Australia Post Souvenir Covers 1970-1997
Australia: Airmail 1931 | Australia in Space 2024 | Souvenir Covers 1970-1997 | Souvenirs Covers 1997+ | WWF 50 Years |
Papua New Guinea: 1934 3½d Pink | 1952 6½d | 1952 7½d | 2/6 Lakatois | FDCs | Forgeries | Hutt PNCs | Japan | Leaflets | OS Lakatois | Overprints | Peter & Horse | Philatelic Bureau | PSEs/PSPs/Aerogrammes | Rare | Revenue & Postage Due | Souvenir Covers |
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| Noel G. Almeida catalogue 1982-97. |
Contents
- The 1970-1996 series
- Definitions
- Prestige and limited edition covers
- General Purpose covers
- 'P' stamps / Tabs covers
- MyStamps covers
- Concession stamp covers
- 200 Club covers
- Unclassified covers
- Numbers printed
- Acknowledgements
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1. The 1970-1996 series
Australia Post first began issuing souvenir covers - also known as commemorative, special event or general purpose covers - during 1970 in connection with the Royal Visit and Captain Cook bicentennial. Prior to this, Australian philatelic souvenir covers had been issued by commercial firms and, sporadically, by Australia Post and its predecessors such as the Postmaster General's Department, though no definitive listing of these has been compiled, as far as the author is aware. The 1970 initiative continued sporadically through to January 1996, according to the definitive catalogue and supplements issued by Noel G. Almeida between 1982 and 14 August 1997. Within his 186 page Australian Post Office Souvenir Covers, Almeida provided a detailed description of the various official souvenir covers and related postmarks which he had identified, based on clearly defined criteria. This was necessary as Australia Post did not always report on their issue within the Stamp Bulletin (first appeared in 1953; archived online from #296, January 2009), or elsewhere provide details of numbers printed and/or postmarked. Whilst Australia Post was happy on occasion to issue these covers, there was no specific program or precise definition offered by them. Following identification of the Beam Me Up Spotty special event cover of 10 January 1996, there were no more souvenir covers officially identified by Almeida through publication.
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| Rosny Park opening + insert, 15 October 1982. |
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| Philatelic Centre and Post Office Museum, Hobart, 16 May 1986. Large size envelope variant. |
When the author of this blog returned to the subject of souvenir covers in September 2021, following retrieval from storage of his own collection compiled during the early 1990s, it was surprising to discover an absence of any new listings by Almeida. Had Australia Post not issued any souvenir covers over the intervening 25 years? It would seem the answer was yes, as the then-current sales lists by retailers of Australian stamps and covers appeared to only make reference to the old Almeida catalogued items under the heading of souvenir cover and nothing more after that. Also, whilst a large number of dealers operated online only through eBay and websites, therein references to souvenir covers were haphazard and not as closely defined as within the Almeida catalogues. This subject therefore required further investigation in order to reveal if there were, indeed, any official souvenir covers issued after January 1996. But first of all the author needed to re-familiarise himself with their precise definition, and determine what changes Australia Post had made since January 1996 regarding its philatelic covers program. Could, for example, new types of postal stationary be included in the old Almeida definition of souvenir covers?
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2. Definitions
During initial research by the author it appeared that within his publications between 1982-97, Noel G. Almeida had defined three different types of official Australia Post souvenir covers for inclusion in his listings:
1. SE - special event covers, in a series from #1 - #223
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| Captain Cook 'commemorative' souvenir cover, 27 April 1970. |
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| General purpose covers, 17 August 1977. |
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| General purpose wattle and map cover, 5 April 1974. |
Precise guidelines were provided as to what covers were included in, or excluded from, the listings. [NB: It is recommended here that the reader refer to the Almeida catalogue in order to fully appreciate the differences, and reasoning, behind the inclusion and exclusion decisions]. In summary, these guidelines related in whole or part to the following, which in turn were included or excluded from the Almeida listings:
* First Day Covers (FDCs) - these were generally excluded, though theoretically many special event covers were also FDCs as they were on occasion tied to postmarks that indicated their first day of issue status, but not to stamps or to the corresponding official first day cover/s. As a result, we find that in regard to souvenir covers they can often be given more than one label when offered for sale on sites such as eBay. There are also instances where the official FDC is subsequently used for a different purpose, one closer to that of a special event cover. In that instance, there is a need to check that the cover is not in fact an FDC. There are also a number of blank special event covers produced in Australia and China for events such as the Beijing Olympics, August 2008, which were used whenever an Australian gold medal was won and a special stamp was printed on the fly. These 'souvenir covers' were in fact first day covers, with a corresponding generic first day of issue stamp.
