1999 Victoria University Centenary

        In 1999, Victoria University proudly celebrated 100 years of scholarship and success. New Zealand Post issued a special stamp to commemorate the centennial celebrations. The 100th birthday celebrations were a year-long affair, bound together by the theme of ‘Changing Lives’, and culminating in the official centennial week. 
        The entire occasion was a unique opportunity to showcase the University’s academic achievements, past and present, and to publicise the many successes of graduates, scholars and staff. Activities included garden parties, conferences and reunions as well as major musical, sporting and artistic events.

40c - Hunter Building, Victoria University.

This 40c stamp depicted the Hunter building, a neo-gothic building officially opened in 1906 and situated on the main campus.

2005 Commemoratives

In 2005, New Zealand Post celebrated the invaluable and selfless work of three community-based organisations who celebrate key moments in their history. Through this issue, New Zealand Post paid tribute to the many thousands of New Zealanders who, as members and supporters of these three community groups, cared for those around them.

Six single stamps and four miniature sheets.

Let's look at them in more detail below.

1995 Centenary Of Rugby League

          Rugby league had its beginnings in Huddersfield on 29 August 1895 when 22 rebellious Yorkshire and Lancashire rugby union clubs in England's industrial north held a meeting in Huddersfield and voted to quit the English Rugby Football Union (RFU) and form their own organisation (the Northern Union). Their dissatisfaction stemmed from the RFU's refusal to allow players to be compensated financially for taking time off work to play rugby. It was not long before a new brand of rugby developed. League was on its way. New rules emerged, speeding up the game and making it more open. Out went lineouts, play-the-ball restarts were introduced and, in 1906, teams were reduced from 15 to 13 players. League also became professional.
The 'All Golds'
          Rugby league in New Zealand grew out of the original rugby union All Blacks tour of Britain in 1905-6. Some of the touring New Zealanders watched the league, were impressed with the new game and became converts.
          One of these All Blacks, a fleet-footed winger named George Smith, returned home and quickly teamed up with keen young sportsman and budding entrepreneur Albert Baskerville, to form New Zealand's first rugby league side. Including many former All Blacks and dubbed the 'All Golds' because of its semi-professionalism, the team embarked on a tour of Britain in 1907-8 without having played a single game in New Zealand.
         The tour was a success. The All Golds won 19 of their 35 games including the test series against Great Britain which was won 2 - 1. On the way home the All Golds also captured two of three tests against Australia. On their return, the All Golds made up most of the two teams that squared off in what was the first league match ever held in this country. It took place in Wellington on 13 June 1908 before a crowd of around 7,000. The name All Golds has long been consigned to history but today's 'Kiwis' continue the tradition begun in the early 1900's.

1994 Beach Cricket Booklet

Beach Cricket Booklet.

One of the most popular summer pastimes in New Zealand is to go down to the beach - swim, sunbathe, picnic and have a game of beach cricket. It only needs a softball and a piece of wood for a bat, a few sticks for the wickets and the fun begins. This game bears little resemblance to the cricket of the stadium or even the village green - there are few rules, no age limits and as many people as care to can play at once.

NZ Post issued this booklet as part of marking this important milestone in the history of cricket in New Zealand. 

1994 Centenary of the New Zealand Cricket Council.

1994 Centenary of the New Zealand Cricket Council

        This most English of games was introduced to this country by missionaries - an early report mentions a game having been played at the Waimate North mission station in the Bay of Islands in 1835. British immigrants also brought the game with them as they settled in their new country. 
  
      By the 1860's and 1870's inter-provincial competitions were being contested, English and Australian tours were taking place and the popularity of the sport continued to increase. It became clear that its administration needed to be formalised on a national basis and therefore, on 27 December 1894, the New Zealand Cricket Council was introduced. 

       One hundred years later the game is still as healthy and strong as ever and is one of the most popular sports in New Zealand. Women's cricket emerged in the 1920's and a national Women's Cricket Council was established in 1934. In 1992 the Women's Cricket Council was merged with the board of New Zealand Cricket giving men's and women's cricket a single administration in this country.

       NZ Post marked this event with this issue of four stamps and a ten-stamp booklet. This post is about the main issue while the booklet can be found via the link below. This post of four stamps also included a First Day Cover and a limited edition First Day Cover.

