A page from my stamp album - Australia

The postal history of Australia dates back to 1 January 1901, when the six self-governing colonies of present day Australia formed the Commonwealth of Australia and the postal, telegraph and telephone services became the responsibility of the newly formed Commonwealth. However, prior to this formation, the six colonies have been issuing their stamps independently. These colonies included the Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and the New South Wales. New South Wales issued its first stamp in 1850.

The first stamp of Australia appeared on 2 January 1913 with the issue of one penny Kangaroo and Map. This was the first definitive stamp with the sole nomenclature “Australia”.

The earliest stamps of the Australia that I have are that with the profile of King George V, issued on 8 December 1913 (top left corner of the page from my stamp album above). These stamps continued for the next 23 years. The next king to appear was King George VI (second column of my album). When Queen Elizabeth II took over the reins of British monarchy, her profile appeared on the Australian stamps as well (numerous stamps on my album). With the introduction of the decimal system on 14th February 1966, the face value of stamps changed to cents as can be seen on some of the stamp above.

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The last 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. Australia's first commemorative stamp was issued on 9 May 1927 to mark the opening of the first Parliament House in Canberra. Australia's first airmail-designated stamp appeared on 20 May 1929. The first self-adhesive commemoratives appeared in 1993.

Till 1977, the portraits of only monarchs appeared on Australian stamps. However, since 1977, the profile and portraits of other celebrities also made their view to Australian stamps. One such stamp that I have is that of Henry Lawson in the bottom of third column from the left.

Related Link: Three Half Pence or One Half Pence (My Philatelic World)

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Gilbert and Ellice Islands

Perhaps not many would remember the name of Gilbert and Ellice Islands since these have merged into new countries decades ago. The Gilbert & Ellice Islands comprise a group of islands spread over two million square miles north of Fiji in the Pacific Ocean. Early in World War II the northern part of the groups was captured by the Japanese (Tarawa on 1oth December, 1941). 

The European population was withdrawn but some control was maintained at Funafuti in the Ellice Islands until Tarawa was recaptured by the Americans in November 1943. Ocean Island was held by the Japanese until August 1945.

These Islands became a protectorate of the Great Britain in 1892. Later these become a British Colony in 1916. On 1 January 1976, these islands were separated into two different colonies. The Gilbert Islands became part of the Kiribati in 1079, while the Ellice Islands became Tuvalu in 1978.

The first stamps of the Islands were issued in 1911 as the regular mail service was inaugurated. Before that the mail was subject to ships arriving into the Islands. The first stamp was in fact a Fijian stamp with the overprint GILBERT & ELLICE / PROTECTORATE. The George V stamps were issued in 1912 with the own name of the Islands. The same stamps were replaced with the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II of England as seen above.

Related Reading:
First stamp of Gilbert and Ellice Islands
Gilbert and Ellice Islands (1946-75)

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Three Half Pence Australian Stamp -How much is it really?

The stamp above has a strange way of listing its face value. In numerals, it is easy to read one and a half pence. But in words, it is something that I never came across before. It reads "Three Half Pence". Well initially it takes you by surprise and make you wonder whether it is mistake or something else. 

It happened with me too. But it took me a long time of pondering to understand the "wisdom" behind the words. Three half pence (half pence + half pence + half pence) are in fact equal to one and a half pence. Wouldn't you agree? 

Some smart guy at the Australian Postal Authority played a deliberate trick to play a Crystal Maze with us. 

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A page from my stamp album - New Zealand

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