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Cover image: Waitākere Ranges, Rachel Walker
Kia ora, welcome!
Antony Harris Head of Stamps and Collectables
We were proud to start off this year with two stamp issues commemorating the legacies of
New
Zealand authors.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the untimely passing of Katherine Mansfield. Mansfield is regarded as one of the most influential writers of the modernist period, and her experiences as a girl in turn-of-thecentury New Zealand come through many of her stories. We were delighted to commemorate her legacy in our first stamp issue of 2023.
An influential author of a different kind, Dame Lynley Dodd has created stories and illustrations cherished by multiple generations of New Zealanders. On 1 March, Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy was celebrated on a special stamp issue that puts a spotlight on each of the canine characters from Dame Lynley’s original children’s book.
Coins featuring the story’s hero will also be issued. These will be some of the last commemorative coins to feature Queen Elizabeth II on their obverse.
King Charles III succeeded Queen Elizabeth II immediately upon her passing on 8 September 2022. The King will be crowned in a formal ceremony on 6 May 2023, and to commemorate the occasion NZ Post will issue six commemorative coins on behalf of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. These coins will be among the first New Zealand legal tender coins to feature the King on the obverse. A stamp issue commemorating the King’s accession, which you can view on page 15, is planned for 3 May, and a special commemorative sheetlet featuring images from the coronation will be issued on Monday 8 May.
The cover of this issue of Focus features one of the beautiful artworks created by Wellington artist Rachel Walker for our Forest & Bird 100 Years stamp issue. Coincidentally, some of our historical bird-themed stamps recently featured in an art and photography exhibition at New Zealand Parliament. Waiata Manu (birdsong) explored the significance of birds (manu) in New Zealand culture, and the exhibition’s curator tells us more about her work on pages 8-9.
New Zealand has spent the past two decades building on its reputation as a great place to make movies, and we were thrilled to be able to celebrate the country’s innovation and creativity taking place here with Avatar: The Way of Water stamps and coins. New Zealand is the only producer of legal tender coins commemorating the second Avatar film.
Finally, we look back at our November stamp issue, Women in Science, with extracts from an article published in The New Zealand Collection 2022, authored by Rebecca Priestley and Kate Hannah. Rebecca is an academic,
science historian and writer whose focus is on contemporary and historical science in Aotearoa, and Kate is a cultural historian who studies the cultures and subcultures of science and technology. Both Rebecca and Kate are researchers at Te Pūnaha Matatini, the Aotearoa New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence for complex systems. The stamps were design by Jo Bailey, a designer and design researcher at Massey University in Wellington.
I hope you enjoy this issue of Focus.
Antony Harris Head of Stamps and Collectables
Celebrating a century of conservation
Since 1923 Forest & Bird has worked with supporters, members, communities and government to protect and restore Aotearoa New Zealand’s environment and native species. Funded solely by memberships, donations and bequests, the organisation is a singular voice for nature.
Accurately capturing the unique qualities and aesthetic charms of flora and fauna requires a marriage of art and science. Wellington-based artist Rachel Walker is a keen observer of New Zealand’s natural taonga (treasures). To honour Forest & Bird’s centenary, Rachel has created four beautiful artworks. Each watercolour collage features animals and plants
from specific habitats in the North and South Islands.
Kāpiti Island, Greater Wellington
This artwork was completed by Rachel for the 26 Habitats NZ writers’ project. It represents the Kāpiti Island nature reserve with native forest birds kōkako, tīeke, kākāriki and tūī. This stamp reflects Forest & Bird’s origins,
island bird sanctuaries, restoration, conservation volunteers and legacy.
In the 1920s, disappearing birdlife on Kāpiti Island inspired Captain Ernest Valentine Sanderson to campaign vigorously for the government to remove the pests and replant the native forest. After the government reluctantly agreed, Sanderson was encouraged by other conservationists, including former Prime Minister Sir Thomas Mackenzie, to establish a national nature protection society in 1923. Its aim was to protect New Zealand’s birds and bush, which were rapidly disappearing at the time.
Today, predator-free Kāpiti Island is thriving and home to many native birds, including kōkako, tīeke, kākāriki
Below: Detail of The Catlins, Otago artwork by Rachel Walker
and tūī. Sanderson was a founding father of modern-day conservation in Aotearoa and his enduring legacy is Forest & Bird. This stamp also pays tribute to the ‘mum and dad’ armies of conservation volunteers who pioneered island restoration from the 1960s, and continue to provide vital refuges for many critically endangered species today.
The Catlins, Otago
Heroing the forest-inhabiting tautuku gecko, this stamp also features the Gollum galaxias fish, giant southern rātā flowers, pekapeka long-tailed bat and endemic creeping foxglove. The artwork aims to capture a sense of discovery and hope through New Zealand’s unique biodiversity and fresh water.
The Tautuku ecological sanctuary is a landscape-scale restoration project in the Catlins led by volunteers from three Forest & Bird branches: Dunedin, South Otago, and Southland. From hilltops to sea, the sanctuary is home to many interconnected habitats, including virgin and regenerating forests, two pristine rivers, the last river catchment on the South Island's east coast, native vegetation from headwaters to the sea, and a mosaic of wetlands, estuaries, pingao sand dunes, oioi rushlands, frost flats and mānuka shrublands.
