of Pacific Islands Stamps

Tree Life is a Popular Theme of Pacific Islands Stamps

By K.N.

ALMOST every stamp-issuing

country in the Pacific area has its quota of interesting pictorial stamps put out to publicise some local scenic or tourist landmark.

And somewhere along the line you are sure to find that a tree—either a palm, coconut tree, or fernery— has been included as part of the overall format. This has had the effect of “softening” the design and adding an air of peacefulness to the picture.

Of the pictorial issues prepared for Pacific lands, many have given sole pride of place to typical ex amples of tree life.

For example, a spreading bread fruit tree distinguished a Id Tongan stamp first distributed in 1897, while the same series with the 4d value, showed a bunch of four of the fruit of the tree.

Since 1911, a pandanus palm has graced stamps of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. The initial specimen showed five trunks emanating from the one base, tall and upright.

The Id. issue from the Gilberts in 1939, featured another pandanus, only this time a wider and lower growing example being displayed.

A smaller palm appeared in the background.

Dominant feature of another 6d.

Gilbert issue in the same year featured a collection of typical coconut trees, of various shapes and sizes. Two well-proportioned speci mens figured in the near foreground.

Very little artistry was evident with the ineffective display of palm trees seen on an 1887 series of stamps from Samoa, when a trunk and a mass of leaves constituted the theme.

However, the palm tree posed on a somewhat barren landscape on a 1920 issue from the Cook Islands had a distinct lean towards the right. The eleven fronds of the tree apparently kept it on balance.

Tree houses of New Guinea, origin ally erected in their prominent posi tions for “observation” purposes, figured on one of the Papuan pictorial series of 1932.

In 1938, Fiji included portion of a sugarcane plantation on one of the pictorial stamps. In subsequent years a rather unimpressive arrange ment featuring the paw paw tree was used on a 10/- denomination.

A neat piece of designing occurred with a 6d. denomination produced for the Solomon Islands in 1939, when a “close up” aspect of a scene in a coconut plantation was repre sented. An examination revealed some 25 trees.

Three well-developed and coloured oranges constituted the design of a id. issue from Pitcairn Island, initially available during 1940.

When Norfolk Island introduced its first pictorial stamps in 1947 the scene showing Ball Bay was high lighted by the many fine specimens of the famous Norfolk Island pine trees appearing on the shores and headlands.

Chief export of the territory of Niue, bananas, were represented on a 2/- issue prepared in 1950. The design itself showed a native carry ing bananas, with several of the laden plants in the background.

A realistic study of a native tap ping rubber on one of the New Guinea rubber plantations made an admirable topic for the 2/- stamp included in the 1952 series provided for the combined territories of Papua and New Guinea.

In the same series a native drying copra on special racks also symbol ised another aspect of tree life, while the harvesting of cocoa con stituted the theme for an Bd. stamp introduced by Western Samoa in 1952. Trees laden with cocoa, with several natives opening the beans, were displayed.

A further interesting aspect of the 1954 pictorial stamps from Nauru was that eight of the values char acterised palm trees. But the 1/denomination gave a sole portrayal of a palm tree, bending into the wind, in a characteristic study.