Vida Lahey - Beach Umbrellas

Vida Lahey (1882-1968) - Beach Umbrellas (1933)
Australia $1.20 Stamp Issued 1995
Queensland Art Gallery

Vida Lahey was Queensland born, although she studied in London before WWI and lived in Paris afterwards, training at Colarossi's Academy.  As a modernist artist in Australia at the time, she was instrumental in promoting the arts on Queensland and supporting the Queensland Art Gallery.  This is one of many colourful paintings that depicts Australian beach and seaside life that is typical of Queensland and northern New South Wales - there is plenty of colour and light.

Lahey was also trained by Frederick McCubbin.  Lahey's painting "Fruit and Flowers" was used for another stamp in 2011.

Artist Unknown - Medicine Story

Medicine Story (1972) - Artist Unknown
Indigenous Art of the Desert
Australia 90c Stamp Issued 1988

This is one of four stamps that were issued to show desert art by indigenous artists in the Western Desert region of the Northern Territory in Australia.  The Papunya Tula art movement gathered pace in the 1970s, and there are regular exhibits worldwide, as this form of art has gained traction with international art buyers.

Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri - Ancestor Dreaming

Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri (1929-1984) - Ancestor Dreaming (1977)
Australia $1 Stamp Issued 1988
Art of the Desert Series

This artist was one of the key figures from the Western Desert art scene that developed in the 1970s in outback Northern Territory, near Haast's Bluff.  Tjapaltjarri first worked as a stockman before moving with his wife to Papunya, where he was involved in the establishment of the artists' settlement.  The artist had earlier experience with watercolours, which makes some of his work quite different to his contemporaries.

Charles Conder - All on a Summer's Day

Charles Conder (1868-1909) - All on a Summer's Day (1888)
Australia 41c Stamp Issued 1989
Art Gallery of South Australia

Charles Conder lived in Australia for only seven years, but he was a key figure from the Heidelberg school of painting, which was responsible for the divergence of "western" Australian art in a modern sense.  This painting was completed at the time when Conder was living in Melbourne and is typical of the light filled paintings of the Australian landscape.  A woman reads a book on the beach, while another artist is also shown on a cliff top with his easel.  Conder left Australia in 1890 to go back to England, but his Australian work remains critically acclaimed.  "Holiday at Mentone" has also been used on postage stamps.

Nora Heysen - A Bunch of Flowers

Nora Heysen (1911-2003) - A Bunch of Flowers (1930)
Australia 60c Stamp Issued 2011
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Nora Heysen was the fourth child of Hans Heysen, who was one of Australia's most famous war artists in World War I.  Nora also became an artist, studying in Adelaide, before going on to become the first woman to win the Archibald Prize in 1938.  She also followed her father as a war artist, completing 170 works of art in WWII.


This is one of her still life works, issued as part of a series of still life works of flowers by Australia Post in 2011.

Dame Nellie Melba Portrait - Rupert Bunny

Portrait of Dame Nellie Melba - Rupert Bunny (1902)
Australia 60c Stamp Issued 2011
Painting held at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 

This stamp has been issued to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Dame Nellie Melba, the famous opera singer from the late 19th century.  Melba had a long and successful career, and a very interesting personal life as she mixed with dukes and famous people throughout Europe.  To this day, her name is remembered through a common dessert - Peach Melba - in addition to having a Canberra suburb named after her.  


Melba's portrait was completed by one of Australia's most popular artists at the height of both their careers. She was also the first Australian woman to be depicted on an Australian stamp back in 1961.

Dame Nellie Melba - 1961 5d Stamp Australia

Portia Geach - Sir John Quick

Portia Geach - Sir John Quick

Australian Pre-stamped Envelope Issued 1993

Corowa Federation Conference

The portrait of Sir John Quick adorns this pre-stamped envelope from 1993, commemorating the Centenary of the Corowa Conference.  Corowa is now a small country town in New South Wales, but close to the Victorian border.  The conference was important to the federation movement, as Sir John Quick established the need to listen to the voice of the people in discussions that took place.  Federation finally occurred in 1901, but this conference set the wheels in motion for this process.


The artist, Portia Geach was a fashionable and accomplished artist and feminist - she also painted Edith Cowan in another portrait.


See also other Federation Art.  

Guy Grey-Smith - Skull Springs Country

Guy Grey-Smith (1916-1981) - Skull Springs Country

Australian 45c Stamp issued 1995

Painting Completed in 1965 - Held at the Art Gallery of Western Australia

Gery-Smith had a coloured and challenging life, as he was born in WA before heading off to WWII with the Royal Australian Air Force in France.  After being shot down from his plane, he was held as a POW in France, where he learned to paint with watercolours.  Art became his life subsequent to this and he eventually returned to Western Australia after establishing his career overseas.

Full biography is available: Guy Grey-Smith .


This is the last of the series of four stamps of Australian Modern Art that were issued in 1995 by Australia Post. 

Robert Juniper - Outcamp

Robert Juniper (b. 1929) - Outcamp

Australian $1.05 stamp issued 1995

Held by the Art Gallery of WA, Painted in 1977

Robert Juniper is one of Western Australia's most accomplished artists.  This work was depicted with three other modern art works in the 1995 Australia Day stamp issue. 

Juniper recently participated in installation works where model cows were painted in the Margaret River region, and he was also commissioned to design the stained glass windows of a church in Bunbury Western Australia.

