Royal Reels: Gambling

Political

SOLICITOR-GENERAL MELBOURNE CIRCULAR to JOHN LAURENS J.P.

This circular served double use from the Solicitor-General, Melbourne to John Laurens, Hotham Hill and back again to the Solicitor-General. There were a total of five of these documents available on Ebay, all sent from the same source, but to 5 different Justices of the Peace in the years 1874-1878. The entire is seen in Figure 1. The O.H.M.S. circular was printed ‘Crown Law Offices, Melbourne, 16th December 1874′ and was

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SIR W.C. WINDEYER, POLITICIAN, CHANCELLOR, UNI SYDNEY

This abused mourning cover has a blue imperforate 1854 ‘Laureate’ stamp of New South Wales canceled with an indistinct barred numeral ‘57′ of Raymond Terrace and it is addressed to W.C. Windeyer Esq, University, Sydney. The vendor states that the stamp is the Plate III, being the Plate I re-engraved with the background of crossed lines (Figures 1 & 2). The reverse shows more clearly that it is a mourning

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WILLIAM KERR, JOURNALIST, NEWSPAPER EDITOR/OWNER, TOWN CLERK

This stampless cover from London has a ms. ‘2/3′ and ‘pr. Overland Via Marseilles’, a red ‘clover leaf’ PAID/ L.S,/ 8 SP 8/ 1854 handstamp, as well as an illegible red circular handstamp. It is addressed to W. Kerr, Town Clerk, Melbourne, Australia (Figure 1). The reverse has a distinct red unframed SHIP LETTER/ ( )/ NO * 9/ 1854/ G.P.O. VICTORIA (Figure 2). William Kerr (1812-59), journalist, was born

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WILLIAM JOHN MACLEAY, POLITICIAN/ZOOLOGIST & the MACLEAY FAMILY

The cover is addressed to W.J. MacLeay (sic)  Esq MLA, Australian Club and the 1d red-orange New South Wales ‘Laureate’ stamp was cancelled with a barred grid obliterator with 10 vertical lines characteristic of the Sydney G.P.O. ( Figure 1). The reverse postmark confirms that Sydney was the point of origin with a small unframed SYDNEY/ MY 6/ 185 ( )/ C/ N.S.W.  The vendor states that the year date

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WILLIAM CLARK HAINES, GRAZIER & POLITICIAN, PREMIER of VICTORIA

The entire has a 1d brown and a 3d steel-blue ‘Half Length’ stamps of Victoria cancelled by the barred numeral ‘75′ of Shelford prepaying the 4d inland letter rate to Melbourne and showing but not seen on the reverse, despatch and arrival datestamps of 10 April 1856. It is addressed to William C. Haines, Chief Secretary Office, Melbourne (Figure 1). William Haines (1810-1866), was born at Hampstead, England, son of

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WILLIAM ANDRADE, ANARCHIST, BOOKSELLER , & ANTI-CONSCRIPTIONIST

The incompletely seen cartoon advertising cover shows a caricature of an eastern gentleman apparently standing on a log fishing; the text reads ‘No Ketchem Ten Days return to The House of Mystery and Magic, Will Andrade, 173 Pitt St., Sydney’. It is addressed to Messrs S.S. Adams & Co., Ashbury Park, New Jersey, U.S.A. It has a blue AIR MAIL sticker and the one shilling six pence Airmail and the

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WESTERN AUSTRALIA ATTEMPTS SECESSION IN THE 1930’s

I have no recollections of the persistent concerns that the W.A. residents had about staying in the Australian Federation, right up to the end of WW II in 1945. Moreover, even in the 1970’s a Westralian Secessionist Movement was formed with the financial backing of mining magnate, Lang Hancock. The movement represented a conservative reaction to the centralist views of the Whitlam Labour Government. During the 1999 Federal referendum campaign,

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WESTERN AUSTRALIAN SENATOR ALEXANDER MATHESON (1861-1929)

These two covers were mailed from Perth W.A. eight days apart, almost certainly from the same sender, addressed simply to Senator Matheson. Both were underpaid with the grey ½d swan stamp, and they were postmarked with different Perth G.P.O duplexes. The first had a complete duplex with L.C. (Letter Carrier) ROOM/ 2/ AU 4/ 02/ PERTH and was addressed to St. Georges Terrace, Perth W.A. and it had a tax

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W.C. WENTWORTH’S LETTERS to BROTHER-IN-LAW, ROBERT TOWNS

The first entire is addressed at Maitland July nine 1844/ Robert Towns Esqe/ Castlereagh St/ Sydney and has the signature of W.Wentworth MLC at the lower left hand. There is a red boxed FREE (Karman N50.57) on the front. The reverse (not shown) has an oval MAITLAND/ [Crown]/ JY 9 1844/ NEW S. WALES and GENERAL POST OFFICE/ [Crown]/ JY 11 1844/ SYDNEY postmarks in black (Figure 1). A second

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UNION of AUSTRALIAN WOMEN, PEACE COMMITTEE vs.SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC

The Airmail postcard has the $1.20 pink cockatoo stamp of 1994, and the date and place from which it was sent, was illegible. It states: Dear Sir, The people of Australia urge you to: Please negotiate; Please stop this terrible war. Signature D. Dudman 5/4/94. Card produced by Union of Australian Women, Australian Peace Committee. It is addressed to M. Le President, Slobodan Milosivic (sic), 1100 Belgrade Serbia, Yugoslavia (Figure 1). The

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