Since the project started five years ago, Forest & Bird staff and volunteers have discovered tautuku gecko living deep in the forest, a nationally significant ancient population of Gollum galaxias trapped between two natural stone ‘dams’ in the Tautuku River, pekapeka long-tailed bats (one of the only two endemic mammals of Aotearoa, the other being the short-tailed bat), mātātā fernbirds, matuku hūrepo Australasian bitterns, red-crowned kākāriki (the Catlins forests are the only mainland site for wild populations), a giant southern rātā (possibly the largest in the South Island/world) and numerous rare plants, including the
Nationally Critical Ourisia modesta (an endemic New Zealand creeping foxglove). At the heart of the sanctuary is Forest & Bird’s Lenz Reserve, which was purchased with funds bequested by Iris Lenz in 1964 and features regenerating and old-growth kāmahi, rimu and rātā forest.
Today, Forest & Bird staff, contractors and volunteers, boosted by funds from the Department of Conservation's Maho mō te Taiao Jobs for Nature programme, are removing predators and pests from a 600ha area. This includes more than 60km of trap lines for mustelid control, possum and feral cat control, and the culling of pigs and red deer that were having a devastating impacts on the habitat. The team also monitors nests of at-risk native birds to help identify the threats they face and inform predator-control efforts. New botanical and insect discoveries are still being made deep in the forest.
Waitākere Ranges, Auckland
Featuring the tāiko black petrel, kauri, tohorā southern right whale, werewere kōkako blue mushrooms, neinei (spider wood) and Cook’s petrels flying off the coast, this stamp represents the seabirds of Aotearoa, marine protection and the vital connection between the land and the ocean.
Ark in the Park is an unfenced nature sanctuary in the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park and contains important stands of kauri forests. The landscape is being restored for future generations in a conservation partnership between Forest & Bird and Auckland Council, supported by mana whenua Te Kawerau ā Maki, who have historical and territorial rights over the land. A group of 300 volunteers carries out weekly predator control checks and looks after local wildlife, including reintroduced kōkako. Forest & Bird has also spent many decades advocating for seabirds, marine mammals and ocean protection.
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Above: 1 $1.70 Kāpiti Island, Greater Wellington stamp. 2 $3.00 The Catlins, Otago stamp.
2
1
Before the arrival of humans, Aotearoa was a land of birds, including tens of millions of seabirds that nested on clifftops and in the forest. Then people arrived and set about destroying the forest and releasing a hoard of introduced mammalian predators that decimated the forest floor, including the nesting grounds of burrowing seabirds such as prions, shearwaters, and petrels. Black petrels once bred on the mainland, including in the kauri forests of Ark in the Park and the Waitākere Ranges, but they became locally extinct - their nests are particularly vulnerable to feral cats, feral pigs, mustelids and rats. They are also a species at high risk from fisheries bycatch.
Today, tāiko black petrels nest in kauri forest on Great Barrier Island, where they are safe from predators. After their chicks have fledged, tāiko fly all the way to South America, staying in eastern tropical Pacific waters from July to October then returning to breed in Aotearoa. Cook’s petrels are also found in kauri habitat on Little Barrier Island and regularly fly over the Waitākere Ranges at night as they cross the Tasman Sea back to Little Barrier. Seabirds will return to abandoned breeding colonies on the mainland if humans can remove introduced predators, and it’s hoped tāiko will one day return to Ark in the Park.
Buller Plateau, West Coast
A forest ringlet butterfly is pictured with an Avatar moth, a giant land snail
(Powelliphanta patrickensis), pygmy pine, windswept mānuka and eyebright flowers. The artwork reflects on the changing climate, nature’s fragility, conservation activism and the future.
This stamp depicts the extraordinary flora, fauna and natural beauty of the Denniston and Stockton Plateaus, collectively known as the Buller Plateau, which sits 600m above the coastal plains east of Westport, at the top of the South Island. This nationally outstanding landscape with its dramatic combination of coal-bearing rock, wetland, sub-alpine forest and tussock was at the centre of huge conservation battles during the 2000s as environmentalists tried to stop coal mining from destroying the area’s unusual geological formations and the
Right: 1 $3.80 Waitākere Ranges, Auckland stamp.
$4.30 Buller Plateau, West Coast stamp. 3 Forest and Bird first day cover and miniature sheet first day cover.
Facing page:
Kāpiti Island, Greater Wellington maximum card. 2 Kāpiti Island, Greater Wellington art print. 3 Detail of Buller Plateau, West Coast artwork by Rachel Walker.
specially adapted plants that live in this windswept, challenging place. There are no awe-inspiring forest giants here, no great kauri striving to reach the light. Instead the environment encourages plants to do the opposite, to hunker down and hug the ground out of the wind and elements. One of these plants is represented on this stamp - the pygmy pine, New Zealand’s smallest conifer, which only grows to 30cm. The plateau is also home to giant carnivorous land snails, including Powelliphanta patrickensis, which is endemic to Denniston.
Forest & Bird has campaigned for decades to protect New Zealand’s unique landscapes, including conservation land, from being destroyed by mining for coal, gold, and
other precious minerals. This is a fight the society has taken all the way to the Supreme Court and that continues today at nearby Te Kuha. In 2012 Forest & Bird organised a bioblitz (an intense period of biological surveying) on the Denniston Plateau to document its unique flora and fauna as part of a campaign to try to have the land legally protected as a nature reserve. During the bioblitz, scientists supported by Forest & Bird staff and volunteers discovered a nationally important population of forest ringlet butterflies and a new species of moth, later named Avatar by the New Zealand public.
Forest & Bird started raising awareness of climate change in the early 1990s and today climate advocacy is at the heart of all its campaigns. During
its 100th year, Forest & Bird will be championing nature-based solutions, such as controlling browsing mammals and making room for rivers, to help our world adapt to climate change while boosting biodiversity and ensuring a resilient future for all living creatures on Earth.
The stamp issue includes a first day cover, miniature sheet, miniature sheet first day cover, greeting card set, maximum card set, tea towels, art prints, and individual stamps ranging in price from $1.70 to $4.30.
