Australia’s 13 most interesting stamps – sorted

Stamp amassing is quietly having fun with a second. Lockdowns impressed lapsed collectors to mud off their albums. Gen Xers, inheriting boomer collections, have generally resisted their pure instincts to promote them on eBay. For a youthful crowd, stamps actually pop on Instagram; there are philatelic influencers, bloggers, YouTubers, even TikTokers now.

Postage stamps are underrated as popular culture artefacts. They is likely to be issued by governments, however they have to enchantment to the individuals. They’re momentary and disposable, but they seize endlessly the seems to be and the priorities of their time; they broadcast a nation’s self-image.

So I’m right here to deliver you the best Australian stamps ever. They’re not all agreed classics. Some well-liked themes are fully absent, and I’m solely itemizing post-federation stamps. (I’ll let you know all about some colonial-era gems once you invite me to your get together.) These are merely our objectively best stamps in response to my 100% right and infallible opinion.

13. 1913 Kangaroo and Map

Let’s begin on the very starting. Our first postage stamp was stunningly trendy in its day, and broadly mocked. Maps had been virtually extraordinary on stamps; the hero kangaroo was “a grotesque and ridiculous symbol,” cried the Argus. Most scandalously, WHERE WAS THE MONARCH? Of course, he was 10,000 miles away, in contrast to this kangaroo. Defiantly Australian in a time of king and empire, this humble stamp represents nothing lower than the primary shot within the revolution.

But wait – what’s this? Some proof means that the continent’s white color could have been intentionally chosen in step with authorities coverage. Yes, it’s actually a White Australia. Sorry, republican kangaroo, however considerably appropriately, I can’t allow you to in due to your background. You’re off the checklist! This is just not an amazing begin.

Most collectors of “’Roos” don’t know its soiled secret, which has been brushed underneath the carpet and buried within the archives of Hansard. How bloody Australian is that?

12. 1914 King George V Sideface

The checklist REALLY begins right here, when King George V lastly will get his mug on our stamps. Politics apart, the design superbly exemplifies ye olde artwork of engraving, with intricate linework bringing depth and shading. Issued in wealthy colors and plenty of values, KGVs are prettiest in a gang, as pictured right here. They evoke Warhol’s screenprinted Marilyn, solely beardier. Treasure hunters fetishise the mind-boggling variety of tiny variations in KGVs or ’Roos. If they discover the fitting element, they may retire tomorrow, which might be a extra thrilling prospect if most of them hadn’t already retired 20 years in the past.

This is the final royal look on the checklist, as a result of Australian stamps are obviously a ridiculous platform upon which to honour European aristocrats.

11. 1938 Koala

Koalas are glory-seeking little publicity hogs whose diva-like calls for for the highlight see them often seem on our stamps. But none have ever topped Mr Koala 1938. Look at his teddy-bear cuddliness and his suspiciously heavy smile. Plus, it’s a inexperienced stamp, which all people is aware of is one of the best color.

10. 1950 Gwoya Tjungurrayi, or ‘One Pound Jimmy’

The “noble savage” subtext to this stamp is just not nice – however there’s a subversive twist. Until the 1997 Australian Legends stamp collection, the one identifiable dwelling individuals who might be on our stamps had been royals. Yet this stamp from 1950 indisputably depicts Walpiri-Anmatyerre man Gwoya Tjungurrayi, a survivor of the 1928 Coniston bloodbath. Known throughout his life as One Pound Jimmy, it’s possible you’ll recognise him nowadays as The Bloke From The Two-Dollar Coin. We can arguably due to this fact have fun Tjungurrayi because the first-ever identifiable dwelling Australian to seem on a postage stamp. Suck on that, 1997 Australian legend Don Bradman! In a pleasant postscript, a 1988 stamp featured artwork by Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, one in every of Tjungurrayi’s sons.

These days, Australia Post chucks any dwelling individual on a stamp if there’s a buck in it.

9. 2021 Nature’s Mimics: Leafy Seadragon

This stamp comes from a surprising wildlife-camouflage problem that’s so latest, you may purchase it as we speak and chuck it in your mail. Because you can, you realize? You’re completely allowed to demand stamps, and canopy that parcel with vibrant photos to thrill others. Or, superb, settle for the dreary barcode label. Post workplace employees can hate the inconvenience of getting out the stamps to your mail, however simply consider it as your revenge for being carded by the postie once you’re at residence.