1994 Beach Cricket Booklet.

2007 Centenaries

          Ours is a unique country that’s recognised around the world for its caring nature, love of sport and innovative spirit. In 2007, four significant organisations that have helped shape our culture of today celebrated their centenary.

Se-tenant Block of four 50 cent, one $1, one $1.50 and two $2 stamps.

          NZ Post marked these events by this issue of eight stamps with each organisation being represented by two stamp showing scenes from 1907 and 2007. The stamps have been designed with the older scenes being in one colour reflecting the photography of that time and the new scenes being shown in the full colour of modern photography.

Centenaries 1985 & 1986.

           This post covers two issues celebrating centenaries of two organisations that do much to support our way of life in New Zealand. The first is the St John's Ambulance, always there in times of need, giving on scene first-aid and life-saving transport to hospital.
           The second organisation is the New Zealand Police. A strip of five stamps illustrating the varied facets of police work - old and modern.

1985 Centenary of St John's Ambulance.

1085 is one hundred years since the St John's Ambulance Association was established in Christchurch. To mark this event NZ Post issued a three value set showing the three crosses connected with St John's. This post looks at the history of the St John's movement going back hundreds of years before it became the organisation we know today.

24c - Bailiffs and Dames Grand Cross on Red.

1982 / 1983 Anniversaries / Commemoratives

      This post covers the two Anniversary Issues of 1982 and 1983. Both issues contain five stamps covering a range of centenaries, anniversaries and commemoratives. Each stamp is attractive, interesting and has a story to tell.

1982 Anniversaries / Commemoratives.

20c - Centenary of Tauranga.     20c - Centenary of Hawera.

1981 Anniversaries / Family Life.

1981 Anniversaries / Commemoratives.

The 1981 Commemorative Stamp Issue consisted of two stamps commemorating 
the Centenary of Feilding and the International Year of Disabled Persons.

20c - Centenary of Feilding.

1981 marked the centenary of the Constitution of Feilding as a Borough.  The town was named after the Honourable Colonel William Henry Adelbert Feilding, 1836-1895, son of 7th Earl of Denbeigh.  Feilding is a community serving the rural area of the upper Manawatu and has a population of about 13,000.  A main feature of the borough is the stock sale yards which play an important part in the agricultural and pastoral activities of the district.

1977 Anniversaries

         Most of the stamps featured in this blog are mint (unused) so this time I've decided to do something different. Everything on this page except some of the errors are used stamps. So we can still enjoy the designs on the stamp themselves I have purposely selected examples with lighter cancels.

          In 1977 the annual Anniversary Issue featured 5 stamps. In this case the coat of arms of each organisation took centre place in the designs. In the case of the AA (10c value) I'm not sure that could be called a coat of arms as it is rather more like an emblem.  
         The 3 x 8c stamps were printed se tenant on one sheet while the 2 x 10c stamps were printed together on a second sheet. This gave us the two strips as seen above and on the First Day Cover further down.

2016 - RSA: 100 Years of Service

2016 marks 100 years since the formation of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association (RSA). Since it was founded, the RSA has been an integral part of New Zealand communities and NZ Post paid tribute to the important role it plays with this special stamp issue.

This commemorative issue consists of six gummed stamps that portray the RSA’s identity and history. The designs incorporate the new RSA ‘heart’ logo, which reflects the RSA’s ambition to be at the heart of New Zealand’s communities.

1971 Three City Centennaries.

         Three city centenaries were commemorated in this 1971 commemorative stamp issue: Palmerston North - centenary of its founding; Auckland - centenary as a city; and Invercargill - centenary of local government.

Centenary of Palmerston North - 3c
The design incorporates the city's coat of arms.  Palmerston North, NZ's second largest provincial city, with about 84 000 people, is situated alongside the Manawatu River 140 kilometres north of Wellington. The site of the town was part of a block bought by the Government from the Maori owners in 1864.  The town was laid out the following year, and settlement began in 1866. 

Today (2015) Palmerston North is the major commercial centre for the south/central region of the North Island, servicing a large, highly productive farming area. It is home to more than 70 major educational and research institutions, including New Zealand's fastest expanding university, Massey University. 