Birds in the Beehive
In the intimate, bespoke exhibition space of Te Papakura within Wellington’s Beehive, avian art by 11 New Zealand artists and an artist collaboration of imaginative papier mâché species were on display from 15 February to 2 April 2023. The exhibition was titled Waiata Manu (Bird Song).
New Zealanders enjoy birds, and birds are popular subjects and motifs in art right across the country. But does our relationship with birds go beyond affection to identity? We are, after all, a nation inhabited by Kiwis - the homosapien variety spelled with a capital K - while the feathered flightless species is an iconic symbol of Aotearoa New Zealand. The affectionate description of New Zealanders as ‘Kiwis’ goes back more than 100 years. But unlike the Kiwi population that has since quadrupled, it has only been through the valiant continued efforts of determined conservationists that the kiwi has survived at all.
Conservation is not an uncommon motivation for a bird exhibition, so therefore unsurprisingly it was a key purpose driving Waiata Manu (Bird Song). For many, the real surprise within the exhibition was the inclusion of New Zealand bird stamps as miniature art forms. The stamps reinforce the idea that New Zealanders love birds, and the stamped identity provided a segway to the realm of the philatelist. For bird enthusiasts and bird stamp collectors, the exhibition was a win-win.
There was an enlarged, framed image of a pigeon on the world’s very first airmail stamp. It was designed for the Auckland to Great Barrier pigeon post service started in 1897 and was
attached to the messages, or ‘flimsies’. The stamp hung alongside enlarged digital prints of New Zealand’s very first official bird pictorials of 1898.
New Zealand was one of the first countries to print pictorials, and along with three landscape designs three of the pictorials were birds. The images were selected from submissions in response to a public competition for this purpose.
The winning birds, a kiwi on the sixpence stamp, a pairing of a kea and a kaka on the one shilling stamp, and a male and female huia on the three pence stamp, were rendered in the popular Victorian style of engraved prints with elaborate framings and scrollwork.
The image of a kiwi remains at the forefront of New Zealand birds on stamps. The survival of the kiwi, kea and kaka continues to be concerning. Sadly huia, which were plentiful when they made their debut on a stamp, are now extinct with the last sighting believed to have been around 1906. The lament of the huia and other lost species is a confronting warning to care for our birds.
There were photographs by Chris Patterson depicting the vulnerability of New Zealand’s most critically endangered bird, the tara iti or fairy
Left: 1 1898 pictorial 1s.
2 1898 pictorial 6d.
3 Great Barrier Island Pigeongram 6d. 4 Don
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tern. With numbers down to 40 and recent chick fatalities and lost eggs following storms, this endangered species requires attention.
The exhibition was launched in the middle of Cyclone Gabrielle. Alex Okhlopkov’s 3D digital painting, Unbroken Song, of whiteheads in a storm acted as a timely and poignant pointer to climate crisis.
Leading bird stamp artist Janet Marshall had 10 endangered bird stamps on view. Her blue duck and brown teal, painted for the 1987 Game Bird and Habitat issue and her two acrylic paintings, Stitch Birds and Fantails with Coprosma in New Zealand bush scenes, were also on display.
There were Cinderella stamps by New Zealand’s iconic bird artist and conservationist Don Binney, for the Independent State of Aramoana. Around 1976 Binney joined forces with other conservationists, artists, and the residents of Aramoana in Otago in a ‘Save Aramoana’ campaign. The protest was against the government’s ‘Think Big’ plans for
an aluminium smelter in Aramoana, and included a declaration that the settlement of Aramoana was separate from and independent of the rest of the country. The Cinderellas were miniature reproductions of Binney’s large painting, Puketotara Twice Shy, in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa's collection.
One might surmise that the fascination with birds had something to do with the influences they have on people. They are found in the language of metaphor and simile, symbolism and parable. Their song and behaviour are found in whakataukei (Māori proverbs) and in wisdom, literature, poetry, lyrics and music itself.
In fact the connection with te manu (the bird) in Aotearoa New Zealand has a long visual history, evidenced in bird rock drawings of tangata whenua (people of the land) settlements in various locations in Te Waipounamu (the South Island). David Burke’s stamp design for Matariki 2012 drew from these records. The series includes a depiction of the bird man and what is believed to be an embryonic kiwi within an outline of an egg.
The background soundtrack in the exhibition space includes birdsong and waiata, adding another dimension to the viewing. The music was a soundbite of a bird artists’ chorus. Through a range of media - paint, glass, photography, stone, print and contemporary digital art - were expressions of joy, wisdom, urgent warning, identity, and hope.
Other works not mentioned above included Judi Lapsley-Miller’s awardwinning The Secret World of Kakapo, Sophia Minson’s The Heart of the Kaka, sgraffito method prints Tumanko (Hope) and Karakia (Prayer) by Amber Smith, a stone sculpture, Huia, by Bill Devoy; glass birds by Luke Jacombs; Simon Stuart’s tomtit, welcome swallows and kingfishers; shore birds by Martin Lauder and a miniature painting of a huia eye, The Lover’s Eye, curated as an item of jewellery by Minrui Yang.
A digital video exhibition may be accessed by the public through searching Google for ‘Waiata Manu YouTube'.
Binney Cinderella stamps.
2018 Predator Free $1.20.
Right: Stamps at the Waiata Manu (Bird Song) exhibition.
Recent issues Stamps & coins
2023 Year of the Rabbit
The story of Chinese New Year starts with the Jade Emperor, who created the Zodiac calendar, a 12-year cycle to help track the passage of time. The Rabbit was chosen to represent the fourth year in the Zodiac after it came fourth in the Jade Emperor’s great race. The Rabbit would have come first, as it was fast and nimble. However, the Rabbit was also cocky and chose to take a power nap midway through the race. He woke to see the Rat, the Ox and the Tiger taking home the medals.
