Ida Bay cds and BN 258 on cover

[Malcolm Groom]

Also staying on the topic further information for the postal historians amongst us:

1. Ida Bay post office opened on 1st September 1886 with Edmund Tyler (Mill owner) as Postmaster. On 1st May 1888 Miss Elizabeth Tyler became Postmistress, followed by Watt Handy Tyler on 1st May 1889.

2. The resignation of W H Tyler and consequent closure on and from 30th June 1892 was announced in the Gazette on page 1253.

3. On page 1435 it was announced the Post Office at Ida Bay would reopen on and from 18th July 1892 with Edmund Tyler jun. as Postmaster.

4. The closure of the office on and from 6th July 1896 was gazetted.

5. The Post Office was re-established on 1st March 1900 with Miss I Tyler as Postmistress.

6. The office received BN258 when it first opened.

7. It is reasonable to assume it used the same numeral and datestamp when it reopened in 1892 (after such a short break).

8. It received a different numeral and different datestamp when it reopened in 1900.

[Ross Ewington]

Thanks and well done Malcolm !! - a top bit of research verifying that Ida Bay had three periods of operation
as listed in the second edition of "The Post Offices of Tasmania: Openings and Closures 1812 to 1995".

Unless someone has got another cover to post (been to any more stamp shops in NYC Pete?), this post is just about done.

If anyone following this post about Ida Bay may have become a little curious about the location, here's a bit of "stuff":

A general entry re Ida Bay in "Ozpedia".
http://www.ozpedia.org/Ida%20Bay,%20Tasmania

A short newspaper clipping (from The Colonist) mentioning the limestone caves
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bi ... 10528.2.21

A newspaper clipping from 1916 (from The Mercury) entitled "The Making of Cement / New Industry for Tasmania / The Ida Bay Undertaking"
http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1058804

The Ida Bay Railway Photo Gallery
http://www.idabayrailway.com.au/gallery/gallery.htm

A bit of local news from 1891
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article ... 20Tasmania

I searched for a photo of the area from c.1900 but without success - if I find one at a future date, I will post it here.

[John Hardinge]

Re
Footnote:
It has been stated above that "The P.O. opening and closing book referred to above is completely unreferenced so users can judge for themselves the utility of it.".

While not conforming to the requirements of an academic document or dissertation (which it never was intended to be), the introduction to the second edition does
cite the source of the information compiled within and the rigorous procedure undertaken to verify as much of the content as possible.

"The final listing then was the result of co-operative work by many people over a period of more than a decade. It was heavily based on official post office
records and has been checked against many surviving postmark strikes."

After nearly 15 years, in my opinion, the second edition of "The Post Offices of Tasmania" remains an outstanding, accurate and invaluable document for collectors of
Tasmanian postal history and I recommend it to all TPS BB members who seek this information.


Thanks Ross. When I went ahead and had it published through Tony at the time naturally I went with the information that was available of the time. Most of it has stood the test of time. If I was to publish an update there would be a few changes, but not a significant amount and mainly effecting the RTO's and small offices.

It was indeed heavily based on P.O records. It also owed a great deal to the Green Books and the detailed research of the authors into gazettes, the blue books and scans of walsh's. For the post 1913 period I based my starting point on an original list compiled by Malcolm Groom which was a great help. I also was fortunate enough to have access to Joy Coopers original notes.

Where these reference sources agreed and late and early dates fell within the period I did not actively seek out more information . Where they did not and where gaps in regards to exact dates occurred I naturally investigated more and in many cases was able to pin down dates.

I regards to Ida Bay the were 3 periods of opening, one simply involving a brief closure whilst the search for a "suitable personange in the area" was completed. Ida Bay used 258 until it's 1896 closure. This was later reallocated to Kangaroo Valley. Upon it's 1900 reopening it would have received another numeral. Exacally which numeral remains open to some question. If the allocation follows the pattern of all other 1896-1898 reallocations where Southern numerals went to Southern offices and Northern numerals to Northern offices it must have either received a reallocated numeral(336 or 210 best possibilities) or a new numeral(383).

[Peter Allan]

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the discussion about the Postal History of Ida Bay. We now have a very detailed and useful account of this tiny and remote Office and its history. It just goes to show the depth of postal history expertise existing on the TPS Bulletin Board.

I can add that the broader picture regarding the history of Ida Bay is that it continued to be the "port", or at least Deep Hole was the port at the the end of the Ida Bay railway line, for shipments of limestone from the Lune River quarry to Electrona, the site of the Union Carbide Company, opening in 1901. Limestone was heated together with coke at Electrona to make Calcium carbide, which produces acetylene gas when combined with water. The Carbide factory was in production until the 1970s,and the Lune River area provided the limestone for carbide production.

Although producing a large volume of mail, the Union Carbide Company sent all mail to Snug as far as I know as there was no post Office at Electrona( a great pity in my opinion as I spent the first 9 years of my life here and wished it had a post Office !).

I should acknowledge the work of John Hardinge in this topic. John has worked long and hard researching opening and closing dates for all Tas POs, and his publications are essential references for all interested in Tasmanian postal history including the details of the development and classification of Tasmanian Postmarks. In terms of publications to date, John must be the heir of the authors of the Green Books and deserves the thanks of all those interested in Tasmanian Postal History for his contribution.

Pete

[Ross Ewington]

A photo of the Ida Bay area (from the 1890 - 1920s period) turned out to be much harder to locate than I originally thought. Postcards of nearby Southport can be sourced without too much difficulty but views of Ida Bay, the railway or the limestone quarry and works remain elusive.

Thanks to the efforts of a fellow TPS member and postcard enthusiast, I have illustrated below a "close but no cigar!" postcard view "..at Deep Hole Southport" by R.C. Harvey and that will have to do for now. The railway from the Ida Bay terminates here (yes, it still does) and Ida Bay limestone was loaded and shipped to Hobart from this location.

I would date this card from c.1910.

deep hole harvey small.jpg (70.91 KiB) Viewed 9105 times

[Mike]

Two more Harvey postcards with views looking towards Ida Bay.

[Peter Allan]

Another view of Deep Hole ( also posted under the RC Harvey topic in the Postcards forum )

Deep-Hole-Southport.jpg (528.96 KiB) Viewed 9050 times

Pete

[garnhaml]

The two photos shown are actually labeled Southport Lagoon which is about 50 min walk inland from Elliot Beach and Deep Hole where the latter shipments of limestone were made from a jetty. The views are NOT looking towards Ida Bay but over the lagoon at low tide with Mount La Perouse in background of the first and the sea exit in the second card.
I was there this W/E to make this observation.
regards
Lew.