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| Beijing Olympics gold medalist cover, Australia, 12 August 2008. |
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| Cover and stamps printed in China, 11 August 2008. |
Official Australia Post FDCs had first appeared on 16 March 1970 with the Expo '70 cover, around the same time as the first official souvenir cover on 31 March for that Royal Visit. FDCs continue to be printed and remain the most popular cover series amongst collectors, though as of September 2021 Australia Post has greatly increased the range of official and personalised material on offer, now including:
- prestige first day covers
- maxicards
- philatelic and numismatic covers (PNCs)
- sheetlets and souvenir sheets
- booklets
- related ephemera bearing the Prestige label, including limited edition and numbered releases of first day covers and special event covers.
In a number of instances, material was issued by Australia Post in relation to special events and which were considered under the category of souvenir covers, but in most instances rejected by Almeida. These included the following:
* Pre-stamped Envelopes (PSE) / Pre-paid Envelopes (PPE & IPPE) - these were not included in the Almeida catalogue, even in cases where a previously issued cover was overprinted with special event information otherwise unrelated to the original cover. As a result, we have official Australia Post covers which are both PSEs and special event covers. Following the introduction of PSEs in 1978, a few such examples appeared, including the Hobart Mail Centre Opening cover of 11 February 1980 (illustrated), the four special covers for the 1992 Australian Grand Prix, and the Kogarah Centenary.
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| Hobart Mail Centre Opening, 11 February 1980. |
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| Officially overprinted PSE, Kogarah Centenary, 19 April 1985. |
None of these were included in the Almeida listings, though other post office facility openings and Australian Grand Prix covers on un-stamped stationary were. A clear distinction was therefore made between unstamped special event covers - which were listed as souvenir covers - and pre-stamped covers, which were not.
* Postal Stationary - these items were generally excluded, whether they were pre-stamped or not. All the covers discussed here are by definition postal stationary. Some of the types not included in the listings were airmail covers, registered mail covers, and general packaging, though some of these were given special event overprints. Postal stationary such as the un-stamped general purpose covers mentioned above were included by Almeida. As it stands, in 2021 there are numerous examples of Australia Post stationary that is of a 'souvenir' kind, such as the large Star Wars padded envelope (illustrated below).
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| 2018 Australia Post Star Wars merchandise. |
However, these are not included in this definition of souvenir cover.
* Official Australia Post items - only those covers officially sanctioned by Australia Post and made available by the organisation though post offices, exhibition stalls, philatelic sales centres and online, and identified as such in some way - for example, mentioned in the Stamp Bulletin or bearing the Australia Post logo - were included. Those special event covers issued by external groups or organisations such as philatelic societies, commercial cover producers such as Wesley Cover Services (WCS), and dealers were excluded.
All told, there were 286 different covers listed by Almeida under the heading souvenir covers, with the majority illustrated in black and white within his catalogue. Additional to those 286 were many variations, both in regards to printing, overprinting or over-stamping, and available postmarks, especially for general purpose covers such as the wattle + map covers (large and small) used during the 1970s.
