Before the establishment of the colony in 1859, this function had been carried out by the General Post office in Sydney. I am not sure when Dead Letter Office opened in Brisbane, but it must have been very early on as I was able to locate a reference to it in a notice by the Postmaster General R. R. Mackenzie in the Brisbane Courier of 10 August 1861, stating that: "All parcels ...bearing a less amount than the letter-postage rate will be sent to the Dead Letter Office, to be opened and returned to the writers or senders of the same, or if containing no address will he forwarded and charged with double the amount of postage on delivery."
An early proclamation indicating that incorrectly or insufficiently prepaid letters would be returned to senders. These letters probably went through a Dead Letter Office of some sort. (QLD Government Gazette no 8, 28 January 1860, p. 45)
In November 1861 the same paper announced that "An important addition is about to be made to the General Post Office in the shape of two rooms at the back of the old buildings on the northern side of the Postmaster's residence. They are intended to answer the purpose of a newspaper-delivery and dead-letter office. Plans for this work have been prepared, and we understand that it will be commenced immediately." In 1872 a new General Post Office was built in Queen Street and the Dead Letter Office was located on the 1st floor behind the stamp, money order and registrations of letters departments.
Mail was sent to the Dead Letter Office only after efforts had been made locally to trace the addressee. The process was that any letters not called for at the local post office within a designated amount of time (for instance one month in 1885), or addresses not known to the local post office letter carriers, were advertised in the Government Gazette. If this produced no response after a reasonable time they were then sent to the Dead Letter Office. This process continued until after Queensland joined the Universal Postal Union in October 1891. Some time afterwards the advertisements in the Government Gazette were discontinued although the unclaimed letters were still sent to the Dead Letter Office in Brisbane, with the regulations in 1892 stating that intercolonial unclaimed letters would be kept in the local post offices for three months and for European letters six months, before being forwarded to the Dead Letter Office.
Impact of the post 1891 changes as detailed in the 1895 annual report, p. 11
An extract from the very first batch of unclaimed letters to be advertised in the Queensland Government Gazette with information on how to claim (QLD Government Gazette no 14, 10 March 1860, p. 107)
As mentioned above, in the 1860s and for some destinations into the 1870s, all mail sent out of Queensland had to be fully prepaid. Any letters with insufficient postage were sent to the Brisbane Dead Letter Office, where the letters were opened if necessary, and sent back to the writers. The regulations around this were quite complex and differed over time. Here is what the post office regulations had to say regarding this matter in 1866:
"All letters posted in Queensland must be prepaid by affixing thereon postage stamps of sufficient value. Any letters posted for delivery in the colony will (if the postage stamps thereon be not grossly deficient in value) be forwarded and charged with double the postage deficient; but if grossly deficient, the letter will be opened and returned to the writer. Any letter posted for transmission to the United Kingdom, will, if bearing at least a single rate of postage, be forwarded and charged with the postage deficient and a single rate of postage as a fine; but if not bearing a single rate of postage, it will be opened and returned to the writer. Letters posted for transmission to the neighbouring colonies and to foreign countries and British colonies generally, whether sent direct or through the United Kingdom, will invariably be opened and returned to the writer, unless they bear the full amount of postage payable thereon."
Large numbers of letters must have gone to the Dead Letter Office as this Rockhampton partial listing of unclaimed letters for September 1865 indicates
The 1865 annual report of the postmaster general gives some idea of the amount of material sent to the Dead Letter Office from across the colony. 17,795 letters were received for which no owners could be found. Of these 86 registered and 9,034 ordinary letters were returned to the writers. Amongst those opened were 92 registered, which contained property valued at £1,051 19s 2d, and 196 unregistered letters the value of the contents of which was estimated at £7,103 10s 4d. Amongst the contents of these unclaimed or carelessly posted missives were watches, rings, and other articles of value. These numbers steadily increased, to 115,621 letters in 1890, 125,737 in 1891 and around 200,000 in 1907 including 137,000 letters. In 1909 this had dramatically increased to 379,220 items comprising 155,793 letters, 27,314 pos cards, 113,558 packets, 13,399 circulars and 69,156 newspapers!
Not all those who received from the Dead Letter Office their undelivered and returned mail were impressed, as this letter in the Queensland Times in May 1866 indicates: "The Ipswich Post-office has just returned to me through the dead letter office a letter of some consequence, written and posted by me to a gentleman at North Ipswich on the 6th of October, 1865. What on earth do the postmen do with themselves that they cannot trace a man from North Ipswich to Brisbane or Bigges' Camp? And where do the officials carefully store the letters bearing the magic words "not found?" It seems to me that the post-office is becoming a sort of quarantine station. What would be said in England of such delay?"
Despite the large quantities handled, examples of Dead Letter Office date stamps are scarce, probably because they were attached to the cover and not the stamp itself.
