Postage stamps and postal history of Australia

This is an overview of the postage stamps and postal history

Postal history

Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of postage stamps and covers and associated material illustrating historical episodes of postal systems...

of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

Postal history

The six self-governing Australian colonies that formed the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901 operated their own postal service

Mail

Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...

and issued their own stamps – see articles on the systems on New South Wales

Postage stamps and postal history of New South Wales

This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of New South Wales, a former British colony now part of Australia.-Pre-stamp era:New South Wales was the first part of Australia to be settled by Europeans, and the first to operate a postal service, which in 1803 was carrying letters...

(first stamps issued 1850), Victoria

Postage stamps and postal history of Victoria

Victoria, a state of Australia and formerly a British colony, was still under the control of New South Wales when its first post office was opened, at Melbourne in April 1837. Offices at Geelong and Portland opened soon after, and by 1850 there were fifty post offices.-First stamps:Victoria's...

(1850), Tasmania

Postage stamps and postal history of Tasmania

This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Tasmania , a former British colony that is now part of Australia.-First stamps:...

(1853), Western Australia

Postage stamps and postal history of Western Australia

Western Australia, a state of Australia and formerly a British colony, established its postal service soon after the British settled in 1829; in December of that year, Fremantle's harbourmaster was appointed postmaster. A post office in Albany opened on 14 October 1834, and the main post office...

(1854), South Australia

Postage stamps and postal history of South Australia

This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of South Australia, a former British colony that is now part of Australia.-See also:*Postage stamps and postal history of Australia*South Australian stamp overprints-Further reading:...

(1855) and Queensland

Postage stamps and postal history of Queensland

This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Queensland, a former British Crown Colony that is now part of Australia.-First stamps:...

(1860). Under section 51(v) of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution 1900

Section 51(v) of the Australian Constitution

Section 51 of the Constitution of Australia is a subsection of Section 51 of the Constitution of Australia that gives the Commonwealth Parliament of Australia power to legislate on "postal, telegraphic, telephonic, and other like services".-Postal Services:...

, “postal, telegraphic, telephonic, and other like services” became a Commonwealth responsibility.

The Commonwealth's Postmaster-General's Department

Postmaster-General's Department

The Postmaster-General's Department was created at Federation in 1901 to control all postal services within Australia. Its minister was the Postmaster-General. In mid-1975 it was disaggregated into the Australian Telecommunications Commission and the Australian Postal Commission...

became effective on 1 March 1901 (this agency would be disaggregated on 1 July 1975 in part into the Australian Postal Commission trading as Australia Post

Australia Post

Australia Post is the trading name of the Australian Government-owned Australian Postal Corporation .-History:...

). All then-current colony stamps which continued on sale became de-facto Commonwealth stamps. Some of these stamps continued to be used for some time following the introduction in 1913 of the Commonwealth's uniform postage stamp series. These stamps continued to be valid for postage until 14 February 1966 when the introduction of decimal currency made all stamps bearing the earlier currency invalid for use.

Circumstances precluded the immediate issue of a uniform postage stamp series for the new Commonwealth. But there was no hindrance in respect to a Postage Due

Postage due

Postage due is the term used for mail sent with insufficient postage. A postage due stamp is a stamp added to an underpaid piece of mail to indicate the extra postage due.- Background :...

series. The first of these, the design of which was based on the current New South Wales postage due stamps, was issued in July 1902.

Postal rates became uniform between the new States on 1 May 1911 because of the extension of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

domestic postal rate of 1d per half ounce (Imperial Penny Post

Penny Post

The Penny Post is any one of several postal systems in which normal letters could be sent for one penny.-London Penny Post:In England, the Post Office had a monopoly on the collection and carriage of letters between post towns but there was no delivery system until the London Penny Post was...

) to Australia

Australia

as a member of the British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

. One penny became the uniform domestic postage rate. One penny postcard

Postcard

A postcard or post card is a rectangular piece of thick paper or thin cardboard intended for writing and mailing without an envelope....

s and lettercard

Lettercard

In philately a lettercard or letter card is a postal stationery item consisting of a folded card with a prepaid imprinted stamp. The fact that it is folded over gives the writer twice as much room for the message compared with a postal card. The message is written on the inside and the card is...

s also appeared in 1911. In the same year, the Postmaster-General's Department held a Stamp Design Competition for a uniform series of Commonwealth postage stamps. This competition attracted over one thousand entries.

The "Roo" stamp

For most, Australian philately proper begins on 2 January 1913 with the issue of a red 1d (one penny) Kangaroo and Map, the design of which was adopted in part from the entry that won the Stamp Design Competition. This was the first definitive stamp with the sole nomenclature “Australia”.

