Postage Stamps and Postal History of Australia - External Territories

External Territories

Each Australian external territory has a specific postal and philatelic history.

Formerly administrated by New South Wales, Norfolk Island used that colony's stamps after 1877. Norfolk Island used stamps of Australia between 1913 and 1947, attained postal independence and issued its own stamps on 10 June 1947.

The Territory of Papua, officially a British colony but administered by Australia, issued its own stamps from 1901. before this, it had used Queensland stamps. Stamps of Australia were issued there between 1945 and 1953 in the new Territory of Papua and New Guinea.

Transferred from Singapore to Australia by the United Kingdom in the 1950s, Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands were progressively and separately integrated into the Australian postal system and losing their postal and philatelic independence in the 1990s. While Christmas Island had issued its own stamps and independence since 1958, the Cocos Islands used stamps of Australia from 1952 until its postal independence in 1979. The first Cocos stamps were issued in 1963.

Both territories lost their postal independence to Australia Post in 1993 for Christmas Island and 1994 for the Cocos Islands. Consequently, their stamps became valid within Australia and stamps of Australia became valid in the islands.

The Australian Antarctic Territory had always been using stamps of Australia but disposed of its stamps since 27 March 1957. They are valid for postage within Australia.