• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

[The Commonwealth Postage Stamp] [January 1913]

2 January 2023 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This untitled article, regarding the Kangaroo and Map stamps, was published in the “Along the bye-paths” section of the Journal of Proceedings (of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects) (Melbourne, Vic.), January 1913.]

[The Commonwealth Postage Stamp]

The Commonwealth Postage Stamp, issued this month, more than confirms our worst fears expressed in previous issues. Slightly longer than the stamp superseded, but of a dirty red colour, it consists of a single line border with a “field” of close horizontal linings, the word “Australia” appears on the top in white letters, with strong shading. The word “Postage” underneath is very indistinct. At the bottom of the stamp is the denomination “One penny,” and over it the numeral in a clear circle.

In the centre of the stamp is the clear white map of Australia. This, we suppose, represents “White Australia.” The inserted “kangaroo,” however, cuts the map in two, for it takes it all its time to get emplaced in what would otherwise be an “empty Australia” as well. The kangaroo is of a new type to naturalists, being spotted like the leopard, whilst the grass upon which it browses is represented by a few horizontal lines.

The design of the stamp is beneath contempt, whilst the engraving is far below that of the “old” stamp. We shudder at the verdict which will be given by the world upon this poor achievement in the realm of design.



Source:
Journal of Proceedings (published by the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects in alliance with the Royal Institute of British Architects) (Melbourne, Vic.), January 1913, p. 240

Editor’s notes:
emplace = to put into place, to put into position, to place into position

[Editor: Changed “enplaced” to “emplaced”, “leapord” to “leopard”. Replaced the single quotation mark after “field” with a double quotation mark.]

[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]

Filed Under: articles Tagged With: 500x500, Kangaroo and Map stamps, SourceTrove, year1913

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • To Australia [poem by Ruby Jean Stephenson, 18 November 1943]
  • [General news items] [4 April 1912]
  • [Australia has had more than its share of shipping disasters of late] [4 April 1912]
  • [Probably Professor Marshall Hall was right] [4 April 1912]
  • Gold-seekers of the Fifties [1 July 1899]

Top Posts & Pages

  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Australian slang
  • The Foundations of Culture in Australia: An Essay towards National Self-Respect [by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]
  • Surely God was a Lover [poem by John Shaw Neilson]
  • Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • IAC on How M’Ginnis Went Missing [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Stephen on How M’Ginnis Went Missing [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • IAC on The late Louisa Lawson [by George Black, 2 October 1920]
  • Percy Delouche on Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
  • Phil on The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in