Australian Bicentenary

        9 May 1988                    $3.00                                          Mint and CTO         $3.00
                                                                                                   FDC                       $3.50

Technical Details

    Release Date:                        9 May 1988
    Tablet Values:                       $3.00
    Designer:                              Martin Bradbery of Garden Studio
    Printer:                                  The House of Questa
    Process:                                Lithography
    Layout and Stamp Size:         Single stamp 31.75 x 48.26 mm in a souvenir sheet 108 x 70 mm
    Paper:                                   CA Watermark
    Perforation Gauge:                14 per 2 cm
    Mint and CTO:                     $3.00
    First Day Cover:                   $3.50

Fletcher Christian forged the first link in the chain connecting Australia and Pitcairn Island when he stepped ashore on Bruny (Bruni) Island, south of Hobart, Tasmania, on 19 August 1788, as leader of a shore party from HMAV Bounty then en route from England to Tahiti.  Bounty remained in Adventure Bay for two weeks before sailing on 4 September into history.

Another early link between Australia and Pitcairn occurred, unknown to both, in August 1791, when HMS Pandora sank after being holed on a reef in Endeavour Strait immediately to the west of Australia's Cape York.  En route from Tahiti to England, the Pandora was carrying as prisoners sixteen former crew members of HM Armed Vessel Bounty to stand trial for the 1789 mutiny on that vessel, then under the command of Lieutenant William Bligh.

The same Willlaim Bligh in May 1805, and at that time a captain, was appointed Governor of New South Wales where he landed in August 1806.

Later still, in 1856, the one hundred and ninety four people then living on Pitcairn were resettled on Norfolk Island because it was feared that land on Pitcairn would soon become insufficient for the needs of a growing population.  Between 1859 and 1864, forty three people returened  from Norfolk to re-establish the community on Pitcairn Island.

This  contact between the two islands is maintained and in October 1984, twenty six Norfolk Islanders made a pilgrimage to Pitcairn where they stopped for six days.  Small family groups from Pitcairn visit Norfolk when the opportunity arises.

Australia's biggest contribution to Pitcairn came in November 1979 when Australia Post took up an agency to sell Pitcairn Island stamps through its philatelic bureaux.  That arrangement continues and Pitcairn is pleased to mark the Bicentenary with the release of this single $3.00 stamp in a souvenir sheet.