1971 Anniversaries & Centennaries

        The commemorative issues of 1971 were divided into a list of smaller issues that appeared over the whole year. I've tried to tidy them up by arranging them into three posts. The first is on the Anniversaries & Centennaries of 1971. The second is on Special Events of 1971. The third is on Three City Centennaries of 1971. 

1971 - CWI/Rotary.

        The first two commemorative stamps were issued in February 1971, one for Rotary and the other for the Country Women's Institutes.

50th Anniversary Country Women's Institute

4c - 50th Anniversary of the New Zealand Country Women's Institutes.

The Country Women's Institutes have as their prime objective "assisting women to take an effective part in rural life and development".  The organisation actively fosters culture, friendship and handcrafts.  The Dominion Federation of New Zealand Country Women's Institutes is affiliated to the Association of Country Women of the World.

I am a member of our local group. It is a great organisation that does some good work in the community. When the house burnt down up the valley from us. The ladies did a great job helping that young couple get established again. I've also made some very good friends with ladies I have met at the meetings.

1974 Anniversaries

The next Anniversaries Issue features three vertical format stamps. I've mentioned before that this is one aspect that I like about these issues is that each year the stamps seem to have a similar appearance although they celebrate widely different events/organisations. 

In 1974, one stamp celebrated the Centenary of Napier

and two stamps celebrated the Centenary of the Universal Postal Union.

1973 Anniversaries

The second time NZ Post issued a set of anniversary stamps they chose a landscape design of six values. The subjects ranged from two towns, a university, an environmental society, a sport and an international development commission. With such different subjects it is hard to achieve a standard design but these six stamps do fit together as a set. 

The 3c design was completed by Vivian Jepsen, with the remaining five

designs completed by B Langford.

1972 Anniversaries

Up until 1972 New Zealand had been issuing Anniversary and Centennial stamps as these events occurred. In 1972 it was decided to group these together to form a five stamp issue marking five different events. For many years the Anniversary Issue became a regular part of NZ Post's yearly stamp issues.  

The second feature of these annual Anniversary issues was that the stamps had a similar appearance even though each stamp represented a totally different subject. The common theme of this issue was bold silhouettes against colourful two-tone backgrounds. This can best be seen when the whole set is viewed laid out as they are above.  

1969 New Zealand Law Society Centenary

         The Society has an established reputation as one of the leading societies of lawyers in the Commonwealth.  It is fully represented on the Council of the International Bar Association and played a substantial part in the formation of the Law Association for Asia and the Western Pacific.

         This stamp issue commemorated the centenary of the New Zealand Law Society which held an International Conference at Rotorua between 8 - 11 April 1969. Above are the three values in very fine used condition. Postal cancellations can be seen on each stamp.

1969 Anniversaries.

         This post looks at four anniversary issues from 1969 which we have placed together on one page. Anniversary stamp issues are some times overlooked by collectors, even though they are often colourful, well designed stamps. They usually have an interesting story behind them as well. Included in this group is an historical event, a university, a New Zealand aid organisation and an international labour organisation.   

                                            

                                              

       There were actually two other issues, 1969 Captain Cook Bicentenary and the 1969 New Zealand Law Society Centenary which have been featured in other posts.

1969 Captain Cook Bicentenary.

This issue commemorates the bi-centenary of Captain Cook's first voyage to New Zealand.

The Captain Cook Bicentenary issue marked two firsts. For the first time in New Zealand, the set appeared in miniature sheet form with the values se-tenant. It is also the first time that embossing was used on a New Zealand stamp to make the portrait on each stamp stand out.

The Four Values.  

1967 Centenaries

1967 Post Office Savings Bank Centenary.

As commemorative stamp issues had already been produced for the centenaries of the Postal Service and Telegraph Service it was felt appropriate that a special stamp issue should be produced for the centenary of the Post Office Savings Bank in 1967.

The opening of the first Post Office Savings Bank occurred in the 1860s, the gold rush years in New Zealand. It was an important event that fostered the habit of thrift and saving among the increasingly prosperous colonists of this relatively young nation.

                            
4d - Queens.                                                                9d - Coins.