1972 Ross Dependency Pictorials

During the 1970s & 80s so New Zealand stamps reflected a very stylized, almost cartoon art design. The 1978 Agriculture / Lincoln College and 1981 Government Life Insurance Lighthouses are classic examples of this. A similar design form was used for the 1972 Ross Dependency Pictorial/Definitives.  

This issue replaced the 1967 Ross Dependency Decimal Pictorials as the new definitive set and remained in circulation until the 1982 Ross Dependency 25th Anniversary of Scott Base stamps were issued. Although not a commemorative issue, the stamps were issued on the 60th Anniversary of Scott's Polar Party reaching the South Pole on January 18th, 1912.

                   

3c - Skua Gull.     

The south polar skua is a large bird (though small compared to other skuas sometimes placed in Catharacta) that measures approximately 53 centimetres (21 in) in length. Adults are greyish brown above and have a whitish (pale morph) or straw-brown (intermediate morph) head and underparts, and the contrast between head and body makes it easy to separate from similar species with good views. Juveniles and adult dark morphs are harder to distinguish from their relatives, and more subjective or difficult-to-observe criteria, such as the colder brown plumage and blue bill base, must be used.

It breeds on Antarctic coasts, usually laying two eggs in November and December. It is a migrant, wintering at sea in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. In the eastern North Atlantic, it is replaced by the great skua. South polar skuas have been seen at the actual South Pole itself. Megalestris Hill, on Petermann Island in the Wilhelm Archipelago of Antarctica, is named after an obsolete generic name for the south polar skua.

4c - Royal NZ Air Force Hercules / Williams Airfield.

Aviation in the Ross Dependency.

Williams Field or Willy Field (ICAO: NZWD) is a United States Antarctic Program airfield in Antarctica. Williams Field consists of two snow runways located on approximately 8 meters (25 ft) of compacted snow, lying on top of 80 meters (262 ft) of ice, floating over 550 meters (1,800 ft) of water. The airport, which is approximately seven miles from Ross Island, serves McMurdo Station and New Zealand’s Scott Base. The extraordinary conditions encountered at Williams Field include the fact that the airfield is in a continuous slow slide towards the sea. Seaward movement of the floating McMurdo Ice Shelf upon which the airfield is constructed has forced Williams Field to be relocated three times since its original construction. Workers last moved the airfield during the 1984-85 season.

The Ice Runway (ICAO: NZIR) is the principal runway for the US Antarctic Program during the summer Antarctic field season due to its proximity to McMurdo Station. The annual sea-ice runway for wheeled aircraft is constructed at the start of each season and is used until early December when the sea ice begins to break up. Subsequently, flight operations are moved back to Williams Field.

Located at RNZAF Base Whenuapai 40 Squadron today operates five C-130H Hercules and two Boeing 757s. Since the late 1960s, the squadron has detached aircraft each summer to work in the Ross Dependency of Antarctica. Since 2015 the RNZAF has been looking to replace the C-130 Hercules fleet and the Boeing 757s. This is due to take place over the next five years due to the C-130s and Boeing 757s reaching the end of their flying life by 2018.

   5c - Shackleton's 1908 Hut Cape Royds. 

Cape Royds is a dark rock cape forming the western extremity of Ross Island, facing on McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. It was discovered by the Discovery Expedition (1901–1904) and named for Lieutenant Charles Royds, Royal Navy, who acted as a meteorologist on the expedition. There is a hut at Cape Royds built by Ernest Shackleton during his 1907–1909 expedition.

When Shackleton went into McMurdo Sound in 1908, having failed to land on King Edward VII Land, he decided to build a hut at Cape Royds, a small promontory twenty-three miles north of Hut Point where Scott had stayed during the Discovery Expedition. The whole shore party lived in this hut through the winter of 1908.

The Antarctic Heritage Trust (New Zealand) has custody over the site. Nominated by AHT, Shackleton's Hut was listed in 2004, 2006, and 2008 World Monuments Watch by the World Monuments Fund to attract attention and financial support for the site. In 2004, through WMF, funding for conservation was provided by American Express, and by 2008 the structure was fully restored to its condition when Shackleton's team left it. Shackleton’s Hut has been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 15), following a proposal by New Zealand and the United Kingdom to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. Amongst other things, five crates of McKinlay and Co. whisky were found buried under the hut in 2006. One crate is currently in Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, New Zealand undergoing restoration and, if possible, analysis of the whisky.