The design of the 2023 Year of the Rabbit stamps is inspired by the style of the Chinese nianhua poster. The stamps are intended to evoke a sense of nostalgia while also looking forward to a prosperous year ahead.
Katherine Mansfield 1888-1923
Katherine Mansfield is Aotearoa New Zealand’s most internationally recognised historical literary figure, remembered for her distinctive prose and adventurous life.
Mansfield's time in Wellington had a significant influence on many of her stories. These stamps celebrate the writer’s legacy, her work, and her New Zealand connections.
Created with support from Katherine Mansfield House & Garden and the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington, each stamp includes a quote, a photo of Mansfield at a stage of her life and a significant item in the background. Together they uniquely commemorate the author’s life and legacy.
Technical information
Date of issue: 7 December 2022
Designer: YMC Design, Wellington, New Zealand
Printer: Brebner Print, Napier, New Zealand
Withdrawal date: 3 December 2023
Technical information
Date of issue: 1 February 2023
Designer: Caitlin McArthur, NZ Post, Wellington, New Zealand
Printer: Brebner Print, Napier, New Zealand
Withdrawal date: 31 January 2024
Avatar: The Way of Water
Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water continues to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive and the tragedies they endure. Shot in Aotearoa New Zealand, the new film combines industry-leading technology with pristine locations to take audiences even deeper into the alien world of Pandora.
In combining breathtaking, real-world landscapes with boundary-pushing technologies, the Avatar filmmakers have created spectacular new worlds and populated them with compelling characters and themes on a scale the likes of which audiences at the time of its opening had yet to experience.
Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy, written and illustrated by Dame Lynley Dodd, this stamp issue showcases the original canine characters and story.
Hairy Maclary literally fell out of Dame Lynley’s scrapbook. She recalls how, when looking for a new idea, a tiny sketch of a dog, drawn years earlier on a slip of notepaper, dropped out from between the pages. That original sketch would evolve over time into the dog we have come to know, but the essential elements were all there. With just a few strokes of her pen, Dame Lynley’s extraordinary ability to convey character, expression and movement brought Hairy Maclary to life.
Today, Hairy Maclary continues to be a much-loved character, both in New Zealand and around the world.
Technical information
Date of issue: 1 March 2023
Designer: Chris Jones, Graphetti, Wellington, New Zealand
Printer: Brebner Print, Napier, New Zealand
Withdrawal date: 29 February 2024
Technical information
Date of issue: 1 March 2023
Designer: Hannah Fortune, NZ Post, Wellington, New Zealand
Printer: Brebner Print, Napier, New Zealand
Withdrawal date: 29 February 2024
Forest & Bird 100 Years
For a century, Forest & Bird has worked with supporters, members, communities and government to protect and restore Aotearoa New Zealand’s environment and native species. Funded solely by memberships, donations and bequests, the organisation is a singular voice for nature.
Featuring paintings by New Zealand artist Rachel Walker, these stamps were created to celebrate Forest & Bird’s 100th birthday in 2023. The stamps feature four main areas of Forest & Bird’s conservation workterrestrial, freshwater, marine and climate - and significant flora and fauna. They pay tribute to the people who have worked to protect and restore nature for the past 100 years.
Ngā Hau e Whā - The Four Winds
Well known whakataukī (proverb) ‘E hoki ki ō maunga, kia purea koe e ngā hau o Tāwhirimātea’ encourages people to refresh themselves by returning home: ‘Return to your mountains that you may be cleansed by the winds of Tāwhirimātea’. Tāwhirimātea is the father of the four winds. Te Hau Raki is the warm wind that blows from Te Hiku o Te Ika (the Tail of the Fish), the Māori name for Northland. Follow the tail to the end, to Te Reinga, to where two seas meet and mark the pathway of the spirits to Hawaiki, the spiritual homeland of Māori.
Featuring the Te Hau Raki design from the 2020 Ngā Hau e Wha coin set, this 100mm, 1kg silver proof coin has a maximum worldwide mintage of 100.
Technical information
Date of issue: 5 April 2023
Designer: Nick Jarvie, NZ Post, Wellington, New Zealand
Printer: Brebner Print, Napier, New Zealand
Withdrawal date: 4 April 2024
Technical information
Date of issue: November 2022
Designer: Dave Burke, Tauranga, New Zealand
Mint: BH Mayer’s Kunstprägeanstalt GmbH
Worldwide limited mintage: 100
2023 New Zealand Proof Currency Set
New Zealand is known around the world for its bee-related exportsmānuka honey, the Buzzy Bee toy and even live insects. Less known is the significance of New Zealand’s native bees - they don’t make honey, nor do they look much like the stereotypical specimen, but they are critical to our unique ecosystem.
Alongside a 1oz silver coin depicting a ngaro huruhuru - native bee - this set features proof versions of New Zealand’s circulating currency coins. Each coin is specially dated 2023.
Collectively, the coins feature many well-known New Zealand symbols, such as the Māori carved mask, known as a ‘kōruru’ on the 10-cent coin, and the HMS Endeavour, the ship of Captain James Cook, on the 50-cent coin. This set will be the final New Zealand
2023 Kiwi
The tokoeka is one of five kiwi species. It resides in the South Island, with three geographically distinct populationsHaast, Fiordland and Rakiura (Stewart Island).
It is estimated that before humans arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand, the kiwi population was as high as 12 million. In the centuries since, exacerbated by European colonisation in the 1800s and the impacts of deforestation and predation have led to their dramatic decline to an estimated 68,000 birds.
