stamp bulletin stamp bulletin - Australia Post Shop

Australian Territories Collection 2003
2003
THE AUSTRALIAN TERRITORIES COLLECTION
COLLECTION OF STAMPS FOR THREE EXTERNAL AUSTRALIAN TERRITORIES
COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS
CHRISTMAS ISLAND
AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC TERRITORY
2003 Australian Territories issues
January Christmas Island, Lunar New Year, Year
of the Goat
April AAT Antarctic Ships
June Cocos (Keeling Islands) Shoreline birds
October Christmas Island Christmas
The stamp issues of three of Australia’s
external Territories – Cocos (Keeling) Islands,
Christmas Island and the Australian Antarctic
Territory – come together in Australia Post’s
Australian Territories Collection 2003 .
Featured in the collection are distinctive
designs ranging from Luis Chiang’s dazzling
Christmas Island Lunar New Year, to Peter
Gouldthorpe’s bold AAT Antarctic Ships, Kevin
Stead’s lovely Cocos (Keeling) Island Shoreline
Birds and Bill Wood’s cheeky Christmas Island
Christmas stamps.
The collection includes 26 stamps from
four different issues including the Lunar New
Year Zodiac sheetlet incorporating the Year of
the Goat miniature sheet design and 12 zodiac
stamps embellished in gold foil.
The stamps in this collection have a face
value of $12.40. With a price of just $19.95 it
20
Koleksi Wilayah Australia
SHORELINE BIRDS
Burung Garisan Pesisir
COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS
Kepulauan Kokos (Keeling)
When Charles Darwin visited the southern atoll of the Cocos (Keeling)
Islands in 1836, he commented on the ‘immense number’ of marine birds.
Today this atoll is almost devoid of bird life. Coconut plantation harvesting
has destroyed the nesting habitats of most birds and introduced pests have
succeeded in depleting species further. The northern atoll, North Keeling
Island, which has not been inhabited for any continuous period, is still in
its natural state, one of the few remaining untouched tropical islands in the
Indian Ocean.
North Keeling Island (proclaimed Pulu Keeling National Park in 1995) has
a worldwide reputation as a seabird rookery. It is also a staging point for
several species of migratory waders that feed on the numerous crabs and
other small crustaceans that dominate the shoreline ecology. None of these
birds is endemic to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The Eastern Reef Egret
(Egretta sacra) and the Sooty Tern (Sterna fuscata) nest on North Keeling
Island while the Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) and the Whimbrel
(Numenius phaeopus) are non-breeding migratory visitors to the island. The
continuous scene across the stamps represents the four birds on the shore of
the lagoon of North Keeling Island.
Eastern Reef Egrets are usually solitary, and stalk prey in a hunched posture
in rock pools or coral reefs. They sometimes stand and wait, but more often
walk quickly through the shallows, alert for fish, crustaceans or insects. The
Eastern Reef Egret on the stamp is represented searching for prey in the
shallows. Two Sooty Terns fly in the background.
The black and white Sooty Tern’s range is the world’s vast tropical and
subtropical oceans. At sea it lives in the air, rarely settling on the water;
indeed, it possibly sleeps on the wing. Over the ocean Sooty Terns keep in
flocks to feed on mainly squid, fish and crustaceans. Unlike other terns they
do not dive for food but instead scoop it from or just below the water’s
surface. Feeding is done on the wing, skimming, dipping and wheeling
gracefully over the water.
The Ruddy Turnstone is named for its habit of flipping over stones and shells
in search of crustaceans and molluscs. This small, animated bird breeds in
the far north of the Northern Hemisphere from June to July, and makes a
long yearly migration to southern continents. When feeding, these shorefrequenting
waders are almost constantly on the move. They dash about,
snatching at food as it becomes exposed, breaking open barnacles with
several rapid blows of the closed bill, prising limpets off rocks, and opening
mussels with vigorous chiselling thrusts. Ruddy Turnstones frequent beaches
where shingle and masses of seaweed are mixed with stretches of sand.
Like the Ruddy Turnstone, the Whimbrel is a non-breeding migrant to North
Keeling Island. It breeds in the far north near the Arctic Circle, migrating
during the winter months to the warmer southern continents. A medium
sized curlew, it forages on beaches and reefs by probing for worms or
molluscs in mud or sand and picking up crustaceans and insects among
rocks, coral and seaweed.
Active and wary,
Whimbrels occur on
North Keeling Island
from September to
May either in small
flocks or as solitary birds.
Date of issue: 17 June 2003
Illustration: Kevin Stead, Adelaide
CHRISTMAS ISLAND
Pulau Krismas
The goat (sometimes translated as ram or sheep) is the eighth sign in
the Chinese zodiac. In Chinese tradition, the goat is the most tranquil
of the twelve Chinese animals and symbolises beauty and good fortune.
Those born in the year of the Goat are said to be easy-going, amiable,
gentle and compassionate, their sense of fun and humour making them
popular company. At the same time they can be pessimistic, indecisive and
dependent. Family bonds are important to them. Goat years in the 20th
century were 1907, 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979 and 1991.
The miniature sheet design is based on one of the many Chinese folk tales
involving goats. Five immortals arrived at the city of Guangzhou riding
divine goats of different colours. Each carried an ear of grain, which was
given to the people to teach them how to cultivate the land. When the five
immortals departed the goats turned into rocks. Today the five goat statue
is the symbol of Guangzhou city.
CHRISTMAS ISLAND
Pulau Krismas
31 dd October Month YYYY 2003
Issue date: 7 January 2003
Design: Luis Chiang, Melbourne
The warm waters surrounding Christmas Island are a world-renowned
destination for divers, who often encounter Whalesharks, the world’s largest
fish. These harmless plankton-feeding sharks can grow up to an impressive
18 metres in length, and divers are sometimes able to catch a short ride on
the dorsal fin.
Santa is shown approaching the island riding on a friendly whaleshark
and escorted by Red-footed Booby birds. The distinctive limestone cliffs of
Christmas Island are visible in the background. On shore, Santa distributes
gifts to some of the island’s ubiquitous Red Crabs. Red crabs are the dominant
wildlife, with an extraordinary 120 million estimated to live on Christmas
Island. The whaleshark swims back to sea and the red-footed booby birds are
now carolling from a tree branch. Santa is seated on a Green Turtle, one of
several turtle species found around the Christmas Island coastline.
Issue date: 31 October 2003
Illustration: Bill Wood, Melbourne
YEAR OF THE GOAT
Tahun Kambing
CHRISTMAS
Krismas
is excellent value. The Australian Territories
Collection 2003 makes an ideal gift and is also
an affordable introduction to the hobby of
stamp collecting.
The Territories Collection includes a
presentation folder designed to complement
the Annual Collection of Australian Stamps.
For storage, the presentation folder fi ts in the
Collector’s Choice 3 Ring Binder ($17.95)
The Australian Territories Collection 2003
will be available in retail outlets and by mail
order from the Australian Philatelic Bureau
from 31 October 2003.
Mail order codes
1386194 Australian Territories Collection 2003 .... $19.95
0903269 Collector’s Choice (3-ring) Binder .......... $17.95