Australia 2016-06-07

The June 7, 2016 Australia Post issue of “Nostalgic Fruit Labels” contains two stamps featuring both a map of Australia and one of Tasmania. The issue contains four $1 AUD denominated stamps, as either gummed or self-adhesives. The designs across either type appear to be the same. Cartophilatelists will be interested in two stamps from the set.  The “River’s Pride” Oranges with a map of Australia inset with an image of a paddle-wheel steamer on a river. Varieties of oranges are shown in the foreground of the label. The “Robin Brand” Apples label depicts a map of Tasmania with a robin perched on a tree branch.  Some historical background from Australia Post follows. In the early 20th century Australia became a major food exporter, particularly to Great Britain until well after World War II. An early means of identifying fruit for market was by stenciling wooden fruit cases, using metal stencils brushed with black paint. Details included the grower’s name as well as the type, size and grade of fruit. As Australia’s fruit export industry expanded, so did the need for marketing of the fruit. Soon paper labels, pasted onto the end of wooden cases, formed part of the fruit industry landscape between the 1920s and 1970s, before the widespread use of cardboard cartons. There were local market labels, grower labels and more, but the most colorful were the labels used for export. While labels were used for various types of fruit,apple labels from the “Apple Isle” Tasmania were by far the most numerous.   In addition to the State Library of Tasmania, one of the largest public collections of fruit labels is part of the Troedel Printing Archive in the State Library of Victoria. The sample books of lithographic printing firm Troedel and Cooper contain an amazing array of colorful designs. Three of the labels featured in this stamp issue are from that collection. The fourth is the Western Australian
label for Paterson & Co., one of the largest shippers of apples and pears in the west from the labels era. [ be sure to check out Australia Post’s new philatelic and collectables web site. also, watch for another post about the Fair Dinkum Aussie Alphabet (current and forthcoming issues) -admin]