Postal Premieres in Australia

The 175th anniversary of the first stamp issues in Australia is celebrated by Michael Burzan with a look at the first offerings from New South Wales and Victoria.

The continent of Australia was first demonstrably discovered by European seafarers in the 17th century, led by the Dutchman Willem Jansz, and initially called ‘New Holland’. The British commander James Cook landed on the east coast on his first voyage to the South Seas in the spring of 1770 and took possession of the area as the colony of New South Wales for Great Britain. In 1788, the ‘First Fleet’ under Captain Arthur Phillip (1738–1814) landed there and began to establish a convict colony around Sydney, named after the British Home Secretary and initiator of the project, Lord Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney (1733–1800) (Figure 1). Voluntary emigrants and settlers followed in the 19th century, with five further colonies established under the sovereignty of the British Crown, ensuring that postal…

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Stamp Collector (Digital) - 1 Issue, April 2025

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