The first definitive issue had fifteen stamps ranging in value from ½d (halfpenny) to £2 (two pounds). The Kangaroo and Map

Kangaroo and Map

The Kangaroo and Map is the commonly used name for the first stamp issues of the Australian Commonwealth.They were issued in 1913, over 12 years after Federation. Although the delay had several causes, one of the major reasons was political wrangling regarding the design...

design was ordered by the Fisher Government Second Fisher Ministry

Second Fisher Ministry

The Second Fisher Ministry was the ninth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 29 April 1910 to 24 June 1913.Australian Labor Party*Hon Andrew Fisher, MP: Prime Minister and Treasurer*Hon Billy Hughes, MP: Attorney-General...

which had in its ranks a number of pro-republicans who strenuously opposed the incorporation of the monarch's profile on Australian stamps. One of the first acts of the Cook Government Cook Ministry

Cook Ministry

The Cook Ministry was the tenth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 24 June 1913 to 17 September 1914.Commonwealth Liberal Party*Hon Joseph Cook, MP: Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs*Rt Hon Sir John Forrest, GCMG MP: Treasurer...

, sworn in on 14 June 1913, was to order a series of postage stamps designed with the profile of George V

George V of the United Kingdom

George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....

. On 8 December 1913 the first of these, an engraved 1d carmine-red, appeared. Soon after, typographed values of the design ranging from ½d (halfpenny) to 1/4d (one shilling and four pence) appeared. The Postmaster-General's Department then went on to keep both basic designs on issue – 38 years for the Kangaroo and Map design and 23 years for the George V.

Later definitive stamps

With the accession of George VI in 1937 until the early 1970s, Australian definitives featured the monarch, Australian fauna and Australian flora. However, particularly in the late 1950s, the depiction of the monarch - now Elizabeth II - on Australian definitives became confined to the base domestic letter rate and the preceding minor values. With the introduction of decimal currency on 14 February 1966, 24 new definitives were issued – the monarch was featured on the minor values (1c to 3c) and on the base domestic letter rate (4c) and the remainder featured Australian birds, Australian marine life, and early Australian maritime explorers

European exploration of Australia

The European exploration of Australia encompasses several waves of seafarers and land explorers. Although Australia is often loosely said to have been discovered by Royal Navy Lieutenant James Cook in 1770, he was merely one of a number of European explorers to have sighted and landed on the...

. A feature of this issue was that where there was a direct conversion of value, the design was changed to reflect the new decimal currency value – for example, the 2/6d (two shilling and sixpence) Scarlet Robin

Scarlet Robin

The Scarlet Robin is a common red-breasted Australasian robin in the passerine bird genus Petroica. The species is found on continental Australia and its offshore islands, including Tasmania...

definitive (issued 21 April 1965) become the new 25c decimal currency value; likewise the £2 (two pounds) Phillip Parker King definitive (issued 26 August 1964) became the new $4 decimal currency value.

The last base domestic letter rate definitive stamp featuring the monarch appeared on 1 October 1971. Since then, the designs of all Australian definitive values have focused on fauna, flora, reptiles, butterflies, marine life, gemstones, paintings, handicrafts, visual arts, community and the like. From 1980, a stamp has been issued annually to commemorate the monarch's birthday.

First commemorative stamp

Australia's first commemorative stamp was issued on 9 May 1927 to mark the opening of the first Parliament House in Canberra

Old Parliament House, Canberra

Old Parliament House, known formerly as the Provisional Parliament House, was the house of the Parliament of Australia from 1927 to 1988. The building began operation on 9 May 1927 as a temporary base for the Commonwealth Parliament after its relocation from Melbourne to the new capital, Canberra,...

. Subsequently, issues have appeared regularly commemorating Australian achievements and landmarks in Australian history. The first Australian multicoloured stamps appeared on 31 October 1956 as part of the Melbourne Olympic Games commemorative issue. These were printed by a foreign company. The first Australian-printed multicoloured stamp, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Australian Inland Mission

Australian Inland Mission

The Australian Presbyterian Mission was founded by the Presbyterian Church of Australia to reach those "beyond the farthest fence" with God's Word. It is better known as the Australian Inland Mission . Rev...

, was issued on 5 September 1962.

There have been many special issues. The first Christmas stamp appeared on 6 November 1957. In recent years, designs for the Christmas issue have alternated each year between the religious and the secular. From 1993, in October of every year, Australia Post has commemorated Stamp Collecting

Stamp collecting

Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is one of the world's most popular hobbies, with the number of collectors in the United States alone estimated to be over 20 million.- Collecting :...

month with special issues, typically featuring topics that are of interest to children such as pets, native fauna and space. Commencing with the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, during the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, stamps featuring Australians who have won an Olympic gold medal are issued on the next postal business day after the achievement.

