Australian First Issue

About Australian First Issue

A stamp design competition held in 1911 attracted over 1,000 entries for the first Australian Commonwealth stamp. The winning design by Hermann Otto Altmann was rejected and the kangaroo map design was chosen instead. The competition itself is notable in postal history for its scale and the controversy surrounding the selection process. The first Commonwealth stamps were issued on January 1, 1913, replacing the colonial stamps of the individual Australian states.