Due to the apparent cessation of issue of official souvenir covers since 1996, it seemed their popularity had subsequently waned, with prestige covers and numismatic covers (PNCs) the new kids-on-the-block, apparently generating substantial revenue for Australia Post and organisations such as the Perth Mint, and often issued in limited, numbered editions at a substantial cost. Initially this author accepted that there were no new souvenir covers after 1996, and went about the process of completing his own collection, hoping to secure the 7 or 8 items that were needed for the main Almeida special event (SE) and general purpose (GP) cover series. However, in the search for relevant covers on philatelic sales sites in Australia and overseas, and on eBay, he came across what appeared to be a number of souvenir covers produced after the Almeida cutoff of January 1996. There were not many, their status was unknown due to lack of detailed description on the web and no access by the author to physical copies of the Stamp Bulletin. In addition, they were often buried in amongst lists of FDCs and PNCs. Were they, or weren't they souvenir covers? This question required further investigation. The results are presented in the listing above. Further discussion on those covers not included is presented below.
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3. Prestige & Limited Edition Covers
In investigating the subject of Australia Post souvenir or special event covers issued after January 1996, the topic of Prestige and Limited Edition covers arose. These covers first appeared in 2005 and are described on some sales sites and in a couple of instances by Australia Post as souvenir covers. A detailed listing of Prestige covers from 2008 is available here from the Sydney Philatelics sale site, whilst information on the limited edition material is available in the Australia Post annual Impressions catalogue, and a book by David Mellon entitled Australian Impressions 2005-2017. Whilst the Prestige covers are usually associated with the first day of issue of a new stamp series, such as the Gold Coast 2018 cover illustrated above, they were not listed as FDCs in the Stamp Bulletin, and were different from the related FDCs. Some were also issued in association with special events and not tied to a specific stamp series issue, such as the Letter to Mary cover, of which 15,000 were printed.
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| Letter to Mary, prestige cover, 26 June 2009. |
This also applies to the limited edition covers which are sold at a premium through Impressions. All of these have been rejected here as they are basically a money-making exercise by Australia Post and not ethically sound in regards to being genuine postal material, crossing the line into being artificial collectibles - a point reinforced by Mellon's book. Of course, the historic first day cover can also fall under this definition as they were always specially produced for collectors and, since 1975, made available by postal authorities at an additional cost, even if that cost was minimal, as in the price of the unstamped envelope. Two good examples of the recent, expensive trend in regard to special issue and 'souvenir' covers (Prestige and Limited Edition) are as follows:
(1) 100th Anniversary of First Aerial Mail 2014 'souvenir cover' with cloth patch. Part of the first day of issue release package of items, which also included an information booklet, poster, sheetlet and coins.
(2) Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018 $1 stamp prestige cover (illustrated above), issued on the same day as the traditional first day cover, though in a numbered print run of 3,500 copies, a RRP Aus$12.95, and bearing a fridge magnet proclaiming Share the Dream. Such covers are not included in this listing.
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| 'Souvenir cover with magnet', 20 March 2018, Stamp Bulletin #352. |
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4. General Purpose Covers
The October 2021 investigations referred to above involved the discovery of new post-1997 general purpose covers. This type of cover had previously been listed by Almeida as GP1-GP15. However, as in the past, their precise date of issue was not always known and required some detective work based on discovery of the earliest known postmark where a specific release date was not announced by Australia Post in the Stamp Bulletin. The following is a list of tentative, or known, release dates for both the Almeida general purpose cover series and the new series, designated NGP1-NGP4. It includes date of issue or earliest known postmark, an identification code, and a brief description:
* 10 August 1972 - GP1 & GP2 - Golden wattle + map, small and large envelopes (2). On issue for approximately one year, though the large envelopes were officially used through to 1978.
* [circa August 1981] - GP6 to GP9 - Australian Animals - Emu, Tiger Quoll, Platypus, Galah (4). On issue for approximately five years.
* 26 February 1986 - GP10 to GP13 - Thematic - heritage buildings, transport, sport, recreation (4). On issue for approximately five years.
* 14 March 1991 - GP14 & GP15 - Australia Stamps, small and large (2). On issue for approximately seven years.
* [circa July 1998] - NGP1 (GP16) - Australian Stamps (1). On issue for approximately four years.
* [circa August 2002] - NGP2 (GP17) - Australian Stamps (1). On issue for approximately eight years.
* 8 September 2010 - NGP3 (GP18) - Australian Stamps (1). On issue for approximately ten years.
