The Stamp & The Story.

Thanks timbres667!

Sorry for not answering sooner!
Our on-line provider had a major break down.
Our isolated community became even more isolated.

Happy to be back! John

I'd love to post the poem that goes with these stamps but I believe someone in America now owns the copyright to Australia's unofficaial national anthem, "Waltzing Matilda". However some of the lyrics are actually on the stamps.

For those who don't know Australian slang a *matilda* is the "swag" or bedroll carried by a tramp; a jumbuck is a sheep; billabong is a small natural dam; coolibah tree is a shady tree; tucker bag = food bag; squatter = land owner.

For such an iconic theme,
I thought the stamp design was dreadful

But they have grown on me.

It is an interesting part of our history!

Not that I think Wikipedia is the authority, there is a lot of background there on Matilda.

If only half of it all is accurate, it's still a good story.

And, it's probable rare that a country has such an interesting yarn behind it's anthem.

The Is it a duck? Is it a fish? Is it an otter? The platypus is so original that when the first stuffed one was sent back to England for scientific study the senders were accused of attempting a huge hoax & of having stitched together different bits of various animals. Even when it was proven this was not the case the scientific community had a great deal of difficulty in believing such a creature actually existed.

In the past 5 years Queensland's koala population has halved, not because of habitat destruction but because the extended drought stopped a lot of leaf growth & caused high amounts of toxins in the eucalyptus leaves, thus reducing the amount of available food to the koala populations. On top of this the koala population has a terrible sexually transmitted disease that causes death & there is no cure for this complaint as yet. Apparently koalas won't listen to advice to remain faithful & monogamous!

KGV
Thanks for those stories about the platypus and the koala. I just learn koalas suffer so much from drought and diseases.

In W.A. when we say nearby or just down the road, it can be quiet some distance. In this case about 800km (500 miles).
Here is a pic of me next to a termite mound just a few metres from the Derby Boab tree, about 4 years ago...



Steve

Thanks Tiggersmob!

The country mile turned into 800kms. Amazing!

Aristides de Sousa Mendes was a Portuguese diplomat who ignored and defied the orders of his own government for the safety of war refugees fleeing from invading German military forces in the early years of World War II. Between June 16 and June 23, 1940, he frantically issued Portuguese visas free of charge, to over 30,000 refugees seeking to escape the Nazi terror, 12,000 of whom were Jews. (Wikipédia)

This is just the introduction on de Sousa Mendes. There's allot more information on Wikipédia about what happen to him afterwards and the honors he received after his death.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristi...Sousa_Mendes

The Tasmanian Devil is another of our animals that is in big trouble.
They are ferocious fighters and make the most unearthly sounds in the process. Thus the name given suggestes.
There fighting is very much a part of there daily routine and this where the trouble starts.
As they rip each other apart with teeth and claws they are spreading a cancerous like diseases that is red and very swollen usually around the head. This diseases is fast spreading. The people concerned have started breeding programmes in controlled areas with unaffected animals. Some people are looking for Tas Devils in the wild that have come into contact with the diseases and have not shown any symptoms. Hoping to find a cure for this terrible sickness. Lets hope so!

Thanks timbres667!

It is nice to hear about people in the troubles of WW11 with such big hearts. There hearts are bigger than the fear of there own death.

The stamp makes the devil look cute. They sound and look a bit like our badgers, which also have a fierce reputation (if perhaps not quite such a combative one).

The Devil was the most beautiful Angel of them all.

What is on the inside makes him the Devil.

A picture of the inside and not the outside.