Ian Fairweather - Kite Flying

Ian Fairweather (1891-1974) - Kite Flying (1958)

Australian $1.20 Stamp Issued 1995

Held at the Queensland Art Gallery

This is the second of four modern art paintings that were issued by Australia Post in 1995.  Others in the series included work by Russell Drysdale, Guy Grey-Smith and Robert Juniper.  

Extract from Queensland Art Gallery Website:

Kite flying 1958, one of Fairweather's most significant works, exemplifies the artist's approach to painting. Lines inspired by Chinese calligraphy cross the work, exposing layers of underpainting. Figures, kites and balloons dance in and out of focus in a fusion of shapes and colours.

The work is based on a 2000-year-old Chinese kite flying festival, which celebrates the protection of loved ones against misfortune. The festival commemorates the story of Huan Ching, a man from the Han period in China, who was warned by a sage to take his wife and children to the mountains.

Taking this advice, he took his family kite flying, and so escaped the massacre that befell their livestock. The felicity of this occasion is reflected in the painting's joyous vibrancy.

Charles Nuttall - Opening of the First Federal Parliament 9 May 1901

Charles Nuttall - Opening of the First Federal Parliament 9 May 1901

Australian 45c Stamp issued 2001

Painting held in Museum Victoria Collection, Melbourne

This scene was also depicted by Tom Roberts - both artists were working on this at the time at opposite sides of the stage.

The first address to parliament took place in the Exhibition Building in Melbourne, and this stamp was issued to commemorate the centenary of this event.  

Unlike some other countries, the formation of Australia took place after a series of controlled political meetings in the 1880s and 1890s, referendums across the six states from 1895 to 1900, and the signing of the Commonwealth of Australia Act by the British Parliament in 1900.  Melbourne was the initial capital (probably causing some angst in Sydney), so parliament was eventually established in Canberra in 1927.

Russell Drysdale - Back Verandah

Russell Drysdale (1912-1981) - Back Verandah (1942)

Australia 45c Stamp issued 1995

Painting Held at the Queensland Art Gallery Brisbane

Drysdale was known for capturing certain aspects of the Australian landscape, including it's harshness and desolation.  Many of his paintings are etched into the Australian psyche.


This painting depicts the simple but relatively harsh way of life for a rural family in south western New South Wales.  Although there is a brief time for rest, there is always plenty of work to do.   The painting was completed in 1942, at a time when Drysdale's work was becoming increasingly sinister and slightly menacing to some viewers - Australia's involvement in WWII was also becoming more serious at this time.


This is the first of four modern art stamps that were issued  by Australia Post for Australia Day in 1995.   The whole set will be added to this blog progressively. 

Tom Roberts - Opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia

Tom Roberts - Opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by HRH Duke of Cornwall and York, May 9, 1901

Australian $2.45 stamp issued 3 May 2001 - Centenary of Federation

Painting held at the Australian Parliament House Canberra

This 12 by 18 foot painting is now held in the Parliament House Collection in Canberra - details on the people and ceremony  have also been well documented on the Parliament Website.  It was completed in 1903, some two years after the opening of this first parliament of Australia, which happened in Melbourne.  (Canberra did not exist at the time).  Tom Roberts and Charles Nuttall were resident artists during the sitting of this first parliament, as they were well established artists at this time when TV was a long way off.  

Tom Roberts was from the Heidelberg School of Art - his works have been used on other Australian stamps:

Mentone Impression, 1888

Shearing the Rams, 1888

Artist Unknown - Quinkan Gallery

Artist Unknown - Quinkan Gallery

Rock painting located on Cape York Peninsula Queensland

Australia 30c Stamp Issued 1984

Rock Painting Series

Artist Unknown - Silver Barramundi

Artist Unknown - Silver Barramundi

Rock Painting Located at the Alligator River, Northern Territory Australia

Australia 30c Stamp Issued 1984

Rock Painting Series (4 stamps in total)

Unknown Artist - Bunjil's Cave

Artist Unknown - Bunjil's Cave

Rock Painting located in the Grampians Mountain Range in Victoria, Australia

Australia 30c Stamp Issued 1984

Rock Painting Series

Unknown Artist - Rock Python

Artist Unknown - Rock Python

Painting located in the Kimberleys in Western Australia

Australia Stamp 30c issued 1984

Rock Paintings Series

Jack Wunuwun - Yam Plants

Yam Plants - Jack Wunuwun

Australian 75c Stamp Issued 1993

Dreaming Series

George Melpurrurru - Goose Egg Hunt

Goose Egg Hunt - George Melpurrurru

Australian 85c Stamp Issued 1993

Dreaming Series

Arthur Streeton - Impression for Golden Summer

Arthur Streeton (1867-1943) - Golden Summer, Eaglemont (1889)
Australia 41c Stamp Issued 1989
Painting Held at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

This is one of many well known paintings by Arthur Streeton, who was one of the most influential artists of the impressionist Heidelberg School in the late 1800s in Australia, along with Tom Roberts and Frederick McCubbin.

Streeton lived and worked on the outskirts of Melbourne for much of his life - this work shows a typical scene in country Australia, with long shadows creeping over the fields of sheep - light bathes the scene in a typically Australian style.

Other work by Streeton has been depicted on Australian stamps:

One Penny Fare, McMahons Point .

His contemporaries included:

Frederick McCubbin

Tom Roberts