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Stamps

Issue withdrawal date: 31 December 2012
FDI withdrawal date: 18 July 2012
Denominations: 2 x $2
Stamp design: Ethos
Product design: Simone Sakinofsky
Printer: McKellar Renown
Paper - gummed: Tullis Russell
Printing process: Lithography
Stamp size: 30mm x 50mm
Minisheet size: 140mm x 90mm
Perforations: 14 x 14.4
Sheet layout: Module of 50
National postmark: Austral, NSW 2179

This stamp issue is the third in the Colonial Heritage series, commemorating Australia's philatelic past. Book-ending the stamps of the colonial period, it features a reworking of Australia's fi rst postage stamp design, "Sydney View" (1850), and one of its last in the colonial period, "Hobart", from the Tasmanian pictorial issue (1899-1900). Created some 50 years apart, the scenes featured in the original designs serve very different purposes, each linked to its specifi c historical moment.

The original Sydney View is based on the Great Seal of NSW, which in turn was inspired by Josiah Wedgewood's Sydney Cove medallion (1789), commemorating the landing of the First Fleet in 1788. It features the allegorical fi gure of Industry, sitting on a bale of goods and surrounded by her attributes, receiving three convicts and gesturing to a scene of industry across the harbour. The scene is instructive and redemptive, symbolising the convicts' path to redemption and the colony's advancement towards an idealised state.

In contrast, Tasmania's pictorial issue expresses a confident young colony's apprehension of its landscape and its reflection of this for broad consumption. The pictorial issue arose from government photographer John Watt Beattie's suggestion to develop a stamp issue to promote the colony's scenic attractions. By the mid to late 19th century, early mass tourism was gaining traction, so the pictorial stamps can be seen as paper ambassadors publicising the natural beauty of the colony wherever they went.

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	First Day Cover (with Miniature Sheet) Colonial Heritage Visualising Australia [10460]	Sold out
	First Day Cover (with Set) Colonial Heritage Visualising Australia [10461]	Sold out
	Maxicard Set Colonial Heritage Visualising Australia [10458]	Sold out
	Minisheet (mint) Colonial Heritage Visualising Australia [10457]	Sold out
	Stamp Pack Colonial Heritage Visualising Australia [10459]	Sold out
	Stamp Set (mint) Colonial Heritage Visualising Australia [10456]	169.15 RUR