Australia Philately: 1977 50th Anniversary ACTU

In May 1927, the Australian Council of Trade Unions was founded by a congress of 164 delegates representing all States, held at the Melbourne Trades Hall. To mark the 50th anniversary of the A.C.T.U., Australia Post issued an 18c stamp on 9th May, 1977, for approximately two weeks sale at post offices and up to a further twelve months sale at philatelic sales centres, providing stocks last.

The stamp design, which shows workers from various groups within the trade union movement was conceived by Mr. David Lanyon of Melbourne and developed to final art stage by Mr. Brian Sadgrove of Melbourne.

Details

Date of Issue: 19 May 1977
Withdrawn Date:
Invalidated:
Designer: Brian Sadgrove, Melbourne & David Lanyon, Melbourne
Printer: Note Issue Department, Reserve Bank of Australia, Melbourne
Press: Chambon
Process: Photogravure
Cylinders: Bluish-Grey – Blue – Carmine-Vermillion – Lemon – Black (printing order)*
Paper: Shoalhaven KP6T unwatermarked coated stamp paper incorporating helecon
Watermark: None
Perf: 13.75 x 13.25 (comb)**
Sheet: Printed in two panes of 50 stamps (R10 x 5) divided by horizontal gutter.
Quantity: 20,091,100

*The December 1977 Stamp Bulletin lists the printing order and colours as Yellow – Red – Blue – Green – Black.

**Perfing irregularities occurred in all sheets of the series due to wear in the perforation unit in the Chambon press. Subsequent maintenance and the installation of the new Autotron unit eliminated the problem for future issues.

Sheet Numbers

First Day Covers No.102 & No.103 (Official)

Two first day covers were associated with the issue.

A new electric cancelling machine, PTT – Model, was used to postmark all serviced first day covers for the 50th anniversary of the A.C.T.U. stamp issue on 9th May, 1977, at all first day of issue postmarking offices located in Melbourne 3000 postcode area. The machine, which provides neat and exact cancellations, will be used for all future issues of serviced first day covers in the Melbourne 3000 postcode area.

CAMPERDOWN/VIC 3260