Western Australia
FIRST STAMPS ISSUED 1
August 1854.
CURRENCY
1854, sterling.
State of Australia
occupying that part of the continent west of longitude 1290E. It was first
known to the Dutch in the 17th century as 'New Holland'. The first British
settlement was in 1826 at King George's Sound, close to what is now Albany.
This was a military post initially and the first settlers who arrived in 1829
founded the towns of Fremantle and Perth on the Swan River. In 1850 Swan River
Settlement, which had been proclaimed the colony of Western Australia in 1840,
was made a penal settlement and continued to use convict labour until 1868. The
colony was given self-government in 1890 and joined with the other colonies to
form the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901.
Postal History
In
December 1829 the harbourmaster of Fremantle was appointed to act as postmaster
for the settlers. At this time the masters of ships were forbidden to accept
letters 'unless stamped with the Post Office stamp'. Because it was nearer to
the ocean, Fremantle was the site of the main P0 until 14 February 1835, when
Mr Macfaull was made the principal postmaster at Perth. In 1834 the route to
Albany was surveyed and a P0 was opened there on 14 October that year. This led
to the establishment of a monthly overland service in 1841.
When postage stamps were issued in
1854 prepayment was compulsory and unstamped letters were detained. At this
time there were 16 POs, each issued with a barred numeral for cancelling
stamps.
All mail to and from overseas was
carried by private ship until the P & 0 service began to visit King
George's Sound regularly in 1852. This service made the overland service from
Albany to Perth even more important.
By 1880 the number of POs had
increased to 59 and a new type of cancellation which included letters instead
of numerals was introduced. In 1891 Western Australia joined the UPU and, after
joining the Commonwealth, continued to issue its own stamps until 1913.
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