AUSTRALIAN - Australia Post Shop

63
no 63
october
november
december
AUSTRALIAN
•Stamp
Collecting Month
•Win great
LEGO prizes!
•Space is ace!
australian
2000

2
What do you think it would be like to live on another
planet? Space is the theme for Stamp Collecting Month
this year, and these fabulous stamps depict what life
might be like on Mars sometime in the future.
At present we don’t have the
technology to allow us to live on
Mars, but the artist’s fantasy
vision coincides with what we
do know about it. The
illustration includes some
scientists’ ideas for survival in
the extreme conditions found on
Mars. Although it would take
three years of space travel just
to reach Mars, scientists believe
that we Earthlings will definitely
colonise the red planet one day!
The astronaut on the left of the
mini-sheet is making a free-fall
entry from the cruise ship above
her. She controls her rate of
descent using a personal
thruster.
The spacecraft stamp shows
skimmer vehicles leaving
a cruise ship; some
skimmers carry
passengers,
others cargo.
Flight crew in the passenger
skimmer in the foreground are
escorting two remote-controlled
cargo skimmers.
The launch site stamp shows a
space shuttle taking off in the
background while, in the
foreground, a surveyor works
with his robot assistant.
The terrain stamp shows two
domed cities with reservoirs
between them. The water in
the reservoirs is piped
from Mars’ north
pole.
ASTRONAUT
2000
45c
45c
SPACECRAFT
2000
Robots on the far right of the
mini-sheet are cleaning a kelp
rod. The rods are filled with
kelp and algae, which is slowly
adding oxygen to the Martian
atmosphere. The rods are
extremely flexible – just like
bamboo – so that they can
withstand the high winds on
Mars.
FL FLIGHT GHT CREW
2000
45c
2000
LAUNCH SITE
45c 45c
Minisheet is 80% of actual size
This colony is situated inside
Olympus Mons, a 24km high
volcano. You can see the rim of
the volcano in the background,
as well as Mars’ two moons. In
the foreground is an agricultural
tube containing fruit trees, crops
and animals.
Issue date: 3 October 2000
2000
TERRAIN
2000 45c ROBOTS
Foiled again!
The mini-sheet
features translucent
foil on the
astronauts’ visors
and the space craft.
3

4
Many astronauts go through
years of training but never have
the chance to go to space.
Australian astronaut Dr Andy
Thomas is lucky enough to have
been on two space missions and
is currently training for a third,
scheduled for 2001. Andy is
probably most famous for his
141-day stint aboard space
station Mir in 1998.
Andy thinks the Space stamps
are out of this world: ‘I would
love to go to Mars one day.
Nobody knows what it would
really be like on the red planet,
but the artist has done an
amazing job of imagining the
kind of life we might live there!’.
(See page 6 for more info on space travel.)
Stamp pack
$5.80
LAUNC AUNCH H SITE
ASTRONAUT
FLIGHT CREW
SP SPAC ACECRAFT RAFT
TERRAIN
ROBOTS
First day cover
LAUNC AUNCH H SITE
ASTRONAUT
FL FLIGHT IGHT CCREW
REW
SP SPACECRAFT RAFT
TERRAIN
ROBOTS
$2.95
LAUNC AUNCH H SITE
ASTRONAUT
FL FLIGHT IGHT CCREW
REW
SP SPAC ACEC ECRAFT RAFT
TERRAIN
ROBOTS
LAUNCH SITE
ASTRONAUT
FL FLIGHT IGHT CCREW
REW
SP SPAC ACEC ECRAFT RAFT
TERRAIN
ROBOTS
LAUNC AUNCH H SITE
ASTRONAUT
FL FLIGHT IGHT CCREW
REW
SPACECRAFT
TERRAIN
ROBOTS
Maximum cards (set of 6) $6.90
The Ultimate Space
Sticker Book
$9.95
Create your own book with
the ultimate collection of
reusable space stickers
5

