Local Stamps of Australia (book)
From Lomwiki, the micronation encyclopaedia
Local Stamps of Australia (ISBN 0909895546) by Bill Hornadge, is a book published in 1982 by Review Publications, Dubbo, Australia. Its subject is the local postal services that have operated at various times throughout Australia.
"Local posts" are often established as legitimate mail delivery services by private commercial operators in remote areas that lack an official mail service. The operator serves as a collection and distribution point for the onward transmission of mail, and charges for their service - often issuing stamps that are valid only for the carriage of mail within their local delivery area. While they often served a legitimate function during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many contemporary local postal services in Australia and other parts of the world primarily serve the interests of philatelic collectors or tourists.
As the stamp issues of physical micronations are often described as being valid only for the transmission of mail between the micronation and the nearest official post office, philatelists typically classify them as local posts.
Hornadge founded Australia's main philatelic magazine, Stamp News in the 1960s. During the 1970s and 80s, his longrunning column on cinderella stamps, Cinderella Corner, frequently focused on the stamp issues and broader activities of such Australasian micronations as the Province of Bumbunga, the Principality of Hutt River, the Independent State of Rainbow Creek, the Empire of Atlantium and the Independent State of Aramoana.
Local Stamps of Australia was the first book to attempt to independently document the history and activities of the first three of the above micronations.
External links
- Local Stamps of Australia catalogue entry from the National Library of Australia.
