Issue information
The first European to discover the islands in 1791 was Lieutenant William Broughton who named them after the ship in which he was sailing to Tahiti. Almost a quarter of the main island is covered by shallow lagoons, the largest of them called Te Whanga. The land carries predominantly fern and pasture with some karaka and nikau palms.
1c
Chatham Islands Lily (Myosotidium hortensia).
2c
Chatham Islands Mollymawk (Diomedea cauta eremita). This bird is one of the Albatross family, a sea bird with a large wing spread and a hooked bill. In other parts of the world it is also known as a mollyhawk or mollymoke. The name is a corruption of the Dutch 'Mallemuck', derived from 'mal' (foolish) and 'mok' (gull).
Stamp bulletin
This stamp issue first appeared in New Zealand Post Stamp Bulletin No. 5 in December 1970.
Acknowledgments: Bulletin scanned and provided by John Biddlecombe of the New Zealand Society of Great Britain. Their web site offers further information useful to those interested in the stamps and postal history of New Zealand. Link: http://www.nzsgb.org.uk/
Technical information
| Date of Issue: | 2 December 1970 |
|---|---|
| Designers: | E Mayo, Christchurch |
| Printers: | Japanese Government Printing Bureau, Japan |
| Stamp Size: | 43mm x 25.5mm |
| Sheet Size: | 50 stamps per sheet |
| Process: | Photogravure |
| Perforation Gauge: | 13 x 13.5 |
| Paper Type: | Chalk surfaced, unwatermarked |