* [circa March 2020] - NGP4 (GP19) - Australian Stamps (1)
It can be seen from this list that the time between the release of a new general purpose cover has varied greatly, with a decade passing between the release of covers NGP3 and NGP4. In regard to the most recent covers, it could be asked exactly what does the title 'Australian Stamps' applied to them imply, and what use does the present cover serve in that regard? Covers GP1 through GP13 featured popular Australian flora and fauna and activities, and could be used for to a variety of circumstances and events. Subsequent covers, with their emphasis on stamps, would suggest a limited philatelic use. Ideally the general purpose cover should have wider appeal through its varied and more popularity-based graphic content. The point is probably moot though, as Australia Post now offers a wide variety of stationary for use by the public, much of which does not make use of stamps at all, such as the counter printed receipt labels which have replaced stamps in general use as of 2022.
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5. 'P' Stamp / Tabs covers
A large number of 'P' (personalised) stamps or P-stamps, also called Tabs, have been issued by Australia Post in sheets associated with other stamps, or individually since 1999. They are not listed in any detail within the standard catalogues such as Stanley Gibbons or Renniks, though listings are available within the Stampboards discussion group here. In instances where they were official P-stamps or tabs, attached to official denominational stamps, and not mere personal stamps such as photographs of individuals and printed in very limited numbers, they have, on occasion, been attached to normal first day covers, such covers being previously printed for related general stamp issues, or special souvenir covers specifically printed for their release. A good example is the use of the Celebrate 2000 first day cover from 1 November 2000 which was utilised with the tabbed 45c stamp for a special 31 December 1999 / 1 January 2000 postmarked cover marking the new millennium.
Confusion therefore arises regarding the status of these covers as they are often identified as P-stamp first day covers and/or at the same time as souvenir covers. They can, in fact, be both. Where they are official Australia Post special issue covers and not associated with a general stamp issue release, or a mere personal personalised stamp, they have been included above within this listing as souvenir covers.
Another good example is the Boxing Kangaroo cover of August 2004, issued in association with the Athens Olympic Games of that year. It is usually seen with one or more of the ten different non-denomination P-stamps / tabs attached to a relatively unrelated 50c Celebrate / Southern Cross stamp issued on 16 March 2004, plus other special postmarks. Three relevant P-stamp sheetlets which were associated with a special souvenir cover included in the listing above, are illustrated below.
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| NEC Davis Cup sheetlet, 2001. |
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| Encounter 2002 sheetlet, 22 January 2002. |
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| Boxing Kangaroo sheetlet, 3 August 2004. |
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6. MyStamps covers
Personalised stamps, as referred to above, were first issued by Australia Post on 1 September 1999. They initially appeared as tabs attached to previously issued stamps. However, in 2019 a variant called MyStamps was released, in which templates of various shapes were made available for the creation of personalised stamps. The then current Australian Stamps souvenir cover (NGP3) was utilised for the release of sets of MyStamps during 2019 and 2020. In this case a souvenir cover appeared to be acting as a first day cover, especially for those issued on 16 December 2019.
In addition, on 1 November 2022 Australia Post released two limited edition, thematic covers bearing pre-printed MyStamps, as described in the 2022 edition of Impressions. One bore a $1.10 MyStamps with a poppy design; another bore a similar stamp with a rose design. The first - themed Remembrance - was in a limited edition of 500 covers, plus badge, and sold for $39.95; the second - themed Peacekeeping - was a postal numismatic cover (PNC) with 1,111 covers produced and sold for $59.95. Whilst these covers were similar to the prestige and PNC covers referred to above, the first time use of pre-printed MyStamps (i.e. personalised stamps similar to P-stamps) on such covers blurred the lines of definition in regards to those for souvenir covers outlined above. They have not been included in the present listing, due to their collector-only limited edition release, thematic rather than special event origin, exorbitant price, and the vagaries in regard to their philatelic status. With a stamp printed on the cover, they were now in the category of pre-stamped envelopes.
