ranelagh, a few km inland from the Huon river bridge while Huonville is near the bridge across the Huon River.Victoria does have an arc-type date stamp but no first allocation numeral.
To people familliar with Tasmania, it seems obvious the Huonville was the original Huon but this is not correct. The current Huonville became the biggest town in the area much later in the 19th Century while the original Huon ( or Huon-Franklin) did not grow at the same rate and is now called Franklin.
BN 36 was used at Franklin-Huon now known as Franklin.
BN 34, originally issued to Little Swanport on Tasmania's E Coast was returned within a year of issue and there is evidence it was sent to Grove, which is a few k from the Huon River and in the same area as Huonville.
I have attached a scan of a Cover with manuscript endorsement 'Franklin" and the numeral 36 - similar to one up-loaded by Laurent.This is the first allocation manuscript numeral 36 of Huon-Franklin.
The status of manuscript 34 on single stamps is a little unclear as that number was also used by Fingall in the second allocation of barred numerals. It really needs to be on a cover with a postmark to tie it to the correct Post Office. The ms 34 on a star watermark or no watermark Chalon would also be fairly certain to be Grove.
- Franklin-Huon-numeral-46.jpg (698.56 KiB) Viewed 1648 times