Airmails

Australia's first airmail-designated stamp appeared on 20 May 1929. A special 3d (three pence) airmail stamp was available for mail sent on the Perth-Adelaide air service

West Australian Airways

West Australian Airways was an Australian airline based out of Geraldton, Western Australia. Established on 5 December 1921 as Western Australian Airways by World War I pilot Norman Brearley it was the first airline in Australian history to establish a scheduled air service. The first service left...

. The cost of this service was 3d per ½ oz plus normal postage. On 19 March 1931 and 4 November 1931, a further two airmail-designated stamps, both 6d (sixpence), appeared. After these, general definitives were used for mail sent by air.

Stamp booklets

Coin-operated vending machines

Stamp vending machine

A stamp vending machine is a mechanical, electrical or electro-mechanical device which can be used to automatically vend postage stamps to users in exchange for a pre-determined amount of money, normally in coin. Most SVMs were positioned in public places to provide a useful service to customers...

were introduced in 1960 and have continued in various forms to the present day. These included Frama vending machines stamps

Variable value stamp

A variable value stamp, is a gummed or self-adhesive postage stamp of a common design, issued by a machine similar to an Automatic Teller Machine, with a value of the user's choice printed at the time the stamp is dispensed. The value may be variable or from a fixed selection of postal rates. The...

, first issued in 1984 and discontinued in 2003, as well as various booklets

Postage stamp booklet

A postage stamp booklet is a booklet made up of one or more small panes of postage stamps in a cardboard cover. Booklets are often made from sheets especially printed for this purpose, with a narrow selvedge at one side of the booklet pane for binding. From the cutting, the panes are usually...

. Booklet stamps were discontinued in 1973 but were reintroduced some years later. Stamp booklets were available from Advance Bank

Advance Bank

The Advance Bank was an Australian bank that existed as a bank from 1985 until 1997, when it merged with St George Bank.It started as the NSW Building Society. It was demutualised in 1985 & became known as the Advance Bank. In 1995 it acquired the State Bank of South Australia, changing its name to...

ATMs

Automated teller machine

An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...

from 1984 until the bank's merger with St George Bank in 1996. These were Australia's first (and, to date, only) triangular stamp issue.

Self-adhesive stamps

Self-adhesive stamp

A self-adhesive stamp is a postage stamp with a pressure sensitive adhesive that does not require moistening in order to adhere to paper. They are usually issued on a removable backing paper....

s were first issued in 1990. The first self-adhesive commemoratives appeared in 1993. Self-adhesive stamps have proved popular with users and very soon came to be in more common use than gummed stamps. Australia issues gummed versions of all self-adhesive stamps.

Prior to 1997, the only living persons to appear on stamps were the reigning monarch and other members of the British Royal Family. Since 1997, Australia Post has issued stamps commemorating living Australians. In particular, an annual Australian Legends

Australian Legends

The Australian Legends is an annual series of commemorative postage stamps issued by Australia Post since 1997. The stamps commemorate living Australians who have made lifetime contributions to the development of the Commonwealth's national identity and character...

issue has commemorated living Australians who have made some significant contribution during their lives.

Stamps with personalized

Personalised stamp

A personalised stamp is a postage stamp where a picture or photograph can be added to the stamp by a member of the public, some non-governmental entity, or a governmental entity that is not in an official stamp-issuing capacity; it is obviously to be distinguished from personalised rubber stamps as...

tabs were introduced in 1999. Australia Post has also used tabs to commemorate themes and individuals not considered significant enough for a stamp issue of their own.

Postal rates

Since the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax

Goods and Services Tax (Australia)

The GST is a broad sales tax of 10% on most goods and services transactions in Australia. It is a value added tax, not a sales tax, in that it is refunded to all parties in the chain of production other than the final consumer....

, separate stamps were introduced for domestic and international postage in 2001. Stamps inscribed "International Post" are not valid for domestic postage. Domestic stamps can be used for overseas postage but contribute less than face value towards the postage (the user must deduct the tax component).

Official stamps

From the 1913 to 1930, Commonwealth and State Government agencies used stamps (perfin

Perfin

In philately, a perfin is a stamp that has had initials or a name perforated across it to discourage theft. The name is a contraction of perforated initials or perforated insignia...

s) punctured with OS (“Official Stamp”). In 1931 the puncturing system was abandoned and stamps for government mail were overprinted OS. In February 1933, it was decided that government mail would no longer require postage stamps. The exception to OS stamps being restricted for the use of government agencies was the 4 November 1931 6d airmail stamp. The OS overprinted stamp was sold over post office counters to prevent speculation and was valid for all types of mail.

Joint issues

Australia has had joint stamp issues with New Zealand (1958, 1963 and 1988), the United Kingdom (1963, 1988 and 2005), some of its external territories (1965), the United States of America (1988), the U.S.S.R. (1990), People’s Republic of China (1995), Indonesia (1996), Singapore (1998), Greece (2000), Hong Kong (2001), Sweden (2001), France (2002) and Thailand (2002).