Unusual among kiwi, tokoeka are sometimes active during the daytime. On Rakiura they are often spotted by visitors and can sometimes be seen on the beach foraging for food. Tokoeka protect each other by living in family units, with offspring staying as helpers to their parents for up to seven years,
Technical information
Date of issue: February 2023
Designer (silver proof coin): Sacha Lees, Wellington, New Zealand Mint (silver proof coin): BH Mayer’s Kunstprägeanstalt GmbH Mint (proof currency coins): Royal Dutch Mint Worldwide limited mintage: 750
sharing the task of incubating their siblings. The combined population numbers for the three tokoeka taxa make it the most numerous kiwi species, with more than 30,000 birds in the wild.
Technical information
Date of issue: September 2022
Designer: Stephen Fuller, Wellington,
Proof currency set to feature Her Majesty the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 20th Anniversary
After 12 long months of eagerly anticipating part two of the trilogy, in late December 2002 fans were rewarded with the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. After the unbridled success of The Fellowship of the Ring, which was nominated for 13 Academy Awards, the second instalment had a tough act to follow. Nevertheless, the enthusiastic audiences for the sequel ensured it was not only the highest grossing film of that year but, at the time of its release, the third-highest grossing film of all time.
Each of the coins in these sets features one of the towers alluded to in the film’s title - Orthanc, the stronghold of evil wizard Saruman, and Barad-dur, where the spirit of the Dark Lord Sauron resides.
2023 Limited Edition New Zealand Five-Coin Proof Set
This limited-edition set features New Zealand’s iconic currency coins in magnificent proof quality. Each coin is specially dated 2023, and there are only 250 available worldwide.
New Zealand’s Māori culture is a vital part of our national identity. The 10-cent coin features a Māori carved mask, known as a ‘koruru’, with rafter patterns. Traditionally, a koruru is carved into the gables of a meeting house and is seen as the ‘guardian of the house’. The 20-cent coin portrays an 18th-century carving of Māori leader, Pukaki. After his passing, he was depicted in a carving that featured as part of a gateway to strengthen Ōhinemutu in preparation for attack. The carving today can be viewed in the entrance to the Rotorua District Council building. The 50-cent coin features the HMS Endeavour, the ship, Captain Cook sailed to become the first
Technical information
Date of issue: March 2023
Designer: Sacha Lees, Wellington, New Zealand
Mint: Royal Dutch Mint
Worldwide limited mintage:
• Set of two silver proof coins: 499 Set of two brilliant uncirculated coins: 1,000
Briton to reach New Zealand in October 1769.
New Zealand’s wildlife is celebrated on the one- and two-dollar coins. The one-dollar coin features New Zealand’s national bird, the kiwi, and the two-dollar coin features the kōtuku (white heron). In Māori oratory,
Technical information
Date of issue: February 2023
Mint: Royal Dutch Mint
Worldwide limited mintage: 250
referring to someone as a kōtuku is the highest compliment, as kōtuku are considered beautiful and rare.
Upcoming issues Stamps
King Charles III
For almost 1,000 years, each monarch of Britain, and later New Zealand, has been crowned in a special ceremony months after their accession. A coronation is an important day in the history of the nation, a vibrant shared experience for the public and an occasion of deep personal significance in the life of the monarch.
In a resplendent formal ceremony, on 6 May 2023 King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort will be crowned in Westminster Abbey, where all but two British monarchs have been crowned in the past 900 years. Featuring portraits of the King and Queen Consort, four stamps have been issued to commemorate the accession of King Charles III.
FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023
In 2023, the world’s top women’s football teams will gather to compete for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™. Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand are co-hosting this global football event, and millions of enthralled fans will have their eyes fixed on the games on both sides of the Tasman Sea from 20 July to 20 August 2023.
Featuring postage for medium and large letters to Australia, this commemorative miniature sheet presents vibrant artwork created in collaboration with Māori and First Nations artists for the tournament. The patterns in the Official Look reflect the diversity of Australia’s and Aotearoa New Zealand’s cultures and landscapes, and the beautiful game of football.
Technical information
Date of issue: 3 May 2023
Designer: Hannah Fortune, NZ Post, Wellington, New Zealand
Printer: Brebner Print, Napier, New Zealand
Withdrawal date: 2 May 2024
Technical information
Date of issue: 5 July 2023
Designer: Chris Jones, Graphetti, Wellington, New Zealand
Printer: Brebner Print, Napier, New Zealand
Withdrawal date: 4 July 2024
Avatar: The Way of Water
Sarah Brown Columnist
Back in 2019, internationally acclaimed film director James Cameron delivered his first feature film in a decade – and what an achievement it turned out to be! Avatar was an overnight boxoffice sensation, becoming the world’s highestgrossing movie of all time, winning dozens of international awards (including three Academy Awards) and achieving worldwide acclaim for its production, cinematography and special effects.
Thirteen years later, in December 2022, Cameron and Avatar producer Jon Landau introduced the second in the Avatar series. Titled Avatar: The Way of Water, it was translated into 160 languages worldwide and once again smashed box-office records, becoming the highest-grossing film of both 2022 and the COVID-19 pandemic era. What’s more, the movie broke new ground in technological innovation, delivering an outstanding experience in cinematic realism and magic.
Mainly set in 2170 – 15 years after the events of the first film – Avatar: The Way of Water continues the story of Jake Sully (played once again by Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña). They live happily on Pandora, a water-filled, Earth-like habitable moon, and now have a family of five children – Neteyam, Lo’ak and Tuk, and adopted children Kiri and Spider.
