In 1948, the settlement of the Otago Province and the founding of the city of Dunedin on 23 March 1848 were commemorated by four stamps depicting the arrival of the immigrant ships, the town of Cromwell, the First Dunedin Church and the University of Otago. The stamps are classic James Berry designs, being full of fine detail. The 1d is famous for its colour shifts of the blue centre, examples of which can been seen below.
Port Chalmers - 1d
This stamp depicts the arrival of the immigrant ships 'John Wickliffe' and the 'Philip Laing' at Port Chalmers, Otago Harbour in 1848 - these were the first ships to arrive carrying settlers to Otago. Some of the fine details of this design include the Clematis flowers top left; a spray of buttonhole rose, top right; NZ flax with a Maori warrior, bottom left; Scottish thistle, bottom right.
The 'John Wickliffe' set out from Gravesend (London) on September 24th, 1847 but had to put into Portsmouth for repairs. She finally left England on December 16th, 1847, to arrive in New Zealand with her full complement of 97 passengers on March 23rd, 1848.
The 'Philip Laing' sail out of Greenock, Firth of Clyde, November 27th, 1847, and arrived at Port Chalmers with 247 passengers on April 15th, 1848.
Cromwell - 2d
Cromwell is a town situated on the flats at the junction of two arms of Lake Dunstan, in Central Otago. The township sprang up in 1862 when gold was discovered in the area, it was called The Junction before it was constituted a borough in 1866 and formally named after Oliver Cromwell. Gold-dredging continued into the early years of this century but for the past 60 years fruit growing on irrigated land to the west of the town has been its mainstay, together with sheep farming on sparsely pastured hills.
In 1985 a new commercial town centre was built as in 1992 the old town centre was flooded by Lake Dunstan, a man-made lake feeding the Clyde Dam.
First Church Dunedin - 3d
First Church, which is a conspicuous landmark in Dunedin, was built as a memorial to the Rev. Thomas Burns who arrived in the ship 'Philip Laing' (see 1d stamp above), and for the first seven years was the only Presbyterian minister in the province. Thomas Burns was a nephew of the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns.
The design of this stamp has a further significance in that it provides a connection with the Free Church of Scotland which was primarily responsible for the idea to settle Otago, and of which the early pioneers were adherents.
Otago University - 6d
Otago University was the first to be established in New Zealand. It was founded in 1869 and opened in 1871 with an enrolment of 81 students. Although it offers for students of various facilities, its medical, dental and mining schools have turned out graduates who have won world fame. Representations of transport and the primary products of the province are also shown.
Two First Day Covers.
All four values of this issue were used on this ordinary cover. The cover is posted marked 23rd Feb, 1948, the words 'First-day cover' are typed in the top left corner and it was sent to an address in Louisiana, USA. The post mark is an Auckland one with the date just barely readable. Does anyone know what the letters F.M.B. mean? Is so I would like to hear from you.
The cover below uses the official, illustrated First Day Cover. Notice the picture on the left that the 1d value was based on. This was also an overseas cover, this time sent to Hong Kong. The post mark on this cover was so light that its impossible to establish where it was posted.
Errors on the 1d.
This example shows the inside blue colour that has shift upwards so
now the ship's mast is touching the stamp's border.
This set of three shows the blue centre too high on the left stamp. Notice how the ship's mast is now touching the green border. The blue is to low on the centre stamp. This is most noticeable with a white strip against the upper green boarder. A normal example on the right stamp has been included for comparison.
Technical information
Date of Issue:
| 23 February 1948 |
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Designers:
| J Berry, Wellington |
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Printers:
| Bradbury Wilkinson, England |
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Stamp Size:
| 1d, 2d and 6d : 40mm x 24mm; 3d : 24mm x 40mm |
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Sheet Size:
| 120 stamps per sheet |
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Process:
| Recess printed - Intaglio |
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Perforation Gauge:
| 13.5 |
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Paper Type:
| St Cuthbert's 'Royal Cypher', multiple NZ and star watermark |
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Some of the images in this post were used with permission from the illustrated catalogue of StampsNZ
