Postal history and postage stamps of the Antarctic
The postal history of Antarctica includes the postal system of the research stations on the Antarctic continent and its offshore islands as well as the sub-Antarctic South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands , which no longer belong politically to Antarctica , but for a long time formed a common postal area with parts of Antarctica.
The first verifiable mail from Antarctica probably came from the German Gauss expedition 1901–03. The first post office in Antarctica was established in 1904 on Laurie Island in a station that Argentina had taken over from the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition . The post office was only open for one season and was closed in the spring of 1905. The first postage stamps issued by New Zealand for Antarctica were used during Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition in 1908-09.
In the 21st century, most of the major research stations have post offices for their staff and tourists; Postage stamps printed specifically for the Antarctic territories they claim are used on the stations of Australia , France , Great Britain and New Zealand . In addition, other states operate post offices with or without territorial claims that use brands of the mother country. Since the stations, which are occupied all year round, are now equipped with modern satellite communication, letter post is being continued essentially out of philatelic interests and in order to be able to cover part of the administrative expenses from the sale of stamps.
Expeditions before World War II
The first expedition to be equipped with special postage stamps was the Nimrod Expedition 1907-09 by Ernest Shackleton. Shackleton was sworn in as a postal clerk and received 23,492 New Zealand 1 cent stamps with the vertical overprint KING EDWARD VII LAND . The stamps were, however, used on board the Nimrod and in the hut of the expedition at McMurdo Sound , since Shackleton could not winter in King Edward VII Land as intended and agreed with Robert Falcon Scott . The stamps were not only used for postal traffic, but were canceled in large quantities after the expedition or sold mint to collectors to cover part of the expedition costs. In 2001, a complete, stamped sheet and sheet parts of this stamp were still in Shackleton's estate, which were auctioned off with other postal utensils such as a registration booklet for registered letters.
The Terra Nova Expedition also received its own stamps in 1910 . Robert F. Scott was sworn in as the postman and the expedition's secretary, Francis Drake, as his deputy. The expedition received 200 sheets of 120 copies of the contemporary 1-penny stamp from New Zealand with the horizontal imprint VICTORIA LAND . Because the postal rate to some countries was 2½ pence, in 1912 20 sheets of 120 stamps of the ½ penny stamp were printed with the same imprint and sent to Antarctica on a supply ship.
The issue of special stamps for an Antarctic expedition was not continued until the 1940s, during this period mail from the Antarctic was usually provided with special stamps (cachets) or adhesive vignettes and franked with normal postage stamps from the countries the expedition ships called at.
Operation Tabarin
The Operation Tabarin was a jointly implemented by the British Admiralty and the Colonial Office companies in 1944-45. On the one hand, the company was intended to prevent submarines and ships of the Axis powers and Japan's secret bases from docking on the Antarctic peninsula and the offshore islands, on the other hand, the British claim to the territory, especially against Argentina and Chile , should be underlined after these states had raised their own claims to parts of the parts of Antarctica claimed by Great Britain since 1908. As part of the operation, four stations were set up, each equipped with postage stamps from the Falkland Islands with an overprint. The stations A ( Port Lockroy , Grahamland ), B ( Deception Island , South Shetland Islands ), C ( Sandefjord Bay , South Orkney Islands ), D ( Hope Bay , Grahamland), and a post office in South Georgia were in operation . After the end of the war, responsibility for the stations was transferred in full to the Colonial Ministry and the military operation Tabarin was transferred to the civilian Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS).
Grahamland brand
South Orkney Islands brand
South Shetland brand
Expenses of the claiming states
Currently (as of September 2019) Australia , France , New Zealand and Great Britain are issuing special postage stamps for the areas they claim in Antarctica. These postage stamps are only used at the stations of these states in the respective sectors claimed by them, whereas stations of other states - insofar as they operate station post offices - use stamps from their state post. The states Argentina and Chile, which claim sectors that overlap with Great Britain and with each other, also operate post offices on their stations that use normal Argentine or Chilean postage stamps. Some Antarctic stations, including the German Neumayer station , do not have a post office, but handle incoming mail through the post offices of the research and supply ships.
