Introducing the Australian Philatelic Federation This month David Collyer has written an article of Polar Philately. This is an APF class and the rules for exhibiting can be found on the website at https://apf.org.au/ classes/. VPC Clubs’ Competition It has been too long since Victoria has held a State-wide philatelic event. They were planning to hold a State exhibition together with a club competition this year. Unfortunately, owing to COVID, they have decided to only hold the club competition. The event will take place at The Brighton Philatelic Society on Sunday, 14 November 2021 at BriPhil House, Gardenvale from 10am to 4pm. The competition entries will be on display and several dealers will be there. So put the date in your diary. The competition winners will be decided by popular vote, for best club, and best exhibitor. Any individual exhibitor may apply even if their club does not enter and be part of the popular vote. An exhibitor may choose to have their exhibit formally judged using APF rules. Qualified judges are available to score exhibits and provide feedback. Polar Philately In its broadest terms Polar Philately looks both the Arctic (North Polar regions) and Antarctica (South Polar Regions). The North Pole is located on the Arctic Ocean surrounding land areas which lies within the Arctic Circle include Greenland and parts of Alaska, Russia, Canada, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. These countries can make claims within their economic zones over the Arctic Ocean. Antarctica is a continental landmass that includes the South Pole. Since the Antarctic Treaty of 1960 territorial claims are held in abeyance although many countries have established and operate scientific bases. The philately of the Polar Regions can include most of the philatelic disciplines including. Many countries in the Arctic zone have issued stamps depicting elements of the Arctic such as flora, fauna, and human activity but these are general use and not specifically for use within the Arctic. The only country within the Arctic region to issue stamps is Greenland an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark. Between 1905 and 1938 parcel post stamps featuring a Polar bear were used by the Royal Greenland Company. These issues come in different perforations; the original series was printed by letter press whilst the final 1938 issued was printed by offset lithography. Figure 1 shows the 1905 10 44 - Stamp News
Figure 1: 1905 Greenland parcel-post 10 ore stamp parcel post stamp showing a Polar bear. These stamps were printed by letter press and used by the Royal Greenland Company ore. Greenland has a conservative stamp issuing policy depicting fauna, history, and indigenous culture. At least four countries have issued stamps for their Antarctic Territories: Australian Antarctic Territory, Ross Dependency (New Zealand), French Antarctic Territory and the British Antarctic Territory. Countries like USA, Russia, Argentina, & Chile have issues stamps which show their interest in Antarctica. Many other countries have issued stamps on an Antarctic design theme. The first stamps issued for postal use in Antarctic were overprints on contemporary stamps for the 1908 Shackleton Expedition to “King Edward VII Land” and the 1911 Scott Expedition to “Victoria Land” (see figure 2). In 1954 Australia issued a 3½d stamp for the founding of Mawson Base at Horseshoe Harbour, Mc Robertson Land. The stamp featured the logo of ANARE (Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition) and was designed by Nellie Law, wife of the ANARE director. The first day cover for this stamp is shown in figure 3. This was followed in 1957 by the first stamp for the Australian Antarctic Territory the 2/- depicting the flag raising at the Vestfold Hills (see figure 4). Since 1959 stamps have