Prior to 1905, Australian postal regulations stated that the address side of postcards should only contain the address of the addressee, with no message or other writing on that side. This meant that people sending picture postcards had to write on the pictorial side of the card, often squeezing their text into a small space.[1]
Some early picture postcards provided some limited space on the pictorial side (usually underneath, on the right, or both), so that the senders could write a message. Obviously, this was an unsatisfactory arrangement. Although documentary evidence is lacking, it can easily be imagined that the manufacturers of postcards would have lobbied the Postmaster-General for a change in the rules (and perhaps some influential users of postcards may have carried out some lobbying as well).
The practice of dividing one side of pictorial postcards, to allow writing, had already been authorised in the United Kingdom in January 1902, so it was an idea which had already been tried and tested.[2]
In December 1904, the advent of some new postal regulations were announced in Australia. These new rules allowed for a dividing line on the address side of postcards, with senders being allowed to write a message on the left side. The principal purveyors of postcards would have been particularly pleased.[3]
On 6 December 1904, The Brisbane Courier announced:
“The Postmaster-General has instructed the State Deputies that pictorial post cards may circulate in Australia at post card rates when containing matter in addition to the address on the face side, providing that a vertical line be drawn across, on one side of which the address is to be written and on the other the correspondence matter.”[4]
“With reference to your letter of the 2nd instant, respecting the question of correspondence being allowed on the address side of pictorial post-cards, I have the honour, by direction, to inform you the Postmaster-General has approved of a new regulation being made permitting pictorial post-cards, transmissible within the Commonwealth only, to be divided on the face by a vertical line, the part to the left, which must not exceed that on the right, to be used for correspondence, while that on the right must be reserved exclusively for the address. I am to add the Minister has further approved that effect be given forthwith, and instructions have been issued accordingly.”[5]
In the Statutory Rules of 1905 (no. 26), promulgated by the Governor-General, the following regulations were laid out, to come into operation on 5 April 1905:
POSTAL REGULATIONS.
Post Cards.
The following regulation is hereby inserted in the principal regulations after regulation 4:—
“4A. Pictorial post-cards, transmissible within the Commonwealth and between the Commonwealth and New Zealand, may be divided on the face by a vertical line, the space to the left of the line, which must not exceed that on the right, to be available for a written communication, while the space on the right is to be used exclusively for the address.”[6]
Therefore, the manufacturers of postcards for the Australian market were able to produce cards with a full picture or photo on one side, and an area for writing on the other (sharing the same side with equal-sized area for writing the address), with the latter side now being referred to as the “divided back”. By regulation, this change could be put into effect from 1905 onwards; however, in actual practice, following the Postmaster-General’s instruction “that effect be given forthwith”, the new rules could actually be used from December 1904 onwards. The change was a welcome one; indeed, this development helped to increase the popularity and sales of postcards in Australia.[7]
Australia had finally joined the international trend of using the divided back, although it was far from the last country to do so. Canada and France had both introduced the practice in December 1903; Norway and Russia in 1904; Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden in 1905; Spain in 1906; and both Japan and the USA in March 1907. The sixth Universal Postal Union congress, held in Rome in 1906, decided upon the wide implementation of the practice, with the policy to be introduced in the member states on 1 October 1907 (this had international ramifications, enabling the unfettered sending of divided back postcards between those nations which participated in the agreement).[8]
It should be noted that some postcards in Australia have been printed without a divided back in later years, especially in cases where they were not printed by a regular postcard maker, were designed for a novelty or in-house purpose, and/or were not actually intended to be sent via the postal system.
Nonetheless, in most cases, the lack of a divider on early Australian postcards is a good indicator for collectors of Australian memorabilia that the postcard was manufactured prior to 1905. Most of the pre-1905 postcards with an undivided side for the address included a direction to that effect, e.g. “The address only to be written on this side”; however, a minority of them do not include any such wording (although, normally, the usual signs of aging, and obvious aspects of early design types, will give sufficient indications that such postcards are from the pre-1905 era).
By December 1904, Australian postcards had come of age, with the introduction of the new “divided back” design, thereby ensuring a popularity for postcards which lasted for many decades.
Some examples of postcards with divided backs (made pre-1905):
On the Murrumbidgee, near Cooma [postcard, circa 1895-1905]
The postmarked date on this postcard is unclear.
Coogee Bay, Sydney, N.S.W. [postcard, 10 December 1906]
An undivided postcard, dated 10 December 1906 (presumably old stock which was not sold prior to December 1905).
