Australia Philately: 1971 28th International Congress of Orientalists

The date of issue of the three stamps coincided with the 28th International Congress of Orientalists, held at Canberra from 6th to 12th January, 1971. A temporary post office, with a special postmarker, was provided for the congress.

The First International Congress of Orientalists was held at Paris in 1873, and meetings have been held at three or four-yearly intervals ever since, except during the two world wars. Until after World War II, the congress was concerned with linguistic, literary, philosophical and historical studies, but changing contexts of word politics have been reflected in patterns of interest in Asian studies, and recent meetings have seen a developing attention to the social sciences and the problems of the modern world.

The Canberra Congress study programmes and seminars, therefore, concentrate largely on contemporary Asia, particularly those areas with which Australia is most closely connected by geography, economics and natural interests.