Australia Post Philatelic Bulletin

When I started a new issue subscription with the
Australian Post Office in the early 1970s I would also
receive their quarterly Philatelic Bulletin in the mail.

In those ancient pre-internet times there just wasn't
much information available for a collector like me.

Yes I used to buy Linn's Weekly regularly, even had
a subscription for many years, plus I would buy a
couple of other stamp papers and some glossy UK magazine
the odd time.

Even though those were great reading they did not have
much about the technical aspects about stamps.

Therefore when I started to get the Bulletin it blew my mind
and I guess it really got me hooked on stamp production.

In addition to technical details they had articles about
Stamp Design Competitions which allowed the general
public to submit designs for stamp issues.
Plus much more.

I treasure these magazines a lot more than the Australian
stamps I bought at that time.

Here is an article called The Photogravure Process from
the September 1977 issue

This December 1971 Philatelic Bulletin had the second part
of an article about the Development Of Australian Gravure
Since this was the first Bulletin I received I cannot
show the first part.

Very nice, Lithograving! Thanks for sharing those!

Maybe some more?

k

Glad you like it khj. It least it tells me I'm not scanning
and posting in vain.

There are lots of great articles in the Philatelic Bulletins I have
but it takes so long to scan even though I only use 800dpi

Anything lower and it wouldn't be clear enough to read.

I don't think any other Postal Authority issued such
excellent articles for collectors as did the Australian
Post Office.

The amazing part is that they sent it air mail and I received
issues for 20 years after I bought the last stamps from them.

But when Australia Post made changes to the magazine calling it
Stamp Bulletin and then issued a small dinky little
slim boring pamphlet (just like what Canada Post now came out with)
I notified them that I was no longer interested.

This article from the December 1972 Philatelic Bulletin deals
with print information about the 1972 Australian Christmas stamps.

The 7c was the first stamp printed on the then new 5 colour Rembrandt photogravure press
built by Koenig and Bauer.

The 35c was printed by the Chambon photogravue press.
which had a built in perforator whereas Rembrandt printed sheets
had to be perforated after on a Grover machine.

Also notice the 300 impression sheet layout composed
of six panes of 50.

This article from the March 1973 Philatelic Bulletin
concerns the fifth design competition whereby the
general public was invited to submit a stamp design for the
International Philatelic Exibition, Melbourne in 1928.

It mentions that The printing of the stamps at the
Exibition was effected on a small Hoe machine....

This March 1973 Philatelic Bulletin article deals with what
is involved in designing Australian stamps.
In this case the 1966 Marine Life decimal issues.

The June 1977 Philatelic Bulletin had an article concerning
the printing of the Queen EII Silver Jubilee issue.
These were either the first or one of the first Australian
stamps printed in multicolour offset lithography.

The Government Printer in Sydney used a 4 colour photo litho
sheet fed Heidelberg press to print 2% of the total.

Norman J. Field under the control of the Government Printer
in Melbourne used a sheet fed Komori Sprint to print the remaining 98%.



On this page is a sheet of 200 composed of four panes of 50.

The March 1978 Australia Stamp Bulletin had an article about
the graphic designer Harry Fallu who worked on a number
of Australian stamps between between 1965 and 1972.
It has detailed information as to how much
was involved in preparing the plates for photogravure printing
in those days.

Lovely treatment LG,
enjoyed that.
I probably have the 1971 Bulletin somewhere buried in the boxes.

I bid on one of Eileen Mayo's drawings some years ago, but was blown out the water.

She was originally British, and after some time in Oz, went to New Zealand, (we shall forgive her for that)

The 1959 Platypus, was engraved from one of her woodcuts...........



Author : Blair (TC) Canada

In the decade before Mayo's migration to Australia in 1953,
she held teaching positions at St. Martin's School of Art
and Sir John Cass College in London. She became a member
of the Society of Wood Engravers, and wrote and illustrated
a series of books. She also exhibited at the Royal Academy
and with the Royal Society of British Artists.

On arrival in Australia, Mayo became one of the many migrants
who contributed to the postwar print revival. She taught at
the National Art School in Sydney and was a member of Sydney
Printmakers. Her career in Australia included working on
murals and designing tapestries and posters. She designed
the platypus for the one-shilling stamp, and in 1962 she
was awarded the Vizard-Wholohan Prize for prints.

Mayo exhibited regularly in Australia until her emigration
to New Zealand, where she taught at the University of Canterbury.

Thanks Rod for that little bit of personal insight
about Eileen Mayo.

Were you interested in Mayo's work because of her
stamp designs or did you like her stuff even
before you knew that?

LG,
to be frank, no.
It was rather an epiphany moment, I had (and still have) thousands of the definitive fauna set as duplicates, so I knew them well.
Then I happened upon her sketch, and was just captivated, I think it was the Hermit Crab sketch.
It was just stunning, and I was, at that time, naive enough to think I could afford it at auction.
I did have the Auction Catalogue somewhere, but dashed if I can find it.

It does illustrate, how difficult it is, to reproduce a design, that in native form is beautiful, and squeeze it down to a tiny paper stamp.

Further Information from Australia's Powerhouse Museum.

Miss Mayo, commercialised her designs, and there must be Posters out there, of her fauna designs.