Seven different Dead Letter Office datestamps are known to have been used, usually, but not always, as a backstamp.
Various other markings are also known to have been applied at the Dead Letter Office. These include 'Advertised,' 'Unclaimed,' 'Advertised / Unclaimed,' 'Insufficient Address,' 'Prohibited' and 'D.L.O. Record No.'
Returned Unclaimed Letter Envelopes were used by the Brisbane Dead letter Office to return unclaimed mail back to the sender and a number of different types are known
For an article on the Dead Letter Office by H M Campbell published in Philately in Australia, March 1986, see HERE
Dead letter Office datestamps
Dead Letter Office Type 1 'D.L.O.' round the top of an unframed oval 29 mm in diameter, 'QUEENSLAND' round the foot and two arcs at each side. Known used as a back stamp on covers from February 1863 to April 1873. Rated 3R.
D.L.O. Type 1
Dead Letter Office Type 2 'DEAD LETTER OFFICE' round the top of an unframed circle 19 mm in diameter, 'QUEENSLAND' round the foot and short vertical bars between the inscriptions. Known used as a back stamp on covers from September 1875 to May 1884 Rated 3R.
Dead Letter Office Type 2
Dead Letter Office Type 3 'DEAD LETTER OFFICE' round the top of a framed circle 24.5 mm in diameter, 'BRISBANE' round the foot and a circle stop at each side. Known used in red on covers from January 1886 to January 1898 and then in violet from December 1898 to February 1901. Rated 2R
Dead Letter Office Type 3
Dead Letter Office Type 4 'DEAD LETTER OFFICE' round the top of a framed circle 27 mm in diameter, 'BRISBANE' round the foot and a full stop at each side. Known used in violet from May 1902 to August 1908 rated 2R and in red from 10 July 1902 to 13 April 1905 rated 3R
Dead Letter Office Type 4
Dead Letter Office Type 5 'DEAD LETTER OFFICE' round the top of a framed circle 25 mm in diameter, 'BRISBANE' round the foot and a full stop at each side. Known used in violet shading to reddish mauve from October 1908 to June 1911. Rated 2R
Dead Letter Office Type 5
Dead Letter Office Type 6 'DEAD LETTER OFFICE' round the top of a framed circle 28 mm in diameter, 'BRISBANE' round the foot and a short bar at each side. Known used in carmine from November 1911 to June 1913. Rated 3R
Dead Letter Office Type 6
Dead Letter Office Type 7 Two concentric ovals 39.5 x 26 mm and 30.5 x 16.5 mm respectively, with between the ovals 'DEAD LETTER OFFICE' round the top, 'BRISBANE' round the foot and a stop each side. Known used in blue or carmine from March 1904 to June 1911. Rated 3R
Dead Letter Office Type 7
Advertised Type 1 'Advertised' round the top of a framed oval 34.5 x 25 mm across the axes and joined at each end by an ellipse round the foot. Known used from February 1863 to April 1873. Rated 3R
Advertised Type 1
Unclaimed Type 1 'Unclaimed' round the top of a framed oval 34.5 x 24.5 mm across the axes and joined at each end by an ellipse round the foot. Known used from March 1863 to February 1867. Rated 3R
Unclaimed Type 1
Unclaimed Type 2 framed oval, 33.5 x 27.5 mm with 'UNCLAIMED' around the top and 'BRISBANE' round the foot. It is struck in black with dates ranging from September 1893 to October 1912. Rated 3R
Unclaimed Type 2
Advertised / Unclaimed Type 1 unframed handstamp in three straight lines measuring approximately 23 x 12.5 mm reading 'ADVERTISED/(date)/UNCLAIMED' in red. Dates range from September 1875 to May 1884. Rated 3R
Advertised / Unclaimed Type 1
Advertised / Unclaimed Type 2 framed circle 25 mm in diameter with 'ADVERTISED' round the top, 'UNCLAIMED' round the foot, and a circle stop at each side; the date is in one line in the centre. It is struck in red and the dates range from January 1886 to September 1891. Rated 2R.
Advertised / Unclaimed Type 2
Prohibited handstamp applied to postcards containing tinsel. 37.5 x 5 mm struck in mauve / rosine. Dates range from September 1909 to February 1910. Rated 3R
Prohibited
Prohibited
Dead letter Office handstamps
Dead Letter Office Record No. handstamp for use within the Dead Letter Office but occasionally applied in error to mail. It measured 40 x 17 mm, was struck in Carmine and known on cover in September 1908 and March 1912. Rated 3R
Returned Unclaimed Letter Envelopes were used to return unclaimed mail to the sender. 6 different types are known from 1890 onwards and are all rated 3R
Returned Unclaimed Letter Envelope type 3
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