Floral Festivals celebrated at Australia Post
Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Australian floral festivals are being celebrated by Australia Post, with the release of a new stamp issue on 8 March 2011.
The five stamps in the issue feature colourful photographic depictions of popular flower species - the gerbera, jacaranda, Australian everlasting, violet and tulip.
"Australia's floral festivals are engaging events for gardening enthusiasts and local communities, and they have also become major tourist attractions. The number of floral festivals held throughout the country attests to Australians' love of flowers and gardening in general," said Australia Post's Philatelic Manager, Mr Michael Zsolt.
"We anticipate that the beautiful designs in this stamp issue will appeal to a great number of people and we expect to see many 'flowers' travelling through the post when the issue is released," said Mr Zsolt.
The flowers featured in the stamp issue each represent a better known floral festival, and together the stamps represent festivals in urban and regional areas across the country. These festivals draw attention and participation both nationally and from overseas and they are important to the local culture and economy of their respective communities.
The tulip has a long association with the Netherlands, which exports more than seven billion tulip bulbs throughout the world each year, including to Australia. This sculptural flower represents Canberra's Floriade.
Jacarandas line the streets of Grafton, so it is little wonder that the town's annual floral festival, which began in 1935, takes its name from the flower. Around 50 species of jacaranda are found throughout the world, with Jacaranda mimosifolia associated with the Grafton Jacaranda Festival.
The violet is a hardy plant that can be grown just about anywhere in Australia, with some species giving off a delightful scent. This flower was chosen to symbolise the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers, which has been running since 1949 and was established to increase economic activity after World War II.
The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show selected the gerbera as its signature flower, the brightly coloured species always a favourite with florists.
The Australian everlasting is one of the many flowers associated with Perth's Kings Park Festival, Western Australia being one of the world's biodiversity hot spots and home to several thousand species of wildflower.
Adam Crapp of the Australia Post Design Studio designed the stamp issue. His other most recent stamp design was the issue marking the canonisation of Mary MacKillop, in October 2010.
The stamp issue products for Floral Festivals Australia are a first day cover, stamp pack, set of five maxicards, prestige booklet, aerogramme, self-adhesive booklet of 20 x 60c stamps, self-adhesive roll of stamps and international postage-paid envelopes. The stamp issue is available from participating Australia Post retail outlets, via mail order on 1800 331 794 or online at the Australia Post Shop from 8 March 2011 while stocks last.
