- Across Australia there are more than 11,000 places you can buy stamps and more than 24,000 places you can post stamped letters.
|
- There are more than 15,500 street posting boxes in Australia.
|
|
- Every year Australia Post handles about 4.9 billion items of mail.
|
- Early letters were written on a piece of paper which was then folded and secured with a wax seal. Some people had special rings with a raised design (called signet rings) that they used to press their coat of arms or other distinctive design into the warm wax. Envelopes are a much more recent invention.
|
- When the first Europeans came to Australia to settle, the only way they could communicate with family and friends back home was by letter. Sailing ships took up to five months to make the journey, and that’s only one way! People would then wait nearly a year for a reply to arrive on its return journey!
|
- More than 1 million people visit post offices in Australia every working day.
|
|
- Around 500 million stamps are produced in Australia every year.
|
- Australia Post has a transport fleet of over 10,400 vehicles.
|
|
- Australia Post operates the world’s longest mail run. It’s 3000 kms long and goes from Port Augusta in South Australia to south-central Queensland. This run delivers mail to only 88 addresses!
|
- The world's rarest stamp is the British Guiana one cent stamp. Only one of these was ever made.
|
- The smallest stamp ever produced was only 9.5 mm x 8 mm in size. It was an overseas stamp issued in 1863 by the Colombian state of Bolivar.
|
- In 1999, Australia Post was one of the first countries to pioneer the Personalised StampTM. People can now have their image as part of a 50 cent stamp.
|
|
- In 1973, Bhutan issued a stamp that looked like a record. Put it on a record player and it actually plays the Bhutanese national anthem.
|
- Posting boxes in the street were first introduced in France in 1653 but were discontinued because of attacks by mice and vandals. They were tried again in the early 1800s with more success. In Australia, street posting boxes were introduced in 1831.
|
|
- A postie’s delivery round covers about 1,200 delivery points (that’s home letter boxes, business premises, etc).
|
- On average, each postie travels about 4,460 kilometres each year to deliver the mail.
|
- In Australia, we send over 100 million Christmas cards each year.
|
- Each year approximately 100,000 letters are sent to Santa by Australian children.
|
|
