..Australia - Old Postage Stamps

 Australian Postal Corporation

This letter was posted recently to the company I am working for. I usually have a quick glance on the postage stamp(s) used on the envelope, after all, I was once a keen collector too. When I received this letter, the first thing that caught my eye was the postage stamp issued in 1970 commemorating the 1970 Suita (Osaka) Japan Expo. A set of this issue comprise two notes. When I looked closely on the rest of the stamps, I noticed that all the stamps used were all issued pre 1980s and this is when I decided to keep this envelope. After a quick search, below are the details of these stamps issued: -

1968 - 20c World Weather Watch

1969 - 20c Wheat

1970 - 20c Suita (Osaka) Japan 1970 Expo commemorative

1971 - 20c Aboriginal Art - Bark Painting   

1975 - 10c Stuart's Desert Pea

Norfolk Island

1969 - 10c Transit of Venus

Whilst I was very happy to receive a letter with all old stamps, this is not uncommon in this country. I had in the past received letters for my banknotes purchase here and some of the dealers used some of their old stamps as postage. Needless to say, there are still plenty of old mint stamps with dealers and more importantly they are neither rare nor expensive. Nowadays, all mails posted in the country do not get to see a post mark on the envelope.

 

I believe the Norfolk Island stamps should not be used on this mail. The reason is that these two stamps were issued for the use in Norfolk Island only and as such is not valid to be used in Australia. The law also applies to stamps issued by Christmas Island and Cocos Keeling Islands too. However, the law has changed in 1993 and 1994 and more recently, that all stamps issued by Christmas Island, Cocos Keeling Islands and Norfolk Island can be used in Australia, and you can tel by looking at the stamps as all these stamps are now printed with the word 'Australia' on it, ie Christmas Island Australia or Cocos Keeling Islands Australia.

 

Standard local mail in Australia since 01.08.2019 is $1.10 and technically, the postage for this letter was only paid for 90 cents.

Footnote

I have only scanned the postage stamps and not the entire envelope, to protect the privacy of the sender of this letter.