It’s time for another instalment of the Fair Dinkum Aussie Alphabet stamp series and it’s a beauty! Illustrator Gavin Ryan has produced five illustrations based around the letters B, G, J, K and U.
The Fair Dinkum Aussie Alphabet part 3 released 17 October 2017, so there’s still time to sharpen your Aussie vernacular! Your job is to locate as many Aussie icons, places, characters, items and fauna as possible beginning with that letter and make up your own fantastical tale. After all, spinning a yarn is a very “Aussie” thing to do – so feel free to bend the truth a little, too.
No one’s totally sure where the term “spin a yarn” actually comes from. Some suggest it’s an expression that those at sea used when twisting together yarns of old rope and telling ‘unbelievable’ stories at the same time. Others suggest it comes from story-telling sessions between women who spun yarn on spinning wheels together. There is also a suggestion that the expression comes from the phrase “spinning a thread”, which was used as far back as the 1300s in a medieval romance novel.
Either way, we’ve spun a few yarns of our own, below.
B is for ...
Budgie-smuggler-wearing Bruce berates some belligerent blowflies that are making a bee-line for the barra that is boiling in a billy on the barbie. Will he ever get them off his back?
G is for ...
Gazza the geezer is behaving like a right galah – gesticulating wildly in his gumboots, sending the guarded gecko scampering over the garden gnome and up the gum-tree sign post. Will Gazza get his gasket going in time to make it home to Gladstone?
J is for ...
Jenny the Jillaroo (who is very fond of jam) is feeling so jolly about the joke she just told that she forgets to rein in her jovial, jostling jumbucks.
K is for ...
Kit the kelpie is feeling quite cosy inside the pouch of a kangaroo suit. Kenny the Koala is so comfy that he’s very keen for a kip. Inside the suit is Kevin. He’s a kind-hearted kid. What kooky adventures will they get up to in Katoomba?
U is for ...
The poor Ulysses butterfly is feeling utterly unsure about the untidy ute full of uggs that are under the guard of a ukulele-playing umpire! It’s all rather unsettling.
Some products to keep you laughing …
As well as the brilliant stamps, there are some bonza products, including a booklet collection containing five booklets of 10 self-adhesive stamps – one booklet for each of the five designs, as well as a “K” postal numismatic cover.
The Fair Dinkum Aussie Alphabet part 3 is available from 17 October 2017, online, at participating Post Offices and via mail order on 1800 331 794, while stocks last.
View the gallery of stamps and technical specifications for this issue
This article was produced at the time of publication and will not be updated.
Author
