Australian F.d.c. Escape.

This is an Australian Registered first day cover of 1951 which was undelivered as the addressee had left the address in New Zealand.

There are 5 date stamps on the reverse and 3 manuscript marks, which makes for interesting research.
The address of only a name and a town in New Zealand seems inadequate.

The amazing thing is that with 9 postal attachments or stamps, on the front of the letter the set of 4 postage stamps were perfectly postmarked with the date stamp and nothing else!
With the propensity for using biro or crayon marks these days, could you imagine a current cover staying in that condition? I think not.
Regards
Ron

That image is valuable to me, as a "prover cover" for no less than 5 postal markings.
The DLO CDS (fab)
The DLO and GONE boxed markings
The Post Office EXPRESS etiquette
The NZ Octagonal

Plus "RLO Auckland" (Registered Letter office) and "Card (signed)
Great Stuff!

PS: Keep an eye out for a CDS incorrectly made "Hellensville" circa 1882

PPS : Guess
The cover started out philatelically inspired.
The sender has drawn the purple registration crayon across the cover,
but not the cachet, preserving the image.
Only a collector would do that, in my opinion.

Do we have postal rates for 1951 for registration?

Hi Rod,
Glad you found the cover of interest and for so many reasons.
Thanks for the Hellensville tip, I will check the postcards just in case.
The sender (no name and address on the reverse, which I thought was mandatory for registered mail)
was known to us and he sent a lot of FDC's. He was in fact the impetus behind the stamp issue for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
Unfortunately we don't have the postage rates for that period and have done a quick google search but not come up with anything for those days. We know that the postage rate changed in 1951 to 3½d but do not know the registration fee.
Thanks for the input.
Regards.
Ron and Eunice
P.S. What do you mean by "prover cover" not something we recognise.

"prover cover"
When stamps / etiquettes / Labels are tied to the cover by a postmark
they prove the usage.
Sometimes labels / cinderellas are added after the event by the scallywags to raise a better price.
Hope that helps.

PS: It would be interesting to know, the route of the cover, from the Dead Letter Office
through to your ownership.
Something I have never come across before, for example how long it remains in the DLO,
how it is released ? and are they always returned to sender, if there is a forwarding address.

2/5½d seems expensive for Reg NZ, plus all comm foundation issues, plus a line pair.
Philatelic for sure, nevertheless, a cracking cover.

Australia had a discount rate for postage for 20 items and above,
I wonder if the "N.20" in a circle, refers to that. but we shall never know.

Thanks for the explanation Rod, we thought it would be something like that but not a word we are used to.

Though there was no return address on the outside of the cover, Reg had enclosed a cardboard stiffener inside with his name and address on it. so it was returned to him (presumably under official cover) I had met Reg originally whilst I was working at Fortitude Valley Post Office as Philatelic Officer and got to know him well over the years.
Eunice and I visited him at his unit and he gave us a number of FDC's including the one we illustrated. Many of them were mailed from Greenslopes Repatriation Hospital where he spent a lot of time.
He was a real 'Gentleman', wonderful man and full of interesting stories. A real battler despite his health problems.
As a matter of interest his return address was in Charleville Qld but there would be no datestamp for that as it was in a DLO envelope.
The n20 remains a mystery I am afraid.
As for the registration fee, I am sure the full set of stamps covered that (and probably more)
Cheers
Ron.

Nice story Ron.