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Postcards allow the message on the back to be read by anybody, which is not a problem because most messages are not top secret. But if you want to keep your message secret, you need to put it in code. Here are two messages in code. I wonder what they say?

Hi Des,

I think that I have the solution. I suspect that HAS which appears in twice in CARD 1 should be AS, but old-timers often inserted a H for politeness sake.

Card 1

RECEIVED P.C. VERY
PRETTY. THIS VIEW
IS VERY PRETTY ALSO
EITHER WALKING OR
DRIVING HAS YOU
WILL SEE BY THE
WINDING ROAD. YOU
ARE THE BEST.--------
CORRESPONDENCE.
SO SUCCESS SAY I TO
( …. ) YOURS HAS BEFORE
JIM MEECH



Card 2

RECEIVED CARD
MANY THANKS FOR
SAME. WISHING
YOU EVERY
SUCCESS.
YOURS
J. MEECH


Best wishes. JIm Miller

Amazing! Thanks Jim. Are you going to tell us how you did it? And what the key is?

Des

Hi Des,

It was really quite easy. I assumed that it was a direct one-to-one correspondence between the code symbols and letters of the alphabet. As e is the most common letter we use, I presumed – looking at the second card – that r was the code for e. Again on the second card, the coded word YZQQRYY has few possibilities in the English language. I came up with 'success'. Also, the name 'J. Meech' probably in code was 5Vrra4, and that gave me more information.

By the way, I found reference to a James Robert Meech in “Trove”. In “The Mercury” of Saturday 22 July 1911 is a death notice. It reads that he died 'on July 20 1911 at his residence, angle of Scott and Bell Streets, Glebe....aged 68 years. Late Inspector of lighthouses.'
An extended tribute to Mr. Meech was witten in “The Mercury” of Friday 21 July 1911.

Regards,

Jim