Postage stamps and postal history of Western Australia facts for kids
Western Australia, a state in Australia, used to be a colony of Britain. It started its own postal service (mail delivery system) soon after British settlers arrived in 1829. In December of that year, the person in charge of Fremantle's port, called the harbourmaster, became the first postmaster (the person in charge of mail). A post office opened in Albany on 14 October 1834. The main post office then moved to Perth in 1835.
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Western Australia's First Stamps
Western Australia released its very first postage stamp on 1 August 1854. This stamp was black and had a value of one penny (1d). It showed a black swan, which is a famous bird in Western Australia. This swan design was used on most of the colony's stamps later on too.
The first stamp was made in England by a company called Perkins Bacon. Later in 1854, a local printer named Horace Samson made more stamps. He used the swan picture from the first stamp and added different borders to create stamps worth four pence (4d) and one shilling (1sh).
The Famous Inverted Swan Error
In 1855, a worker named Alfred Hillman made a mistake while fixing the printing plates. This caused the swan picture on some stamps to be printed upside down inside its frame! This mistake created the very rare and famous stamp known as the Inverted Swan.
Later Stamp Designs
In 1857, Alfred Hillman made new stamps with the swan design. These were worth two pence (2d) and six pence (6d). The swan on these stamps was on a plain background. However, these stamps were only used until 1860. After that, the original printing plates from Perkins Bacon were used in Perth to print all the stamp values.
A brand new swan design appeared in 1872 for the three pence (3d) stamp. Different versions of this new design slowly replaced the older 1854 design. This happened starting in 1885, with a set of eight different stamps called a definitive series.
Stamps After Federation
Australia became a federation in 1901, meaning the different colonies joined together to form one country. Even after this, the states kept running their own postal systems for a while. In 1902, a new series of swan stamps came out. For the first time, stamps also showed Queen Victoria. These stamps were for higher values, from two shillings to one pound.
The stamps showing Queen Victoria are special because they say "WEST AUSTRALIA" instead of "WESTERN AUSTRALIA." This was unusual for the time. These stamps were used every day until Australia started issuing its own national stamps in 1913.
Images for kids
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This 1d Black Swan stamp was the first one issued in Western Australia
