Australia:First Regular Airmail

On 22 October 2021, Australia Post issued a stamp celebrating the centenary of the First Regular Airmail Service in Australia.

In the early years of the 20th century, aviation was an embryonic technology, with the first flight taking place in Australia in 1910.

Merely a decade later and following the hostilities of World War I, the federal government saw the potential for civil and commercial aviation in a country as large and sparsely populated as Australia.

Issue Description
French aviator Maurice Guillaux (1883–1917) made the first airmail flight in Australia, in 1914, in his Bleriot XI monoplane. The Melbourne to Sydney flight encompassed six stops and carried a cargo of souvenir postcards, official letters and a small number of parcels.

While Guillaux’s flight demonstrated the viability of airmail, it was essentially an exhibition flight rather than the beginning of the domestic airmail service in Australia. That milestone occurred seven years later, following the passing of the Air Navigation Act 1920 (which came into force in March 1921) and the subsequent call for tenders to operate a subsidised airmail and passenger service in the north-west of Western Australia. At the time, mail delivery in that part of the country was a monthly service that took around two weeks by steamship.

In May 1921, government called for tenders for Australia's first subsidised airmail and limited passenger service, which would operate in north-west Western Australia.

The tender was won by businessman and aviator Norman Brearley (1890–1989), who had served as a pilot during World War I. On winning the tender he established Western Australian Airways (WAA; renamed West Australia Airways in 1928), acquiring six Bristol Tourers for the weekly service between Geraldton and Derby, which took around three days, with stops at Carnarvon, Onslow, Roebourne, Port Headland and Broome. Qantas won second airmail contract a year later, in November 1922, which flew the inland Queensland route.

Sadly, 130 kilometres out of Geraldton on the service’s inaugural flight, on 5 December 1921, one of the Bristol Tourers crash-landed, killing the pilot and mechanic. This prompted the suspension of the service until much-needed work was carried out to improve the number and safety of landing grounds. A minor air service to Port Hedland was established on 22 February 1922 and the full service to Derby restarted on 6 April.

Stamps
$1.10 Bristol Tourer and route map (AU$1.10)

The stamp shows one the first planes used on the north-west route being refuelled at Carnarvon. A mail bag can be seen under the aircraft. The photograph is from the collections of the State Library of Western Australia. The map, housed in the National Library of Australia, indicates the 2,000-kilometre route between Geraldton and Derby, showing the scheduled stops en route.

First Day Cover
The First Day Cover is a pictorial envelope with the gummed stamp from the First Regular Airmail stamp issue affixed and postmarked - First day of issue | 22 October 2021 | Geraldton WA 6530.

Envelope sizes: 190mm x 110mm.

Maxi Card
This Maxicard features the stamp from the First Regular Airmail stamp issue.

A Maxicard is a prepaid postcard with a stamp affixed and postmarked on the view side. The subject matter of a Maxicard is common to the card, stamp and postmark.

Sheetlet Pack
The First Regular Airmail Sheetlet Pack contains the sheetlet of 10 x $1.10 stamps from the stamp issue presented in high quality folder.