New South Wales was the first part of Australia to be settled by Europeans, and the first to operate a postal service, which in 1803 was carrying letters between
Sydney and Parramatta for a 2d charge. In 1809 a collecting office in
Sydney was established to receive mail from passing ships, and in 1825 the postal service was expanded. Mail coach service began in 1830, and in 1835 a new Postage Act superseded the 1825 statute and set rates based on weight and distance travelled.
The postmaster of the time, James Raymond, was in communication with Rowland
Hill in England and worked to encourage the prepayment of letters in NSW. In 1838, Raymond introduced envelopes embossed with the seal of the colony, and available for local mail for 1¼ pence each instead of the 2d charged letters paid for in cash. They are thus regarded as precursors of the Penny Black. However, the envelopes were not popular, and in 1841 Raymond was unable to develop official interest in postage stamps for the colony.
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The first stamps of Van Diemen's Land were issued on 1 November 1853. The first stamps inscribed Tasmania were issued in January 1858. Until 1896, all postage stamps portrayed Queen Victoria. In 1899, a pictorial set was issued and was reprinted several times until 1912. Tasmania's last issue was in 1913.
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Victoria's first postage stamps appeared on 3 January 1850. Engraved and lithographed locally by Thomas Ham of
Melbourne, they featured a half-length portrait of Queen Victoria seated, holding orb and sceptre. There were three values: 1d in
orange-vermilion, 2d in lilac-mauve, and 3d in blue. The dies were altered several times during printing, yielding dozens of minor variations.
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Western Australia, a state of Australia and formerly a British colony, established its postal service soon after the British settled in 1829, in December of that year,
Fremantle's harbourmaster was appointed postmaster. A
post office in
Albany opened on 14 October 1834, and the main
post office moved to
Perth in 1835.
The colony issued its first postage stamp on 1 August 1854. The 1d black stamp featured the Black Swan, a design used for most of the colony's later stamps as
well. This stamp was engraved in England and printed by Perkins Bacon, later in the year, local lithographer Horace Samson produced 4d and 1sh values by taking an impression of the 1d's swan vignette and adding different frames. Alfred Hillman's mistake in the repair of the printing stones in 1855 resulted in the frame being inverted, yielding the extremely rare Inverted Swan error.
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The colony of South Australia began issuing postage stamps in 1855, and continued until the first stamps of the Australian Commonwealth were issued in 1913. Many of these stamps were intended for use on official mail by government departments, and were overprinted with various initials to prevent
unofficial usage by staff and to identify the department concerned. The overprints were in use from 1 April 1868 until 1874, when they were replaced by the letters "O.S." which was then used on official mail of South Australia. Red and black were the most common colours for overprints, but blue was also used.
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The first stamps of Queensland were issued on 1 November 1860. Before that, Queensland used the stamps of New South Wales from 1851. All of Queensland's postage stamps portrayed Queen Victoria. Between 1 January 1880 and 1 July 1892, revenue stamps of 1866-1892 were authorised for postal use.
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