First Stamp of South Australia State Pre-Federation

South Australia’s first stamp was printed in 1855 and lasted until 1868, overlapping with its second issued state stamp. There were four denominations, 1 d (1 penny) Red, 2d (two pence) red and 6d (six pence) blue and the 1 Shilling Orange. These were imperforate issues, meaning they had straight lines and needed to be cut individually by the seller. It is the irregularity of these cuts in imperforate stamps that can contribute to their value. All of the issues depicted a profile picture of Queen Victoria wearing a crown.

South Australia was part of the New South Wales colony but became its own colony in 1836. A postmaster was appointed dealing with stampless letters before the introduction of the paid stamps which improved efficiency in the colonies, and around the world.

The stamp itself was a mixture of designs, with the portrat of Queen Victoria likened to the New South Wales version, and the corners of the stamps reflecting Great Britain. William Humphreys was the engraver for the Perkins Bacon plates. The plates were made in 20 rows of 12 for a total of 240 stamps per plate printing.

The stamps were printed on watermarked paper, showing a large star. Below is a picture of the sheet these were printed on, each star supposed to land on each stamp but this was not always the case, and again makes a specimen more valuable.

The 1d Green was printed in shades of green from its original printing, becoming a more yellow green as time passed. Likewise the 2d Carmine Red was inconsistent and there are specimens of it as almost orange. The ink did tend to fade over time also.

In 1859 the same stamps were printed using routletting to form a perforation until 1902 (or thereabouts) with the same watermark. The major change being the 1 shilling orange was replaced Brown after spending in a short time in Yellow. In 1901 Australia was federated and national stamps were printed and issued, but there is some overlap between state stamps and national stamps during these times. There were various other issues of South Australian stamps which will be found in other posts under South Australia.

The stamps were printed in South Australia for the Post Office using Perkins Bacon printing press (pictured)