statistics
Our new stamp
collecting Starter Kit shares this
year's Stamp Collecting Month's theme of Space. The
kit gives children a fun introduction to stamps and provides a basic
framework for developing an interest in the hobby of stamp collecting.
The new starter kit contains:
• one 3-ring binder • 5 stock sheets • a sheet of stickers • one magnifying glass
• a packet of 50 used stamps • a Stamp Explorer membership form, and a booklet about stamp collecting.
The new Starter Kit, is priced at $14.95. It is available from
postal outlets and by mail order from the Australian
Philatelic Bureau.
6
Check out the
Stamp Collecting Month website at
www.auspost.com.au/space
for more space statistics
and a great competition.
WIN!
To celebrate the launch of the new Space stamps,
the Australasian Planetarium Association and the Perth Observatory are giving
Stamp Gang members the chance to win one of 50 fantastic Space prize packs
including a family pass to one of the planetariums or observatories below.
All you need to do is design your very own solar system (include planets, sun, moon,
stars etc). Send your entry to Space/Planetarium Competition,
GPO Box 1777Q, MELBOURNE VIC 3001 by 10 November.
Don’t forget to include your name, age, address and membership number!
ACT: Canberra Space Dome & Observatory, Dickson Ph: (02) 6249 7817
NSW: Wollongong Science Centre & Planetarium, Fairy Meadow Ph: (02) 4286 5000
VIC: Melbourne Planetarium at Scienceworks Museum, Spotswood Ph: (03) 9392 4800
TAS: Launceston Planetarium, Launceston, Ph: (03) 6323 3777
SA: Adelaide Planetarium, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Ph: (08) 8302 3138
QLD: Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Toowong Ph: (07) 3403 2578
WA: Perth Observatory, Bickley Ph: (08) 9293 8255
7

Minisheet is 80% of actual size
8
This unusual mini-sheet
celebrates 2000 years since the
birth of Christ. The five scenes
are from the carol Silent Night,
with words from the carol
appearing in each of the scenes.
The artwork was created with a
mixture of photographs,
computer-generated 3D
landscapes and hand-painted
illustrations. In the 45c stamp,
for example, the donkey and
goat were painted while the
buildings were created using
computer modelling techniques.
Issue date: 1 November 2000
Christmas in Australia means
summer. This stamp will be used
to send holiday greeting cards
overseas, so it shows a very
Australian scene of people
enjoying the beach at Byron Bay
on the north coast of NSW. Issue date: 1 November 2000
Relay
records
Issue date: 18 October 2000
Paralympic
Torch Relay
The Sydney 2000
Paralympic Torch Relay will
take place from 5 to 18 October.
Unlike the Olympic torch – which is lit in
Olympia, Greece – the Paralympic torch will be
lit in an Aboriginal fire-lighting ceremony in front of
Parliament House, Canberra. The torch will then travel by
air from Canberra to Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin
and Brisbane before starting the 750 kilometre relay in New South
Wales.The final runner will carry the torch into the Olympic Stadium
for the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games on 18 October.One
stamp shows the Paralympic logo, which is based on the torch carried in the
relay. The other shows a vision impaired runner carrying the torch. The
stamp tabs carry the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games slogan: ‘Feel inspired’.
9

