- £300.00
1897 unstamped envelope to Broken Hill, N.S.W. With a red TASMANIA / OFFICIAL PAID handstamp along with a HOBART SE 9 1897 duplex canceller. The cover has the signature of Stafford Bird at the upper right. This 'Official Paid' free frank privilege was used by House of Assembly Members. Bolton Stafford Bird was the member for Franklin and was Postmaster General from 29.3.1887 to 17.8.1892. Bird was a Tasmanian representative at the Federation Conference, held in Melbourne from 6 to 14 February 1890, when leading politicians from the six Australian colonies and New Zealand affirmed the desirability of ‘an early union under the crown’ and committed themselves to persuading their governments to send delegates to a convention which would ‘consider and report’ on a scheme for a federal constitution. An interesting cover from a prominent Tasmanian.