8. 1996 Precious Gems: Diamond

Some stamps include gimmicks: scents, bizarre shapes, bits that look 3D. The diamond on this stamp is an optical variable machine – name it a “hologram”, everybody else does. It works magnificently (belief me), reflecting and refracting each color of the rainbow. It value not more than its face worth, and it appeared implausible on an envelope. The surrounding design is a bit 90s-meh, however you don’t care, since you’re wiggling the diamond within the solar and going “Whooaaah!”

7. 1971 Centenary of the Sydney Stock Exchange

(*13*)

Set off by its shiny silver border, this eye-catching little quantity showcases the colorful conceptual designs that newer printing strategies allowed. They’re fortunate that the centenary of the Sydney Stock Exchange didn’t happen just a few years later, or the strains could be plummeting.

Incidentally, decimal stamps are usually plentiful and might usually be purchased at lower than face worth, and that’s why your outdated assortment stashed in your mum’s storage is just not “probably worth a fortune now”.

6. 1985 Marine Life: Pineapple Fish

THE FISH LOOKS LIKE A PINEAPPLE.

5. 2017 Street Art: Rutledge Lane

Australia Post can shock stamp-collecting tradition vultures with daring thematic decisions. In 2017, road artwork joined the pantheon of creative kinds honoured on these tiny canvases. Forever Curious by Rone and Phibs might be the one Australian paintings chosen to seem on a stamp that was painted over by the point the stamp got here out. A fantastic picture, and an amazing topic for a stamp problem. Kudos, Aussie Post! Now please discover and ship the parcel that was mailed to me from throughout city two years in the past.

4. 1977 Christmas: Surfing Santa

In 1976, Australia’s first non-religious Christmas stamp was sensibly cautious: tree, bauble, diva koala. But a yr later, the joyous Surfing Santa copped an enormous backlash from of us who thought this was disrespectful. Can’t they see that he has gone to the difficulty of holding some holly whereas sustaining his shaka? Hugely enjoyable and irreverently Australian, this stamp obtained its personal tribute stamp in 2007. No one complained.

3. 2006 Dangerous Australians: Redback Spider

The theme was Dangerous Australians, and Bessie right here was within the body with octopuses, snakes and different murderers. But this design was pulled after somebody realised {that a} stamp-sized redback was additionally a lifesize redback, and other people opening their letterboxes may need coronary heart assaults. Nonetheless, this unperforated model was launched in a limited-edition sheetlet to take advantage of income from stamp collectors (which is mainly 90% of a stamp’s job nowadays).

2. 2020 Navigating History

The 1970 bicentenary of James Cook’s arrival was predictably marked by white males elevating flags and “discovering” issues. Well, the 250th anniversary introduced us this miniature sheet, comprising 5 extra-long stamps. Co-designed by Aboriginal Australian Jenna Lee and first-generation Australian Niqui Branchu, it replaces “discovery” with “encounter”. Each stamp’s theme – Botany, for instance – is instructed from inside the narratives of each Aboriginal tradition and the Endeavour voyage. Each stamp’s worth is cut up between its two halves, giving the tales equal price. And I really like the non-traditional colors. It was a mature and clever therapy of a delicate matter; they knocked the transient out of the park. These stamps ought to have been handed out over-the-counter to begin conversations, however sadly, the problem was saved very low-key. It was laborious to search out in submit workplaces, and marketed primarily to collectors as a novelty. Word on the road is that it was thought-about probably too confronting for the flag-planting Cook followers. (Yeah, you heard proper, I deal on the road. Stamps, that’s. You chasin’?)

1. 2012 Living Australian: Lunch on the Harbour

Here it’s: the best Australian stamp ever. The Living Australian collection featured images submitted by the general public. A courageous alternative by Australia Post, Damian Madden’s Lunch on the Harbour represents an evisceration of a nation constructed on theft, the place greed, graft and manipulation by the highly effective finally put on down odd individuals simply making an attempt to feed their households.

Nah, it’s most likely only a photograph of a seagull. But stamps function ambassadors to the world, and on condition that our earliest messages concerned possible racism and a faraway king, it’s reassuring that we now broadcast such photos of approachability and self-confidence. “This is Australia,” says this stamp. “Go on, give us a chip.” Bludging on the seashore: what might be extra Australian than that?

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