WIN A COOL
MAG FOR A YEAR!
We have 30 subscriptions to
giveaway for Comet,
Explore or Challenge. To be
in the running, simply
design your own magazine
cover. Include your name,
age, address and
membership number. Send
your entry to
Comet/Explore/Challenge
competition, GPO Box
1777Q, MELBOURNE VIC
3001 by 10 November.
Join the space race Sniffer’s
To celebrate the great range of LEGO Star Wars products, LEGO Australia
are giving Stamp Gang members the chance to win some great prizes .
First prize - LEGO Star Wars prize pack that includes a Desert Skiff, Gungan
Patrol, Flash Speeder, A-Wing Fighter, Slave 1 and B-Wing Control Centre,
valued at $265.
80 runner up prizes - LEGO Star Wars Desert Skiff valued at $12 each.
The battle between good and evil has returned in the shape of LEGO Star Wars
- sets which are designed to appeal to every Star Wars fan, young or old!
From the beginner to the highly advanced LEGO builder the new Star Wars
spaceships and models allow children to build and rebuild their own Star Wars
universe. For children from 6 years of age, LEGO Star Wars offers some
fascinating new sets from the movies series.
For your chance to win, draw us a stamp featuring the LEGO Star Wars
prizes. Send your entry to Stamp Explorer LEGO Competition, PO Box
1777Q, MELBOURNE VIC 3001 by 10 November. Don’t forget to include
your name, age and membership number!
Read more about Space, and win
fantastic prizes, in the October
issue of Australia’s favourite kids’
magazines – Comet
(5-7 years), Explore
(8-10) and Challenge
(11-14). They’re jampacked
with interesting
articles and fun
activities. To find out
how to subscribe, write
(with your name, age and
address) to: Magazine
Subscriptions, Pearson Education
Australia, PO Box 1024,
South Melbourne VIC 3205.
Do your friends a favour!
Tell your friends how to join the Stamp Gang!
All they need to do is send their name,
address and date of birth to:
Stamp Explorer,
PO Box 4000,
Hi Gang,
Being in the Stamp Gang is a great gig, except when we have to do tough
stuff, like judge competitions.
To give us more time to look at the thousands of truly excellent entries you send us, we are
shifting the schedule. In this issue we have awarded extra prizes for entries in our Olympic Sports
stamp design competition.Winners will be advised about one month after the closing date for
each competition. The June/July Explorer colouring in and stamp design winners will be published
in the January/February/March issue. And the winners for all the great Space competitions in this
issue will be published in the April/May Explorer.
Speaking of space, would you like to be an astronaut? We’ve been getting our space thrills making
a book of space facts and illustrating it with drawings and Space stamps.
Have a happy Stamp Collecting Month. Don’t forget: Stamp collecting is out of this world.
Love from Sniffer
Lisa Anderson
10 FERNTREE GULLY VIC 3156
11
Tuan Nguyen
Eleanor Percival
Catherine Chen

OUR NEXT ISSUE
The year 2001 will be the Year of the Snake
and we'll have the stamps to prove it!
Also, watch out for stamps celebrating
Australia's 100 years as a nation.

2
What do you think it would be like to live on another
planet? Space is the theme for Stamp Collecting Month
this year, and these fabulous stamps depict what life
might be like on Mars sometime in the future.
At present we don’t have the
technology to allow us to live on
Mars, but the artist’s fantasy
vision coincides with what we
do know about it. The
illustration includes some
scientists’ ideas for survival in
the extreme conditions found on
Mars. Although it would take
three years of space travel just
to reach Mars, scientists believe
that we Earthlings will definitely
colonise the red planet one day!
The astronaut on the left of the
mini-sheet is making a free-fall
entry from the cruise ship above
her. She controls her rate of
descent using a personal
thruster.
The spacecraft stamp shows
skimmer vehicles leaving
a cruise ship; some
skimmers carry
passengers,
others cargo.
Flight crew in the passenger
skimmer in the foreground are
escorting two remote-controlled
cargo skimmers.
The launch site stamp shows a
space shuttle taking off in the
background while, in the
foreground, a surveyor works
with his robot assistant.
The terrain stamp shows two
domed cities with reservoirs
between them. The water in
the reservoirs is piped
from Mars’ north
pole.
ASTRONAUT
2000
45c
45c
SPACECRAFT
2000
Robots on the far right of the
mini-sheet are cleaning a kelp
rod. The rods are filled with
kelp and algae, which is slowly
adding oxygen to the Martian
atmosphere. The rods are
extremely flexible – just like
bamboo – so that they can
withstand the high winds on
Mars.
FL FLIGHT GHT CREW
2000
45c
2000
LAUNCH SITE
45c 45c
Minisheet is 80% of actual size
This colony is situated inside
Olympus Mons, a 24km high
volcano. You can see the rim of
the volcano in the background,
as well as Mars’ two moons. In
the foreground is an agricultural
tube containing fruit trees, crops
and animals.
Issue date: 3 October 2000
2000
TERRAIN
2000 45c ROBOTS
Foiled again!
The mini-sheet
features translucent
foil on the
astronauts’ visors
and the space craft.
3

