New Stamps from Australia

 

150th Anniversary of the birth of  Andrew Barton “Banjo” Paterson

Date of Issue : 13 May 2014

Australia Post  is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Australian literary great, Andrew Barton “Banjo” Paterson, through a new stamp release acknowledging Banjo’s iconic bush-themed ballads.

This issue features a stamp and coin cover, a stamp and three-medallion cover along with a wonderful prestige booklet featuring a selection of poems by bush balladeer AB "Banjo" Paterson.

The bush ballad is a thread of Australia’s early literary and popular culture, a rhyming, narrative-based poem adapted for singing.

“The Australian bush ballad helped create a mythology of Australia and Australian identity during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are generally simple stories of swagmen, bushrangers, drovers, shearers, working-class oppression and rural isolation,” Mr Zsolt said.

Banjo Paterson is also one of Australia’s best known folk poets, and popular renditions of his works – such as the film of “The Man from Snowy River” and the use of “Waltzing Matilda” as an unofficial national anthem – have helped carry his ballads across time.

The Bush Ballads stamp release, illustrated by Sydney-based illustrators Jamie and Leanne Tufrey, feature the following Banjo Paterson poetry works:

• Clancy of the Overflow - This well-known poem, published in the Bulletin in December 1889, demonstrates Paterson’s romanticism for bush life.
• The Man from Snowy River - Published in the Bulletin in April 1890, this much-loved tale tells of the pursuit of a prizewinning colt that escaped to run among a herd of brumbies in mountainous country.
• Waltzing Matilda - Written in 1895 to a tune played by Christina Macpherson, this is probably the most famous of all Australian ballads.
• Mulga Bill’s Bicycle - Published in the Sydney Morning Herald in July 1896, this humorous poem was written at the height of the late-19th-century bicycling craze.

The new stamp release commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of “Banjo” Paterson (1864-1941) includes a miniature sheet, first day cover, stamp pack, maxicard set of four, booklet of 10 x 70c self-adhesive stamps, roll of 100 x 70c self-adhesive stamps, gutter strip of 10 x 70c stamps with design, prestige booklet, postal and numismatic cover and a medallion cover.