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7. Concession Post covers
Concession stamps are non-denominational stamps that can be used by Australian concession card holders to receive a reduced rate on domestic postage. They were first issued on 24 March 2014 as a pair of stamps featuring a kangaroo and an Australian map. Another stamp was issued on 2 October 2017 featuring an Australian icons graphic. On 4 July 2023 a general purpose cover was utilised as an official first day cover for a new concession stamp featuring an olive coloured Australian map. Three concession stamp covers (CSCs) are illustrated below featuring the releases.
* CSC1 - 24 March 2014. Kangaroo and Australian map (2). Reference: Stamp Bulletin #327, 17. No official Australia Post first day cover was issued. A later 21 April 2020 cover is illustrated with a two stamps on a general purpose cover.
* CSC 2 - 2 October 2017 - Australian icons graphic. An official first day cover was issued. Reference: Stamp Bulletin #349, 6.
* CSC3 - 4 July 2023 - Australian map, landscape and animals. Postmarked: Australian Philatelic Bureau. Melbourne. Reference: Stamp Bulletin #384, 21. General purpose cover NGP4 (GP19) was utilised in lieu of a specific official first day of issue cover.
8. 200 Club covers
During 1988 Australia Post issued a series of so-called 200 Club covers, in collaboration with the Wesley Cover & Stamp Service and the Australian Stamp Dealers Association. They were specially overprinted on the 37c and 39c Australian Bicentennial pre-stamped envelopes, with 37 different covers known. An official album also appeared. The first was for the 14th Commonwealth Universities Congress held at Perth between 7-12 February 1988. By 6 August 1988 the 23rd cover was issued in association with Sydpex 88. The final appeared at the end of the year.
An illustrated online catalogue of the covers by the Stamp Community website is available here. It appears that the concept was adopted later with, for example, 200 specially overprinted A Letter to Mary prestige cover issued in 2009 in association with the Melbourne Stampshow.
This cover is part of a sub-set of the Prestige Cover series, further adding to the current (2024) complexity of the Australia Post official covers available to the collecting fraternity.
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9. Unclassified covers
Some covers have been identified by the present author as not precisely fitting into the above categories; of not being clearly identified by Australia Post in their publicity material such as the Stamp Bulletin or Impressions catalogue; or being 'souvenir covers' though commonly considered as belonging to one of the other categories, such as Prestige Covers or PNCs. The majority were only promoted or made available through the annual Impressions catalogues, and most often postmarked 1 November of the relevant year as part of an end-of-year print run. None are listed in the Sydney Philatelics Prestige FDC Covers listing, mainly because they are not FDCs, when the majority of PNCs are FDCs, apart from the end-of-year variety. The following is a list of some covers which could be classified as souvenir covers, along with other classifications as noted above.
2011
* World Wide Fund for Nature 50 Years of Conservation , 2 November 2011. Offered for $10.95 in the 2011 Impressions catalogue, with a limited a print run of 500. Bearing a gold foil label and postmarked in gold: 2 November 2011 / 50 Years of Conservation / Cocos (Keeling) Islands WA 6793. The stamps were a joint issue between Australia and the Cocos Islands. This is a special cover, stamped with a miniature sheet and specially postmarked, similar to the above-mentioned Sydney Stamp Expo cover of 2019. It can be classified as a Prestige Souvenir Cover.
This is a somewhat unique cover in that whilst it was issued in connection with a coin, it was not a PNC, but very much a traditional souvenir cover. However, due to the aforementioned factors - limited release, restrictive cost - it has not been included in the above listing of such covers and perhaps more rightly fits in the Prestige Cover category, though it was obviously not labelled as such by Australia Post. It is now only available to the collector of such Australia Post covers at an exorbitant price ($1,600 on eBay) due to its rarity. In fact, since the onset of the Impressions era it can be clearly seen that Australia Post is putting in place a regime whereby certain philatelic items will from the outset be rare and ultimately beyond the collectability of your average collector. For example, to secure a complete set of office PNCs would required thousands and thousands of dollars. The recent release of a catalogue of those items only reinforces this fact. Needless to say, Australia Post should not be doing this.