Postal Stationery

Postal stationery

A piece of postal stationery is a stationery item, such as a stamped envelope, letter sheet, postal card, lettercard, aerogram or wrapper, with an imprinted stamp or inscription indicating that a specific rate of postage or related service has been prepaid...

was first issued by the Commonwealth of Australia in April 1911. Postcards based on the design of South Australia 1893 postcards and a "Stamp" design of a full face of King George V, engraved by Samuel Reading, were isuued in April 1911. Letter Cards with the same "Stamp" design were also issued. Envelopes, Registered envelopes and Newspaper wrappers were first issued in 1913, using the "Kangaroo on Map" "Stamp" design by Blamire Young

Blamire Young

William Blamire Young , commonly known as Blamire Young, was an English Australian artist.-Early life:...

. Aerogrammes were first issued in 1944.

External territories

Each Australian external territory

States and territories of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a union of six states and various territories. The Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories, with the sixth state of Tasmania being made up of islands. In addition there are six island territories, known as external territories, and a...

has a specific postal and philatelic history.

Formerly administrated by New South Wales, Norfolk Island used that colony's stamps after 1877. Norfolk Island used stamps of Australia between 1913 and 1947, attained postal independence and issued its own stamps on 10 June 1947.

The Territory of Papua, officially a British colony but administered by Australia, issued its own stamps from 1901. before this, it had used Queensland stamps. Stamps of Australia were issued there between 1945 and 1953 in the new Territory of Papua and New Guinea

Territory of Papua and New Guinea

The Territory of Papua and New Guinea was established by an administrative union between the Australian-administered territories of Papua and New Guinea in 1949...

.

Transferred from Singapore to Australia by the United Kingdom in the 1950s, Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands were progressively and separately integrated into the Australian postal system and losing their postal and philatelic independence in the 1990s. While Christmas Island had issued its own stamps and independence since 1958, the Cocos Islands used stamps of Australia from 1952 until its postal independence in 1979. The first Cocos stamps were issued in 1963.

Both territories lost their postal independence to Australia Post

Australia Post

Australia Post is the trading name of the Australian Government-owned Australian Postal Corporation .-History:...

in 1993 for Christmas Island and 1994 for the Cocos Islands. Consequently, their stamps became valid within Australia and stamps of Australia became valid in the islands.

The Australian Antarctic Territory

Australian Antarctic Territory

The Australian Antarctic Territory is a part of Antarctica. It was claimed by the United Kingdom and placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1933. It is the largest territory of Antarctica claimed by any nation...

had always been using stamps of Australia but disposed of its stamps since 27 March 1957. They are valid for postage within Australia.

Military occupations and mandates

With military operations during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Australia occupied two former German colonies: German New Guinea

German New Guinea

German New Guinea was the first part of the German colonial empire. It was a protectorate from 1884 until 1914 when it fell to Australia following the outbreak of the First World War. It consisted of the northeastern part of New Guinea and several nearby island groups...

and Nauru

Nauru

Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...

from the German Marshall Islands

Marshall Islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...

. Stamps of the German colonies and of the United Kingdom were overprint

Overprint

An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage stamp or banknote after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative purposes such as accounting but they are also employed in public mail...

ed. In the 1920s, Australia issued stamps in the name of these two territories as part of its obligations to these League of Nations mandate

League of Nations mandate

A League of Nations mandate was a legal status for certain territories transferred from the control of one country to another following World War I, or the legal instruments that contained the internationally agreed-upon terms for administering the territory on behalf of the League...

s. After the Japanese occupation of Nauru and New Guinea, stamps of Australia were used late 1945 until reprints of the last Nauru series were available.

In the Territories of Papua and the mandate of New Guinea

Territory of New Guinea

The Territory of New Guinea was the Australia-controlled, League of Nations-mandated territory in the north eastern part of the island of New Guinea, and surrounding islands, between 1920 and 1949...

, stamps of Australia were valid between 1945 and 1953. United, the new Territory of Papua and New Guinea

Territory of Papua and New Guinea

The Territory of Papua and New Guinea was established by an administrative union between the Australian-administered territories of Papua and New Guinea in 1949...

received its own stamps from Australia until its independence in 1975.

Between October 1946 and February 1949, in occupied Japan, the Australian stamps used as such by the military post offices were overprinted "B.C.O.F.

British Commonwealth Occupation Force

The British Commonwealth Occupation Force , was the name of the joint Australian, Canadian, British, Indian and New Zealand military forces in occupied Japan, from 21 February 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952...

/ JAPAN / 1946" to avoid speculation on the currency value.

External links

The 1913 Kangaroo and Map Stamps — A Controversial‘Advertisement for Australia’

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