4
Many astronauts go through
years of training but never have
the chance to go to space.
Australian astronaut Dr Andy
Thomas is lucky enough to have
been on two space missions and
is currently training for a third,
scheduled for 2001. Andy is
probably most famous for his
141-day stint aboard space
station Mir in 1998.
Andy thinks the Space stamps
are out of this world: ‘I would
love to go to Mars one day.
Nobody knows what it would
really be like on the red planet,
but the artist has done an
amazing job of imagining the
kind of life we might live there!’.
(See page 6 for more info on space travel.)
Stamp pack
$5.80
LAUNC AUNCH H SITE
ASTRONAUT
FLIGHT CREW
SP SPAC ACECRAFT RAFT
TERRAIN
ROBOTS
First day cover
LAUNC AUNCH H SITE
ASTRONAUT
FL FLIGHT IGHT CCREW
REW
SP SPACECRAFT RAFT
TERRAIN
ROBOTS
$2.95
LAUNC AUNCH H SITE
ASTRONAUT
FL FLIGHT IGHT CCREW
REW
SP SPAC ACEC ECRAFT RAFT
TERRAIN
ROBOTS
LAUNCH SITE
ASTRONAUT
FL FLIGHT IGHT CCREW
REW
SP SPAC ACEC ECRAFT RAFT
TERRAIN
ROBOTS
LAUNC AUNCH H SITE
ASTRONAUT
FL FLIGHT IGHT CCREW
REW
SPACECRAFT
TERRAIN
ROBOTS
Maximum cards (set of 6) $6.90
The Ultimate Space
Sticker Book
$9.95
Create your own book with
the ultimate collection of
reusable space stickers
5

statistics
Our new stamp
collecting Starter Kit shares this
year's Stamp Collecting Month's theme of Space. The
kit gives children a fun introduction to stamps and provides a basic
framework for developing an interest in the hobby of stamp collecting.
The new starter kit contains:
• one 3-ring binder • 5 stock sheets • a sheet of stickers • one magnifying glass
• a packet of 50 used stamps • a Stamp Explorer membership form, and a booklet about stamp collecting.
The new Starter Kit, is priced at $14.95. It is available from
postal outlets and by mail order from the Australian
Philatelic Bureau.
6
Check out the
Stamp Collecting Month website at
www.auspost.com.au/space
for more space statistics
and a great competition.
WIN!
To celebrate the launch of the new Space stamps,
the Australasian Planetarium Association and the Perth Observatory are giving
Stamp Gang members the chance to win one of 50 fantastic Space prize packs
including a family pass to one of the planetariums or observatories below.
All you need to do is design your very own solar system (include planets, sun, moon,
stars etc). Send your entry to Space/Planetarium Competition,
GPO Box 1777Q, MELBOURNE VIC 3001 by 10 November.
Don’t forget to include your name, age, address and membership number!
ACT: Canberra Space Dome & Observatory, Dickson Ph: (02) 6249 7817
NSW: Wollongong Science Centre & Planetarium, Fairy Meadow Ph: (02) 4286 5000
VIC: Melbourne Planetarium at Scienceworks Museum, Spotswood Ph: (03) 9392 4800
TAS: Launceston Planetarium, Launceston, Ph: (03) 6323 3777
SA: Adelaide Planetarium, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Ph: (08) 8302 3138
QLD: Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Toowong Ph: (07) 3403 2578
WA: Perth Observatory, Bickley Ph: (08) 9293 8255
7