Tragically though, circumstances force the family to flee to the oceanic Metkayina clan, who live among the distant atolls of Pandora and whose lifestyle matches the rhythms of the waters. There the family must adapt to ocean life to survive, and once again Jake and Neytiri must work with the army of the Na’vi race to protect their home.
Revolutionising movie technology
The movie’s success can be attributed in large part to its use of groundbreaking technology and astonishing visual effects, especially those that bring ‘the way of water’ to life. If you’ve seen the movie you’ll know that the characters spend a lot of its three-plus hours diving in and out of the ocean, communing and communicating far beneath its surface. It’s an amazing sight, thanks to years of work by the partnership of James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment and New Zealand’s Wētā FX - an Oscar-winning visual effects powerhouse and a key player in the making of Avatar 1.
The making of the movie began in 2013, when Cameron gathered a team of writers to start planning the sequel to Avatar 1. Jon Landau, who’d produced all Cameron’s movies since Titanic in 1997, realised that the technological process that had been used to create the characters in Avatar 1 – called ‘performance capture’, in which actors’ body movements, voices and facial expressions are recorded then used to create their characters – wasn’t going to work under water. A new, and most importantly accurate and believable, solution was required.
Innovation and ingenuity
To ensure that the interactions between the characters and the water were as realistic as possible, a team of experts that included Wētā FX specialists was brought together to form the ‘Water Taskforce’. They in turn worked with New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research to design computergenerated water, taking into account its effects on tides, wind and the sea floor. The design was used in creating a 3,500,000-litre tank that could mimic the ocean’s kinetics and in which much of the performance-capture filming would take place.
It wasn’t going to be easy, as recording the underwater scenes presented major challenges for the actors and those in the crew responsible for filming and recording them. For example, the actors (who appear underwater for more than half of the movie) had to be able to stay underwater for as long as their performances required, and no-one could use scuba gear because the air bubbles would interfere with the special effects.
This left just one viable solution: everyone who would work in the tank had to learn how to hold their breath for extended periods of time. It took many months and the expertise of a professional free diver and coach, but the team eventually learned to be so comfortable in the water that they no longer thought they were diving. They were also taught to put on special wetsuits, turn on their own ‘facial capture’ camera rigs for each take (these would convert their face movements into a digital format), go through a safety countdown, and dive down and find their marks before performing their scenes.
The entire performance-capture shoot took about 18 months. In that time more than 250,000 free dives were made, and at its busiest the tank held 26 people underwater and holding their breaths. Then of course there were the grips (camera support equipment technicians) and lighting specialists, who were constantly submerging to tweak things on the set.
Among all this there were some true free-diving superstars. While most people could hold their breaths for up to four minutes, Kate Winslet, who plays the Na’vi character Ronal, reportedly held her breath for seven minutes and 15 seconds!
A triumph in Kiwi expertise
For the Wētā FX team, Avatar: The Way of Water was to be a project unlike any other, with challenges on a scale it had never experienced.
Given the challenge of blending underwater filming and performance capture, the team took a year and a half to develop a system that could record the movements of people and objects on land and under water. It was the start of what would be the company’s biggest-ever visual effects project, requiring a total of nearly 3.3 billion
thread powers (a way of measuring computing power). To cope with this huge amount of data, Wētā FX had to outsource the services of a cloud storage company.
The filming for Avatar: The Way of Water began in New Zealand in September 2017 and ended in late September 2020. Much of the movie’s live action was shot in Wellington and Auckland, and more than 90 percent of the crew were Kiwis. Of those, 46 featured in the movie itself (including Cliff Curtis as Tonowari and Duane Evans Jr as Roxto) and more than 100 local stunt artists and almost 800 Kiwi extras were also involved. According to Wētā FX, 57 new species of sea creatures were created for the film, and of the 3,240 effects shoots, 2,225 involved water.
Avatar: The Way of Water’s world premiere was held on 6 December 2022 at London’s Odeon Luxe Leicester Square. The result of millions of dollars, hundreds of people’s dedication and an uncountable number of hours worked, it’s truly an international success story – a source of great pride for all the New Zealanders who helped to transform an idea into a dream come true.
Left: Stamps from the Avatar: The Way of Water release.
Right: Avatar: The Way of Water first day cover.
From Donaldson’s Dairy to the history books
Popular both in New Zealand and around the world, Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy was the first in a series of books written and illustrated by acclaimed author Dame Lynley Dodd. Forty years on from its original publication, Dame Lynley’s work has been celebrated with its very own stamp issue.
Released on 1 March, the stamps showcase the book’s original canine characters including the much-loved scruffy pooch Hairy Maclary himself. They also pay tribute to Dame Lynley, who’s now a highly respected author and illustrator of 34 children’s picture books. More than two million copies of her work have been sold world-wide, and she says it’s an “enormous honour” to have her work chosen to be put on stamps and coins.
“It’s very special and slightly overwhelming,” she says.
Tauranga based, the 81-year-old can’t wait to see the stamps in circulation.
“They all look great and the colours are really nice. It’ll be a terrific thrill to see them in real life.”
Hairy Maclary literally fell out of Dame Lynley’s scrapbook. She recalls how, when looking for a new idea, a tiny sketch of a dog, drawn years earlier on a slip of notepaper, dropped out from between the pages.
The original sketch would evolve over time into the dog we have come to know, but the essential elements were all there. With just a few strokes of her pen Dame Lynley’s extraordinary ability to convey character, expression and movement brought Hairy Maclary
to life.
1 Hairy Maclary:
This is the first appearance in the book of its hero, and everything about him is already evident - animated, scruffy, expressive and determined. With a minimum of black ink and white space, Dame Lynley can convey a host of emotions and reactions. No one who has observed dogs and their ways can fail to see the essential accuracy of the depiction.
