Thursday Island, although politically always part of Queensland and having no special postal status, has for some time been a popular collecting area. It was, however, for many years an important stopping point on Queensland’s Torres Strait mail route to the United Kingdom. The story of the development of this service is told. Its early postal history is noteworthy for the use of three different numeral obliterators – Nos. 51, 148 and 336, the first being of particular rarity. All markings follow the Colonial Queensland and later Commonwealth patterns, but all examples of instructional markings are very scarce. Thursday Island postal markings are exceptional in one regard – paquebot markings – of which some eight types are described and illustrated.
During World War II Thursday Island and neighbouring Horn Island were important bases and the full story of the military postal arrangements and markings is given.
This copiously illustrated monograph will present the many collectors of this area with a comprehensive picture of the scope of the field.