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10. Numbers printed
As can be seen from the above discussion, the run of individual official covers printed by Australia Post over the years is largely unknown. This especially applied prior to the 2000s. However, as part of a money-generating initiative by Australia Post, since then limited edition print numbers have become common, made available at premium prices often reaching in three figures. For example, so-called Prestige Covers can appears in runs of 10,000, or much less, depending on the 'prestige; nature of the cover allocated by Australia Post. A good example comes from 8 March 2024, with the release of a special Australians in Space PNC cover. It had a print run of only 150, was specially postmarked, and only made available to attendees at the Perth Stamp and Coin Show, at a cost of $35. This cover was not available to any other collector, either through online or phone orders.
The restricted availability of the cover was made clear to the present author when he contacted by phone the Collectables section of Australia Post prior to the release date, seeking to obtain a copy of this attractive and personally interesting cover. Needless to say, the author was not happy about this. The new, slimmed-down February 2024 Stamp Bulletin which contained the notice of the Perth Stamp Show cover also included reference to the release - without any release date or detail - of the Australia in Space PNC for $18.95. There was no information available online about this cover either, though Australia Post had stated that in restricting the number of pages available in the print version of the Stamp Bulletin, the relevant information about releases would be available online. In this instance it was not. The coin had been released during January-February 2024 by the Australian Mint and was the first to feature King Charles on the rear. Other cover series, such as the Remembrance Day (11 November) PNCs have also been issued in limited runs of 1,111 covers. Some of these now retail on eBay for approximately $1,500, having drawn the coin collecting fraternity into the philatelic realm.
The trend towards limited print runs of covers, the use of PNCs and Prestige Covers, limited / restricted access to covers, either in person or online, and lack of information available to collectors prior to release, especially via the recently emasculated Stamp Bulletin, is a concerning trend as Australia Post moves further away from its traditional role of providing postal services and, as an offshoot, assisting collectors in obtaining copies of normal postal items at reasonable prices. This restricted and expensive trend may serve those collectors with unlimited funds, but for those, like the present author, who first began collecting stamps as a young boy around the age of 14 and, as a pension, is not financially unbound, that is now problematic. It presents a situation which is not only more complex, but more difficult to indulge in, and more expensive, especially if that area of collecting interest is covers.
Walking into a post office and finding a collection of covers amongst an array of non-philatelic items such as books, photocopies, clothing, electronic nick-knacks, stationary such as pens and notebooks, and all manner of material is very much removed from the author's experiences during the 1970s when a post office was just that - a place you went to to post or collect postage, and perhaps send a telegram. Today, for service, you stand in line behind people getting passports for their family trip to Bali; seeking to pay their electricity bill or other miscellaneous financial transactions; find information about whether they have had a Lotto win or not; getting a photocopy; purchase an item off the shelf because Officeworks is too far away; or even get a tax file number for their child as the local Centrelink office does not provide assistance for federal government services. If you are just there to post a letter or a package, then stand in line you must. Likewise, to purchase a philatelic cover amongst those available commemorating members of the British royal family, or a Victorian VFL team, or a racing car driver, or AC/DC or Disney etc. etc., you stand in line like the rest. Such is the local post office in 2024. Finally, perhaps the most disconcerting trend of all, is the failure by Post Office staff to use stamps anymore when you send letters of packages. In their stead, all that is attached to the item by default is a piece of receipt paper as a label.... So much for stamps and postmarks.
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11. Acknowledgement
In the compilation of this blog I would like to acknowledge the assistance of Noel G. Almeida in providing expert comment and advice on specific items for inclusion.
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Australia: Airmail 1931 | Australia in Space 2024 | Souvenir Covers 1970-1997 | Souvenirs Covers 1997+ | WWF 50 Years |
Papua New Guinea: 1934 3½d Pink | 1952 6½d | 1952 7½d | 2/6 Lakatois | FDCs | Forgeries | Hutt PNCs | Japan | Leaflets | OS Lakatois | Overprints | Peter & Horse | Philatelic Bureau | PSEs/PSPs/Aerogrammes | Rare | Revenue & Postage Due | Souvenir Covers |
Last updated: 25 April 2024
Michael Organ, Australia
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