2 Hercules Morse:
Each dog sounds like it looks and looks like it sounds. Hercules Morse, the Great Dane, is the second dog we meet. He already looks anxious as he leaps the chain at number 54. Later, when the dogs are confronted by the cat Scarface Claw, Hercules Morse will appear one of the more terrified.
3 Bottomley Potts:
Originally conceived as a Beagle (until Dame Lynley realised that a spotted dog would, of course, have to be a Dalmatian), Bottomley Potts, like all the dogs we meet in the book, is framed by a front gate and yard that seem to echo
his own looks and personality.
4 Muffin McLay:
The other dog with a Scottish surname (despite being an Old English Sheepdog), Muffin McLay is possibly another reason for Scottish readers having taken Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy to heart. Dame Lynley has said that young Scots fans have simply refused to believe Hairy Maclary isn’t one of their own.
5 Bitzer Maloney:
In her original hand-written plan for the book, made before she wrote the words or illustrated them, Dame Lynley describes one dog as a “mongrel … a thin bitser” and then asks, “name Bitzer?” With a curlicued tail and prancing step, Bitzer Maloney seems cheerfully highly strung.
6 Schnitzel von Krumm:
To match his aristocratic name, the little dachshund emerges from the grandest gates in the book. Clearly, we have come some way up the street from the dairy and the other dogs’ humbler homes. Low slung and keen to keep up, Schnitzel von Krumm is the final friend we meet before all
1 Hairy Maclary $1.70 stamp. 2 Hercules Morse
$1.70 stamp. 3 Bottomley Potts $3.00 stamp.
4 Muffin McLay $3.80 stamp. 5 Bitzer Maloney
$4.30 stamp. 6 Schnitzel von Krumm $4.50 stamp.
six dogs embark on their adventure through town.
Personally approved by Dame Lynley herself, the stamp release includes a miniature sheet first day cover, greeting card set, enamel pin, and individual stamps ranging in price from $1.70 to $4.50.
NZ Post will also release two coins in the coming months: a brilliant uncirculated coin and a 1oz silver proof coin.
Women in Science
Mākereti Papakura, Lucy Moore, Joan Wiffen and Beatrice Hill Tinsley were the four scientists to feature on November’s Women in Science stamp issue. They were remarkable scientists who achieved in the fields of ethnography, botany, palaeontology and cosmology in the 20th century. Their contributions opened our eyes to our past, the natural world, our cultural traditions and legacies, and the universe. These four women exemplified a spirit of intellectual curiosity that widened horizons for those who followed.
$4.30
$1.70
Mākereti Papakura
Raised according to the traditions of her hapū (kinship group) in the small settlement of Parekārangi, south of Rotorua, then educated in English, Mākereti Papakura (18731930) was adept at bridging worlds. An accomplished host and guide at Whakarewarewa, she moved to England in 1912 to marry Oxfordshire landowner Richard Staples-Browne and, after her divorce in 1924, enrolled at the University of Oxford for a BSc in anthropology. Papakura’s lived experience at a time of colonisation, encounter and exchange, alongside her deep appreciation of the mātauranga (knowledge, wisdom,
understanding and skills) of her people, meant that her thesis, The Old-Time Māori, provided a nearunique scholarly analysis of customary practices within Te Arawa from the perspective of a woman. Wāhine Māori were critical knowledge holders and practitioners of mātauranga Māori pre-colonisation, with Tainui woman Kahupeka (c. 1400s) credited with the discovery of a wide range of plants and their medicinal properties.
Lucy Moore
A lifelong tramper, mountaineer and beachcomber, Lucy Moore (1906-1987) was fortunate in that her interest in the natural world was supported by her family and encouraged at Epsom Girls Grammar School, where she met her friend and collaborator Lucy Cranwell. Known as one of ‘the Two Lucies’ by classmates at Auckland University College, Moore initially struggled to find employment in science, working as a demonstrator and tutor, but started in the Botany Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in 1938, focusing on weeds, algae and fungi. Moore’s expertise in botany saw her
edit several ground-breaking works of taxonomy, and she continued this work after her retirement from the DSIR in 1971, producing The Oxford Book of New Zealand Plants in 1978. Moore’s meticulously detailed reference works are still regularly picked up by New Zealand scientists, gardeners and nature-lovers.
$3.80
Beatrice Hill Tinsley
In the second half of the 20th century, further fields of scientific discovery became accessible to women. After graduating from Canterbury University College with an MSc in physics, Beatrice Hill Tinsley (1941-1981) completed a PhD on the evolution of galaxies at the University of Texas at Austin. As a theoretical astrophysicist, her main tool was not a telescope, but a computer. Through her research, which covered star formation, stellar evolution and galactic evolution, she concluded that rather than having constant luminosity, galaxies became dimmer with age. In her short but
remarkable career in the United States, Hill Tinsley proved that the universe was infinite and would expand forever, and that galaxies evolved and interacted with each other.
$3.00
Joan Wiffen
Other women came to science without university training, and without paid employment. A geology night class inspired Joan Wiffen (1922-2009) to start fossicking for minerals and fossils. Her greatest discoveries were found close to her Hawke’s Bay home, in the Mangahouanga Stream north of Napier, which she explored with her husband Pont and their two children. There, she found the fossils of ancient marine reptiles such as the mosasaur and plesiosaur and, in 1975, Aotearoa’s first dinosaur bone - a tail bone from a theropod, a carnivorous dinosaur that walked on two legs. Wiffen continued fossil hunting, and
writing scientific papers to describe her finds, until well into her 80s. Her finds included carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaurs, including theropods, a sauropod, an armoured ankylosaur and a flying reptile called a pterosaur.
