2008 Sir Edmund Hillary

         Sir Edmund Percival Hillary KG, ONZ, KBE (20th July 1919 – 11th January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer. On the 29th of May 1953, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest.

1908 - 1910 Antarctica Expeditions.

This post is the first of a big project for me, a series on the stamps of Antarctica and the Ross Dependency. As we publish each post copies of their stamps will appear in our Antarctic Collection seen in links above.

During the early 1900s two expeditions left New Zealand heading for the Antarctic. Each was provided with stamps especially overprinted for their expeditions. The purpose of this post is to cover these two early issues that are usually included in a collection of Ross Dependency Stamps.

2015 Ross Dependency.

Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914–17), also known as the Endurance Expedition, is considered the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent. After the conquest of the South Pole by Roald Amundsen in 1911, this crossing from sea to sea remained, in Shackleton's words, the "one great main object of Antarctic journeyings". The expedition failed to accomplish this objective, but became recognised instead as an epic feat of endurance.

NZ Post looks back about one hundred years to this heroic expedition  made up of two teams on opposite sides of the continent — one's tale heralded as the ‘greatest survival story ever told’, the other's as ‘the greatest survival story never told’. These are six stamps of scenes selected to tell these two stories along with the usual special collectors items.

Captain Cook Stamps of New Zealand.

A collection of New Zealand stamps and postmarks associated with Captain Cook. This page should be considered as an ongoing project as new items could be added as we discover them.

1906 Christchurch Exhibition.

1906  Christchurch Exhibition.

3d - Captain Cook's Landing.

The dual colour three penny stamp depicts the landing of Captain Cook. on his first voyage to New Zealand; at Poverty Bay on the east coast of the North Island on the 7th of October 1769. This first meeting led to the deaths of six local Maori during skirmishes with the crew, due to a misinterpretation of the traditional Maori challenge. Cook was unable to gain many of the provisions he and his crew needed at the bay, and for this reason, gave it its name.

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.  

1959 Anniversaries.

       The 1959 Anniversaries are actually three separate issues that appeared during the first part of the year. We have decided to combine them into one post including the issue date under the title of each issue.

       First is the 1959 Boy Scouts Pan-Pacific Jamboree, a one stamp issue marking the large jamboree held in Auckland. The second issue is a three stamp set celebrating the Marlborough Centennial. Finally we have another one stamp issue marking 100 years from the idea for the establishing of the Red Cross.

       We have also included covers and First Day Covers, printing and perforation flaws as well.

2011 - Ross Dependency - Race to the Pole.

 This issue marks the Centenary of the first successful attempt to reach the South Pole. Over the summer season of 1911/12 two men were attempting to be the first to reach the pole.  One was an Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, and the other a British explorer, Robert Scott.  The stamps of this issue, remember and celebrate both men and their teams. 

The miniature sheet titled "The Race to the Pole" including the five stamps of this issue.

1940 Centennial Pictorials

         As 1940 approached, New Zealand Government Officials were considering ways in which The Dominion could celebrate its first centenary. A great exhibition was planned in Wellington.

         I remember my father telling us that as a boy most of his small country school travelled by train from their little community in Northland, all the way to Wellington. They slept in the classrooms of a local school while visiting the Great Centennial Exhibition and taking in the sights of the capital before returning to Northland on another special train.  
         Word spread ahead that this special train was passing through the various town and cities on route and my mother told us that as a young girl she stood at the trackside in Avondale, Auckland, watching it go by. Little did she know that one day she would marry one of those 'country kids' hanging out the windows waving madly.
         I remember their surprise that day as they realised that they could have looked at each other, all those years before they would eventually meet and get married when my father moved to Auckland.

1957 - 1967 Ross Dependency Pictorials

Establishing Scott Base.

        Scott Base was originally constructed as a temporary base in support of the UK inspired and privately managed Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (TAE). The New Zealand government provided support for the TAE and also for other International  Geophysical Year (IGY) projects during 1957.