References:
[1] “History of postcards in the UK (potted version!)”, Old Postcards
“The Divided back – Inland Postage only: From 1902”, Genealogy in Hertfordshire
[2] “The Divided back – Inland Postage only: From 1902”, Genealogy in Hertfordshire
“History of postcards”, World Postcard Day
“History of postcards in the UK (potted version!)”, Old Postcards
“Postcards”, The Postal Museum (the Postal Heritage Trust, UK)
“The history of the use of postcards”, VintagePostcards
See also: “Year “divided back” postcards became universally allowed?”, StampBoards [forum]
[3] “Picture post cards: Convenience for public”, The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld.), 10 December 1904, p. 13
“Pictorial postcards”, The Brisbane Courier (Brisbane, Qld.), 12 December 1904, p. 4
“Tuesday, December 15, 1904” [general news items], The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), 13 December 1904, p. 4
“Wednesday, January 4, 1905” [general news items], The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), 4 January 1905, p. 4, column 7
“Pictorial postcards”, The Register (Adelaide, SA), 6 January 1905, p. 4
[4] “Commonwealth matters”, The Brisbane Courier (Brisbane, Qld.), 6 December 1904, p. 4 (see section: “Pictorial post cards”)
[5] “Pictorial Post Cards: New series of local views: The cost of postage”, Brighton Southern Cross, (Brighton, Vic.), 10 December 1904, p. 2
[6] “Statutory Rules: 1905: No. 26” [Postal, Telegraphic and Telephone Regulations (Amendment), 5 April 1905], Federal Register of Legislation (Australian Government) [“should come into immediate operation”]
“Statutory Rules: 1905: No. 26”, Jade
See also:
1) “Statutory Rules: 1905: No. 40” [Postal, Telegraphic and Telephone Regulations (Amendment), 19 June 1905], Federal Register of Legislation (Australian Government) [“to come into operation on the 15th day of July, 1905”]
2) “Statutory Rules: 1905: No. 40”, Jade
3) “Statutory Rules: 1905: No. 40”, Papers to be Laid Upon the Table of the House, The Parliament of the Commonwealth, Senate, 2 August 1905 [see p. 17 of the PDF]
[7] Robert James Noye, “Postcards”, Photohistory SA (hosted by The Art Gallery of South Australia) [“In 1905 the postal regulations were changed to allow what has become known as the ‘divided back’”]
“The history of postcards”, PrintTogether [1905 changes “triggered a wave of postcard collection in Australia”]
[8] “Canal Du Midi postcards”, CanalDuMidi.bike (Béziers, France) [re France: “If the back of the card is divided into two parts (the left for the message, the right for the address) the card dates from after December 1903. After this date, postcards were required to have a divided back side”; some sites have listed France as using divided backs as from 1903 or 1904 — this article has been deferred to as the source for accepting December 1903]
“Postcards – a brief history”, Heritage Place Museum (Lyn, Canada) [“The Divided Back: In December 1903 one of the most important changes in Canadian post card history occurred”; some sites have listed Canada as using divided backs as from 1903 or 1904 — this article has been deferred to as the source for accepting December 1903]
“St. Louis Gate, Québec City”, Laurel Cottage Genealogy: Genealogy Services, Old Photos, Postcards, Trade Cards, Etc., 19 March 2017 [“Canadian postal regulations allowed for the Divided Back postcard as of December 18, 1903”]
Rick Miller, “A look at the other side: collecting postcards”, Linn’s Stamp News, 25 Oct 2004
“The history of the use of postcards”, VintagePostcards
“History of postcards”, World Postcard Day [the Sixth Postal Union Congress in Rome in 1906]
“A little history”, Undivided-back Postcards [1 October 1907: 1906 Rome UPU Congress came into force]
“International 1902-1907 Postage Due Post Cards with Divided Backs”, Jay Smith & Associates [says France adopted divided backs in 1903; UPU Congress rules, 1 October 1907]
See also:
Universal Postal Union, “Convention of Rome (26 May 1906): Together with the Detailed Regulations for its Execution”, London: His Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1907 [also available on the Frajola website]
“Postal Union Congress ”, Wikipedia
Further reading:
“How old is your postcard?”, Chicago Postcard Museum
“Glossary of Postcard Terminology”, Chicago Postcard Museum
“Dating old postcards: With postage rate inflation data”, Abelard
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