This piece is based on an article by Kate Hannah and Rebecca Priestley. Read the full article in New Zealand Stories in Stamps 2022 published by NZ Post Collectables.
Katherine Mansfield 1888-1923
Katherine Mansfield is Aotearoa New Zealand’s most internationally recognised historical literary figure, remembered for her distinctive prose and adventurous life. Although she left at a young age to pursue the cultural offerings in the United Kingdom that she had experienced as a teenager, many of Mansfield's stories were influenced by her memories of New Zealand.
Mansfield was born Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp on 14 October 1888 in Wellington. The house at 25 Tinakori Road, Thorndon in which she grew up with her parents, aunts and sisters, has been preserved as a visitor attraction and museum. Katherine Mansfield House & Garden is owned and run by the Katherine Mansfield Birthplace Society, a registered charity formed by Oroya Day in 1986. Through Katherine Mansfield House & Garden, the Katherine Mansfield Birthplace Society runs an annual events programme that includes talks, readings and activities to inspire literary creativity in young people. Following the purchase of the house, the Society undertook a significant restoration project to return it to its original state. The house and garden are listed as a Category 1 Historic Place.
In 2023, Katherine Mansfield House & Garden has been coordinating global opportunities to celebrate Katherine Mansfield and her legacy as one of the most influential writers of the modernist period. Speaking to the New Zealand Society of Authors, the Director of Katherine Mansfield House & Garden, Cherie Jacobson said, “This is an opportunity to uplift the awareness of one of our greatest artists. Katherine Mansfield had an extraordinary energy. Her life was one
of risk and innovation, and despite illnesses and prejudice, she produced work of such luminous force, of such vivid intensity, that it ignites us afresh, even 100 years later. One idea we’ve been discussing here at the house is simply to send a letter to someone you love: Katherine’s command of letters has left a brilliant example of the power of the word on an intimate level. And you can use the KM23 postage stamp to send it!”
Mansfield’s life has been celebrated through artistic performances around New Zealand. On 26 February, Mansfield in Her Own Words was held at the Mansfield Garden in Hamilton Gardens. Anna Coddington, Lawrence Arabia, Julia Deans, Lontalius, Lorina Harding, Charlotte Yates, and French for Rabbits all performed original music inspired by and set to Katherine Mansfield’s poems. On 27 March 2023, Wānaka was host to Woman of Words, a newly created biographical dance work. Exploring her personal stories, Mansfield’s intense, captivating and all-too-short life was taken to the stage using dance, text, colour and sound. The work was co-commissioned by the Wānaka Festival of Colour with support from the Royal New Zealand Ballet Foundation.
On 7 July, Victoria University of Wellington will host Katherine
Mansfield: The Last Things and Legacies, a conference that will reflect on her final years and her legacy, and host papers, presentations, and panel talks from scholars, historians and creative artists. The conference is a collaboration between Victoria University of Wellington English Literatures and Creative Communication Programme, the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies, the International Institute of Modern Letters and the Katherine Mansfield Birthplace Society and Katherine Mansfield House & Garden.
Events have been and will be hosted outside of New Zealand. In April in Cambridge, United Kingdom, awardwinning writer and critic Claire Harman took a fresh look at Mansfield’s biography and achievements side by side, through her revolutionary approach to the short story. From 13 to 15 October 2023, the Katherine Mansfield Society will host a conference in Avon, France that will take its theme from Mansfield’s claim in a 1920 letter to Ottoline Morrell that “Life is marvellous – I want to be deeply rooted in it – to live – to expand – to breathe in it – to rejoice – to share it”. Although it will be held in Mansfield’s final resting place, the conference will focus on rebirth and renewal, celebrating her love of life and the pleasure she found in the world around her.
Katherine Mansfield 18881923 first day cover
King Charles III A New Zealand effigy for coronation coins
Commemorative legal tender coins celebrating the coronation of King Charles III and featuring a New Zealander’s depiction of His Majesty on the obverse will be issued by NZ Post under licence from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua.
New Zealand’s own coins have always featured portraits of the reigning monarchs, beginning with King George V in 1933 when New Zealand coinage was first introduced to replace British currency.
Charles III will be the first king to appear on New Zealand’s decimal currency. As is tradition, the King’s portrait faces in the opposite direction to that of his predecessor, Queen Elizabeth II.
Wellington designer and illustrator Stephen Fuller developed the effigy to be used on New Zealand
commemorative coins, and it was personally approved by the King.
Minted in 0.999 silver and 0.9999 gold, six coins will be issued to commemorate the King’s coronation, including an 11mm gold coin weighing .5g and a 1oz silver coin.
The King Charles III commemorative coins will be issued in the lead-up to the coronation on Saturday 6 May. Taking place in Westminster Abbey, London, where all but two British monarchs have been crowned in the past 900 years, the King and
Queen Consort will be crowned in a resplendent formal ceremony that will be broadcast worldwide. The last coronation of a British monarch took place on 2 June 1953, when Queen Elizabeth II dedicated herself to lifelong service to the Commonwealth.
At the time of the Queen’s death in September last year, the Reserve Bank noted, “There is no immediate impact on New Zealand’s banknote and coins designs and cash use as a result of a change in Sovereign. All existing coins and $20 banknotes in circulation featuring Queen Elizabeth II remain legal tender. It will be several years before we need to introduce coins featuring King Charles III, and longer until stocks of $20 notes are exhausted.” No decision has been made on the effigy to be used on circulating coins.
Stamps will also be issued to commemorate the King’s accession and coronation. Find out more at collectables.nzpost.co.nz.