British editions
Falkland Island Dependencies
After the end of Operation Tabarin, the British claimed continental part of Antarctica and the offshore archipelagos including South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands came under the administration of the Falkland Islands as a secondary area . In 1946 a first series was published with the country name Falkland Island Dependencies , which included a map of the area and the portrait of King George VI. identifies. The last postage stamp for the Dependencies was a special issue for the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1955–58. At this time there was also the largest number of post offices open at the same time, namely at 13 Antarctic stations, as well as King Edward Point on South Georgia and one station on Bird Island .
South Georgia
The postal history of South Georgia goes back to 1909, when James Innis Wilson became island magistrate and was entrusted with the establishment of a post office in Grytviken . Stamps from the Falkland Islands were used, which were also canceled with a stamp from the Falkland Islands, but a stamp SOUTH GEORGIA was also applied to the letter to document the use in South Georgia. On the first two mail trips of the steamer Cachalot from South Georgia to Port Stanley in December 1909 and February 1910, over 1000 or 1134 letters and 339 or 406 postcards were transported, of which about 85% were to Norway, the home of those stationed on South Georgia Whalers were addressed. The stamps could be paid for in British currency as well as in Norwegian currency at the rate of 1 krone = 1 shilling.
In 1911 the magistrate proposed the introduction of its own postage stamps, but this was rejected by the administration of the Falkland Islands. In 1944, South Georgia received the first eight postage stamps as part of Operation Tabarin, they were values from ½ penny to 9 pence of the common postage stamps of the Falkland Islands with the imprint South Georgia / Dependency of , the one with the country name below Falkland Island as South Georgia / subsidiary area of the Falkland Islands . From 1946 to 1963, South Georgia used the postage stamps of the Falkland Island Dependencies. After the separation of the British Antarctic Territory , South Georgia received its own stamps again in 1963 with the country designation South Georgia . From 1980 to 1985, postage stamps with the country designation Falkland Island Dependencies were in circulation again, during this period the Argentine occupation during the Falklands War and the brief closure of the post office until the war damage was repaired in early 1984.
1985 was a reorganization of the British overseas territories with the establishment of a separate territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ; this country name has since appeared on the issues procured by the Crown Agents . The only post office currently operated is in King Edward Point .
British Antarctic Territory
The internationally unrecognized British Antarctic Territory was created in 1962 to administratively separate the areas affected by the Antarctic Treaty from the Falkland Islands. The first stamp series from 1963 consisted of 15 values showing ships and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II . The stamps were denominated in British currency, so decimalization took place in 1971, as in Great Britain, which required some stamps with a provisional new value imprint. British Antarctica postage stamps are used by crews and visitors to Faraday (until 1996), Fossil Bluff , Halley , Port Lockroy , Rothera , Signy (until 1996) and Sky Blu research stations. All stations use the same postcode the British model BIQQ 1ZZ. Mail is usually sent by ship to Port Stanley on the Falkland Islands, where the head of the postal service ("The Antarctic Postman") is stationed, and from there by plane to Great Britain. The sale of stamps covers, in addition to the income from the station crews income tax , the administrative costs for the territory.
French Southern and Antarctic Territories
The French Southern and Antarctic Lands include the Adélieland and the Kerguelen Archipelago, the islands of Amsterdam and Saint Paul , the Crozet Islands and, since 2007, the Îles Éparses . Until 1955 these uninhabited areas were administered by the governor of what was then French Madagascar . The postal administration of Madagascar issued the first stamp for a French expedition that explored Adelieland from 1948 to 1952. It is an airmail stamp for 100 francs with the red, three-line imprint TERRE ADÉLIE / DUMONT D'URVILLE / 1840 , which was intended for the expedition members, but was also sold at the collector's counter in Tananarive and was valid in Madagascar. The cataloging of this stamp is inconsistent, in many catalogs this stamp is listed as the forerunner of the editions for the French Southern and Antarctic Territories, the Michel catalog lists it as an edition of Madagascar.
