Australia: Privately Manufactured Aerogramme Form, Permit #14, Used in Indonesia

This Australian Qantas privately manufactured aerogramme form, “Approved by Postmaster-General for Acceptance as Airletter No. 14” (Cornish #14.2), was sent from Denpasar, Bali, to Middletown, Delaware/US. The addressee worked at St. Andrews School, which was the film location for Dead Poets Society, the famous Peter Weir film starring the late Robin Williams.

The airletter most likely contained an enclosure, as is indicated by the “5 grs” weight endorsement in red in the lower right corner of the front panel, the crossed-out “By Air Mail” routing instruction. The post office clerk at Denpasar also endorsed a new routing instruction (“Pos Laut”, Sea Mail).

The post office clerk, however, missed that the airletter was correctly franked as an air mail letter (75 sen surface mail rate plus 175 sen air mail surcharge per 5 grams of weight).

This error was only detected at the intermediate stop at Surabaja, Java, where the stamps on the back were cancelled. The routing instruction on the front panel was changed to “Pos Udara / Par Avion”.

The stamps on the front panel were cancelled DENPASAR 6.11.53 - 7 (at 7 am), the stamps on the back SURABAJA 6.11.53 - 15 (at 3 pm).

Reference
Cornish, "The Private Issues". A Study into the Privately Issued Australian Airletters and Aerogramme Issues of 1946 to 1966, 2014