The 2022 Norfolk Island stamp program is much stronger than the 2021 set. This year, designers focused on what I consider classic examples of art on stamps with a fine fowl thrown in for balance. 

Two artists are showcased – John Eyre and George Raper. Of the pair, Raper’s Snapper (go ahead and groan) is the best. The history behind the artist is wrapped up with the first fleet’s arrival to the area and the early colonial history of Australia and Norfolk Island.

Raper was a member of HMS Sirius, and part of the crew left stranded on Norfolk Island, 19 March, 1790 after the Sirius was damaged while at anchor. The same ship narrowly missed being shipwrecked while off the coast of Tasmania April 23, 1789, while speeding delivery of desperately needed food to Norfolk Island. The wreck is now considered a protected site and part of Australia’s National Heritage List, as of 2011. 

“Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 INCLUSION OF A PLACE IN THE NATIONAL HERITAGE LIST HMS Sirius Shipwreck” Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. Special (National : 1977 – 2012) 25 October 2011: 3. Web. 28 Nov 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article240487820>.

 Australia has some extraordinary archive holdings, including original letters and illustrations by Raper, during his time aboard the Sirius.

H.M.S. Sirius weathering Tasmans-head, 1791 by George Raper https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/YezdpDV9/VP6jEKwvlP4zZ

IF you go to Collection 23: Australian fishes, 1774-1794 / George Raper, and unknown artist | Collection – State Library of NSW, you can see more of Raper’s fish watercolours. 

The Raper set was designed by the magnificent Jo Muré, Australia’s premier stamp designer. Her first stamp was the 1993 350th Anniversary of naming of Christmas Island, and she has steadily added to her list of stamps, covers & cancels since. 

Muré, a stamp collector herself, described what she considered important to her when it comes to collecting,  

I think being a stamp collector can mean different things to different people, but I think the rarity of a stamp is the biggest prize and having a complete collection is important. I am a collector myself and look for stamps that are illustrative and stylistic in design. I particularly like to collect stamps that use different printing effects like metallic inks or foil embellishments.  2016 Meet a Philatelic designer: Jo Mure – Australia Post (australiapostcollectables.com.au)

If you like Jo’s work, don’t forget to check out her 2022 issues Special Occasions – Time to Cherish, Bush Seasonings, Postcards from the Front – ANZAC Day,  Pastor Sir Doug Nicholls, Cicadas. One day I’ll get around to devoting an article to her extensive portfolio. In the meantime, enjoy Norfolk Island’s short, but wonderful, program.

January

Historical Views

2 stamps, souvenir sheet, 2 FDCs, cancel

A View of Sydney on Norfolk Island c.1805 & A View of Queenborough on Norfolk Island 1804

Designer: Sharon Rodziewicz
Artist: John Eyre (b. 1771)

John Eyre was born in 1771 in Coventry, England. In 1799 he was sentenced to seven years’ transportation for housebreaking and arrived in Sydney in 1801. After three years in the colony, he received a conditional pardon and began work as an artist soon afterwards. He created naval charts for Governor Bligh and was also employed in more mundane artistic tasks, including painting numbers on the sides of buildings and painting offices. John Eyre | State Library of New South Wales (nsw.gov.au)

Not much is known about Eyre after returned to England in 1812. His works now hangs in British Museum, the State Library of New South Wales and the National Library of Australia.  Its doubted Eyre set foot on Norfolk Island. He worked from drawings by a Norfolk Island resident, deputy commissioner William Neate Chapman (1773?–1838). 

Release date: January 19, 2022

June

Morepork: Back from the Brink

2 stamps, souvenir sheet, 2 FDCs, cancel, 2 gutter strips

Norfolk Island Morepork (Ninox novaeseelandiae undulata) 

The Morepork is an owl native to Norfolk Island. Previously thought to be extinct, it has slowly clawed back from total extinction. 

“From critically endangered to being declared extinct, then back again – the fate of Norfolk Island’s morepork owls hangs in the balance. ” The fate of Norfolk Island’s morepork owls hangs in the balance — Norfolk ISLAND TIME. The Norfolk Island Time article details the surprise and precarious recovery. 

Designer: Simone Sakinofsky

Release date:  June 21, 2022

September

George Raper (1768–1797)  on Norfolk Island: 1790–91

2 stamps, souvenir sheet, 2 FDCs, cancel, 2 gutter strips

Biography – George Raper – Australian Dictionary of Biography (anu.edu.au) has a fine biography on Raper. From the brief bio:

… seaman and artist, … is thought to have come from Yorkshire, England. He entered the navy as a captain’s servant on 20 August 1783 and on 22 December 1786 joined the Sirius in the First Fleet as an able seaman. He became a midshipman on 30 September 1787, a few months before reaching Botany Bay in January 1788. In 1788-89 he sailed in the Sirius to obtain food from the Cape of Good Hope on a voyage that circumnavigated the globe. In March 1790 when the Sirius was wrecked on Norfolk Island Raper with most of his shipmates remained there. He returned to Sydney in the Supply in February 1791, left the colony soon afterwards in the hired Dutch ship Waaksamheyd, arrived in England on 22 April 1792, by way of the Duke of York Islands, Mindanao and Batavia, and was paid off on 16 May. On 27 June 1793 he was promoted lieutenant and later served in the Cumberland. Admiralty records show that he died in 1797, the note of administration describing him as ‘Late Commander H.M.S. Cutter Expedition‘. 

Designer: Jo Muré
Artist: George Raper

Release date: September 13, 2022

Enjoy Norfolk’s 2021 stamps

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