Minisheet is 80% of actual size
8
This unusual mini-sheet
celebrates 2000 years since the
birth of Christ. The five scenes
are from the carol Silent Night,
with words from the carol
appearing in each of the scenes.
The artwork was created with a
mixture of photographs,
computer-generated 3D
landscapes and hand-painted
illustrations. In the 45c stamp,
for example, the donkey and
goat were painted while the
buildings were created using
computer modelling techniques.
Issue date: 1 November 2000
Christmas in Australia means
summer. This stamp will be used
to send holiday greeting cards
overseas, so it shows a very
Australian scene of people
enjoying the beach at Byron Bay
on the north coast of NSW. Issue date: 1 November 2000
Relay
records
Issue date: 18 October 2000
Paralympic
Torch Relay
The Sydney 2000
Paralympic Torch Relay will
take place from 5 to 18 October.
Unlike the Olympic torch – which is lit in
Olympia, Greece – the Paralympic torch will be
lit in an Aboriginal fire-lighting ceremony in front of
Parliament House, Canberra. The torch will then travel by
air from Canberra to Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin
and Brisbane before starting the 750 kilometre relay in New South
Wales.The final runner will carry the torch into the Olympic Stadium
for the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games on 18 October.One
stamp shows the Paralympic logo, which is based on the torch carried in the
relay. The other shows a vision impaired runner carrying the torch. The
stamp tabs carry the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games slogan: ‘Feel inspired’.
9

WIN A COOL
MAG FOR A YEAR!
We have 30 subscriptions to
giveaway for Comet,
Explore or Challenge. To be
in the running, simply
design your own magazine
cover. Include your name,
age, address and
membership number. Send
your entry to
Comet/Explore/Challenge
competition, GPO Box
1777Q, MELBOURNE VIC
3001 by 10 November.
Join the space race Sniffer’s
To celebrate the great range of LEGO Star Wars products, LEGO Australia
are giving Stamp Gang members the chance to win some great prizes .
First prize - LEGO Star Wars prize pack that includes a Desert Skiff, Gungan
Patrol, Flash Speeder, A-Wing Fighter, Slave 1 and B-Wing Control Centre,
valued at $265.
80 runner up prizes - LEGO Star Wars Desert Skiff valued at $12 each.
The battle between good and evil has returned in the shape of LEGO Star Wars
- sets which are designed to appeal to every Star Wars fan, young or old!
From the beginner to the highly advanced LEGO builder the new Star Wars
spaceships and models allow children to build and rebuild their own Star Wars
universe. For children from 6 years of age, LEGO Star Wars offers some
fascinating new sets from the movies series.
For your chance to win, draw us a stamp featuring the LEGO Star Wars
prizes. Send your entry to Stamp Explorer LEGO Competition, PO Box
1777Q, MELBOURNE VIC 3001 by 10 November. Don’t forget to include
your name, age and membership number!
Read more about Space, and win
fantastic prizes, in the October
issue of Australia’s favourite kids’
magazines – Comet
(5-7 years), Explore
(8-10) and Challenge
(11-14). They’re jampacked
with interesting
articles and fun
activities. To find out
how to subscribe, write
(with your name, age and
address) to: Magazine
Subscriptions, Pearson Education
Australia, PO Box 1024,
South Melbourne VIC 3205.
Do your friends a favour!
Tell your friends how to join the Stamp Gang!
All they need to do is send their name,
address and date of birth to:
Stamp Explorer,
PO Box 4000,
Hi Gang,
Being in the Stamp Gang is a great gig, except when we have to do tough
stuff, like judge competitions.
To give us more time to look at the thousands of truly excellent entries you send us, we are
shifting the schedule. In this issue we have awarded extra prizes for entries in our Olympic Sports
stamp design competition.Winners will be advised about one month after the closing date for
each competition. The June/July Explorer colouring in and stamp design winners will be published
in the January/February/March issue. And the winners for all the great Space competitions in this
issue will be published in the April/May Explorer.
Speaking of space, would you like to be an astronaut? We’ve been getting our space thrills making
a book of space facts and illustrating it with drawings and Space stamps.
Have a happy Stamp Collecting Month. Don’t forget: Stamp collecting is out of this world.
Love from Sniffer
Lisa Anderson
10 FERNTREE GULLY VIC 3156
11
Tuan Nguyen
Eleanor Percival
Catherine Chen