 

      8c - Navy Supply Ship HMNZS Endeavour.

HMNZS Endeavour was the second New Zealand navy Antarctic Support Ship with the same name. It also carried the number A184.

On 27 June 1962, custody of Namakagon was transferred to the Commandant, 12th Naval District for activation, following which she was transferred, under the Military Aid Program, to the Royal New Zealand Navy, on 5 October 1962. Commissioned as HMNZS Endeavour (A184), an Antarctic supply ship, she delivered fuel to research bases on the seventh continent, bringing over 1 million gallons each year to McMurdo Sound alone, since 1963. The endeavour was decommissioned and returned to U.S. custody in 1971.

 

10c - Scott Base.

Scott Base is a research facility located in Antarctica and is operated by New Zealand. It was named after Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Royal Navy, leader of two British expeditions to the Ross Sea area of Antarctica. Located at Pram Point on Ross Island near Mount Erebus in New Zealand's Ross Dependency territorial claim, it was set up as support to field research and the centre for research into earth sciences, but now conducts research in many fields.

Scott Base is today operated by Antarctica New Zealand. The base is made up of a collection of Chelsea Cucumber green buildings which are linked by all-weather corridors. These buildings can accommodate 85 people over summer, with a "skeleton staff" of between 10 and 14 people remaining over the winter.

18c - Tabular Ice Flow.

In addition to size classification, icebergs can be classified on the basis of their shape. The two basic types of iceberg forms are tabular and non-tabular. Tabular icebergs have steep sides and a flat top, much like a plateau, with a length-to-height ratio of more than 5:1. This type of iceberg, also known as an ice island, can be quite large, as in the case of Pobeda Ice Island. Antarctic icebergs formed by breaking off from an ice shelf, such as the Ross Ice Shelf or Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, are typically tabular. The largest icebergs in the world are formed this way.

 An unaddressed First Day Cover showing all 6 stamps on an NZ Post Office designed cover.

An airmail cover cancelled at Scott Base. What I really like about this cover is that it is obvious that it was addressed before the stamps were attached. You can see how the stamps had to be positioned so as not to hide any of the address.

These two covers are a pair sent from Scott Base to Australia via New Zealand.

Together they use all 6 stamps while still containing enough postage for each cover to complete its journey.

Each winter a small team remain at Scott Base.

While the cover was sent in Dec 1972 the large hand strike top centre shows this was sent by one of the wintering team as confirmed by the Officer in Charge on the left.  

Two 1980 Scott Base illustrated covers flown on Royal New Zealand Air Force flights from Christchurch to Scott Base, landing at Williams Field. Each cover carries the Scott Base cachet and gives the flight number and crew for the flights there and back. Confirming that these covers actually made the trip, they were signed by the Navigators on the North Flights.

Above is a cover flown on Flight 8 and the one below seems to be from Flight 11 although the date of the Scott base stamp seems to show this flight occurred 2 days before the one above. Also, notice that one of the captains was from the USAF.

15th Jan 1982.

25th Anniversary of RNZAF ski plane in Antarctica.

In January 1979 a new printing of the same designs on new plates was issued on thinner white chalky paper with a PVA surface adhesive which appears dull compared to the shiny Gum Arabic used on the original stamps. The colours used are also slightly different - most notably on the 4c (plane) and 8c (ship) stamps - and the paper used in the first printing is cream coloured when compared against the 1979 printing.

Technical information:

Date of Issue:	18 January 1972
Designers:	M Cleverley, Auckland
Printers:	Bradbury Wilkinson, England
Stamp Size:	3c, 4c, 5c and  8c: 28mm x 24mm;  10c and 18c: 40.64mm x 24.13mm
Sheet Size:	100
Process:	Lithography
Perforation Gauge:	3c - 8c: 12.75 x 13.25;  10c & 18c: 14.75 x 14 and 13.75 x 13.25
Paper Type:	Chalk-surfaced, unwatermarked

Some of the images in this post were used with permission from the illustrated catalogue of StampsNZ

You can visit their web site and On-line Catalogue at, http://stampsnz.com/

Some information for this post came from.

New Zealand Post (Stamps)