It was only after the French Southern and Antarctic Territories were separated from the colony of Madagascar on August 6, 1955 that a new postal area was created. For expeditions and research stations, the French Post issued special stamps with the country name TERRES AUSTRALES ET ANTARCTIQUES FRANÇAISES from October 1955. The first stamp was a provisional 15-franc stamp from Madagascar with the country name printed accordingly. Since then, several stamp series relating to local issues have been issued annually. The Réunion Franc was the official currency in the French Southern and Antarctic Territories until the end of 1974 , from 1975 to 2001 postage stamps were issued in exchange for French francs , and the euro has been used in the territory since 2002 .
In addition to the post office at Dumont-d'Urville station in Adelieland, there are nine other post offices on the islands outside of Antarctica.
Ross sub-area
The first four postage stamps for the Ross Sub-Area appeared on January 11, 1957 and were used on New Zealand's Scott Base and members of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition . These stamps could be used on Scott Base until 1967; they were issued with a new currency after the conversion from New Zealand pounds to New Zealand dollars in 1967. The New Zealand Post issued two further series for the Antarctic station at intervals of several years until 1987. As part of rationalization measures, the Scott Base post office was closed in 1987 and expedition mail was processed in Christchurch . From 1987 to 1994, the New Zealand Post Office issued a set of stamps annually with the double country designation New Zealand - Ross Dependency , without the use of these stamps for mail from the Ross subsidiary area being mandatory. These stamps were used like all other issues of the Post in New Zealand and are also listed under the national designation New Zealand in the stamp catalogs. The Scott Base post office was reopened in 1994, and since then the New Zealand Post has been issuing a series of postage stamps of the most popular denominations every year, the motifs of which are based on the nature of Antarctica or the exploration of the continent.
Australian Antarctic Territory
The first postage stamp for the Australian Antarctic Territory was issued on March 27, 1957 and shows a group of scientists hoisting the Australian flag. Post offices exist or passed on Davis , Mawson , Casey , Wilkes, and Macquarie stations . Postage stamps from the Australian Antarctic Territory are also valid in Australia and are therefore used with Australian postmarks. As a rule, a set of stamps on topics of Antarctic nature, research or history is published each year. In 1966 the changeover from the Australian pound to the Australian dollar took place , which is documented by the change in the currency information on the stamps. The Antarctic stations of Australia have the postcode 7151.
literature
- James Mackay: The Complete Guide to Stamps & Stamp Collecting. Pp. 118, 239, 247 and 249, Hermes House, London 2005. ISBN 1-84477-726-X
- Hans Egon Vesper: The post in the Antarctic . 164 p., Postmark guild "Rhein-Donau" eV, Düsseldorf-Oberkassel no year.
Web links
- Antarctic Postal History (Engl.)
Individual evidence
- ^ Die Welt, March 15, 2008
- ^ Letter with ship's stamp of the German South Pole Expedition GAUSS from June 3, 1903
- ↑ Christies's: The Polar Sale - including The Shackleton Collection . London, September 25, 2001, pp. 86-87.
- ↑ Representation of the brands on the official homepage of the New Zealand Post Office , accessed on February 20, 2014.
- ↑ History of British Antarctic Stations
- ^ Robert Headland: The Island of South Georgia . Pp. 160-161, Cambridge University Press 1992. ISBN 0-521-42474-7
- ^ Postal Codes: British Antarctic Territory
- ^ British Antarctic Territory - 40 years of stamps ( Memento of October 4, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 26, 2014
- ^ Official homepage of the British Antarctic Survey
- ^ Post documents from the French expedition 1948–52
- ^ French Southern and Antarctic Lands at www.stampedia.net , accessed on February 24, 2014
- ↑ Postal rates and addresses in the French Southern and Antarctic Territories ( Memento of the original of November 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , ( French ), accessed February 26, 2014
- ^ Postage stamps from the Ross subsidiary area , accessed on February 24, 2014
- ↑ Images of the stamps of the Australian Antarctic Territory since 2002 on one page of the Universal Postal Union
- ↑ Postcodes on www.geopostcodes.com , accessed May 22, 2016
