Why would I want to produce a website on the above subjects after 70 years of intermittently collecting Australian stamps? The answer lies partly due to boredom with stamp collecting, partly to the cost of filling the few spaces in my personal Australian collection, and largely due to my exposure in 1999 to an International stamp exhibition in Melbourne ('Australia 99'), where Social Philately was introduced as an experimental class of exhibiting. Like many stamp collectors, I had accumulated a disorganized group of Australian covers, and in the mid 90's I added the postmarks of the Australian Colonies and States to my collecting interests. In August 2002, I had my first paper published in an Australian Philatelic Journal (New South Wales Philatelist) titled "John Smith MD: A Cover with Provenance". Dr. Smith was appointed to the University of Sydney as the Foundation Professor of Chemistry and Experimental Physics in 1852 and as the first Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in 1856. The journal editor recognized that the cover was of limited importance in regards to Postal History, but of much greater interest in regards to Social Philately. In 2004, my philatelically-inspired publications totaled 18 for the12 months, published in five different Australian philatelic Journals, and it became obvious to me that the backlog of completed, near-completed, and proposed papers would never see the light of day this decade. The decision for opening a website was influenced by the desire to reduce the bottle neck of papers, but even more importantly to educate myself and others in the idea that philatelic publication was a tool for learning about interesting places, people and cultures. Moreover, my desire to learn more about Australian history and geography was central to the whole venture.
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I have written 500 philatelic papers, 63 of which have been published in Australian, Canadian and Philippines philatelic journals. All papers have an Australian connection, a few of them have only a tenuous connection, for the covers were sent from Australia to interesting people &/or places, in other countries. I have increased the categories for the papers that appear at the left hand side of the home page, and the papers have been entered in one, two or at most three relevant categories. The vast majority of the papers are not owned by me, and the scans that appear are only as clear as those seen at various auction sites. This website remains a work in progress. A significant number of these papers also give information about another country which may be of interest to specific readers. In the second week of May 2007 I have started to review each paper, and the other country will be found included in square brackets, such as [CANADA], at the end of the paper's heading. I would appreciate feedback from readers, for I recognise that the addition of more than 100 papers in the past 6 months, may have allowed typo inaccuracies and imperfections to creep in. Occasionally a Figure may not show immediately or require that the reader should close the paper and re-enter it. You can contact me by clicking on the CONTACT button near the bottom of the left menu.
Maurice Mishkel,
Dundas, Ontario, Canada,
April 18, 2008.
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