Australia 1999 Sailing Ships of Australia
- Issue Date: 19 March 1999
- Designed by: Beth McKinlay
- Printed by: SNP Ausprint
- Print Process: lithography
- Perforations: 14
- Stamp Size: 30 mm x 30.55 mm, 30 mm x 47.25 mm (45c with tab)
- Format: sheets of 20 (45c with tab) or 50
- Withdrawal date: 31 July 1999
Contents
Description
To celebrate Australia's maritime history, Australia Post issued four Sailing Ships of Australia stamps on 19 March – the opening day of Australia 99.
Stamps
45c Polly Woodside Stamp
One of only two ships of her type still afloat in Australia, the Polly Woodside now has pride of place at the Polly Woodside Melbourne Maritime Museum. Launched in Belfast, Ireland in 1885, she covered more than 800,000 nautical miles in her trading career. Designed as an ocean-going trading vessel, she could carry 1,000 tonnes and had a crew of fifteen.
85c Alma Doepel Stamp
The last of its kind in Australia, the Alma Doepel is a fully restored three-masted topsail schooner. She was built by Frederick Doepel in Bellingen, New South Wales in 1903 and made 578 Bass Strait crossings – the most of any sailing vessel. She was restored by volunteers in the 1980s and classified by the National Trust of Australia.
$1 Enterprize Stamp
The Enterprize is a topsail schooner built in Hobart in 1829 by William Pender. Purchased by John Pascoe Fawkner in 1835, she was sent across Bass Strait where her mooring in the lower reaches of the Yarra is held to be Melbourne’s birthplace. A replica Enterprize launched in Melbourne in 1997 was the first square-rigged commercial sailing ship built in Melbourne for 120 years.
$1.05 Lady Nelson Stamp
Built in Deptford, England in 1798 the Lady Nelson became one of the most important vessels in Australian maritime history. She was the first ship to sail from the west through Bass Strait, initiating the shorter route from England to Sydney, and was instrumental in establishing the first European settlement in Tasmania. The replica Lady Nelson was built in the late 1980s.
75c James Craig Aerogramme
File:Australia 1999 Sailing Ships of Australia aerogramme.jpg 75c James Craig |
First Day Cover
The first day of issue postmark was Port Melbourne Vic 3207.
Maximum Cards
