Australia Post is celebrating four of Australia’s sporting heroes through a commemorative stamp issue launched today.
The Sporting Treasures collection offers a thread of Australia’s sports history through four treasured objects held in museum collections: Jack Brabham’s F1 prototype racing car, Evonne Goolagong Cawley’s tennis racquet, Hubert Opperman’s racing bike and Kurt Fearnley’s racing wheelchair.
The stamp issue speaks to the sporting achievements of these champions, many of which will be etched into the minds of Australians, Australia Post said in a statement today.
Designed by Tim Hancock of Backpack Creative, the stamps span a range of both sports and periods, with each athlete representing a luminary of their sport. The treasures shown in the designs are preserved as valued cultural items in the collections of the Australian Sports Museum (Melbourne), the National Museum of Australia (Canberra) and Museums Victoria (Melbourne).
Australia Post Group Manager Philatelic, Michael Zsolt, said: “In a country that is sport obsessed and that greatly admires our sporting heroes, Australia Post acknowledges the role of sport in our nation’s history and for its capacity to bring people together.”
“This commemorative issue tells a story of our sporting history, reinscribing it in the fabric of our national narrative. It follows on from our 2005 Sporting Treasures stamp issue, which paid tribute to Don Bradman through his baggy green, Lionel Rose through his boxing gloves, Marjorie Jackson through her running spikes and Phar Lap through the jockey’s silks.”
The series of stamps includes:
$1.20 Evonne Goolagong Cawley’s tennis racquet
This stamp shows a wooden Dunlop Maxply Fort racquet used by Evonne Goolagong Cawley, the first Australian Indigenous player to compete in international tennis, during the early 1970s. This much-admired player won the Australian Open four times (1974–77), Wimbledon twice (1971 and 1980) and the French Open too (1971). Goolagong Cawley’s Dunlop Maxply Fort racquet, once avery popular model, is now held in the collection of the National Museum of Australia.
$1.20 Kurt Fearnley’s racing wheelchair
The stamp features the racing wheelchair used by Kurt Fearnley to win gold in the marathon at the Beijing Paralympic Games in 2008. Known for his ambition and achievements, Fearnley competed in five Paralympic Games and more than 30 marathons and won seven world championships during his racing career. This three-wheeled racing wheelchair is held in the collection of the
Australian Sports Museum.
$1.20 Jack Brabham’s BT23A-1 prototype
Jack Brabham was Australia’s first F1 world champion, winning in 1959, 1960 and 1966. In 1967, he designed, with fellow Australian Ron Tauranac, the Repco-Brabham Tasman BT23A-1 prototype shown on the stamp, which he raced in the 1967 Tasman series. This model led directly to the T24,
which won the F1 in 1967, driven by Brabham team driver Denny Hulme. The car is held in the collection of the National Museum of Australia.
$1.20 Hubert Opperman’s “Tour de France” model bike
Showing Hubert Opperman’s Malvern Star “Tour de France” model road bike, the stamp represents this early figure of Australian cycling royalty. Among Opperman’s many triumphs was setting the world record for a 24-hour unpaced ride, which he did on this bike when he cycled from Mt Gambia to Melbourne in October 1927. This bike is held in the Museum Victoria’s collection.
From today, the stamps and associated collectables, comprising a minisheet, stamp pack, first day cover, 4 x booklets of 10 x $1.20 stamps and 4 x maxicards, are available for purchase. To find out more information about the stamp issue, customers can visit https://auspost.com.au/shop/sending/stamps.
