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Early Postal Routes.
The cover below from Franklin Huon 2 April 1879 was addressed to Krushkas Bridge, now Moorina in NE Tasmania.
Its backstamped Hobart Town 2 April 1879 so arrived in Hobart the day it was posted. There are no further postal markings except the BN.
I notice than the 2nd allocation barred numeral 13 of Browns River ( later Kingston ) has been applied to the stamp.

Questions

Can anyone confirm that at the time, 1879, the route was by boat from Franklin to Browns river thence to Hobart? Does anyone know what boat or coastal shipping service carried mail from Franklin to Hobart at this time?
I believe the track to Huonville was not established hence Coastal shipping would be the only option?
Any suggestions as to why the BN 43 of Franklin was not applied to the stamp at the Franklin PO? Perhaps Browns River decided to cancel the stamp that should have been cancelled by the originating Post Office?

I assume the route from Hobart to Krushka's Bridge, NE Tasmania, could only have been via Launceston and Scotsdale. My 1889 map shows a railway line as far as Lilydale but in any case the Main Line was carrying mail from Hobart to Lanceston as from 1 May 1877.
Any ideas about the route this cover would have taken would be appreciated.

Pete

Thanks to Malcolm Groom, I have now had a much closer look at the BN , and there is the fainest trace of the cross bar of 4 on the 1 when the scan is enlarged. So it was in fact cancelled at Franklin which used BN 43, rather than at Browns River which used BN 13.
This makes far more sense.
I am still interested to know if the route was by ship ?

In 1870 the mail from Hobart town to Franklin appears to travel by road / coach. The attached an extract from The Mercury via Trove.

Many thanks Geoff.
I think thats pretty catagorical. Shipping Services were no longer used for mail at this time as there was a coach route in existence.
Grame Broxam has also kindly provided this link to Trove regarding a trip down the Hobart -Geeveston Road, 1879, which passes throuhg Huonville ( then Victoria) and Franklin. Its rather long so I wont copy it all here, but its a most informative article. Interestingly, there is a also a letter about problems with the Honeywood Telegraph line on the same page:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article ... l-title=10