The Australian Antarctic Territory is located 3,000 kilometres to the south of the Australian continent. The huge continent of Antarctica occupies 13.5 million square kilometres and of this area the vast Australian Antarctic Territory makes up around six million square kilometres. This region, almost entirely covered with permanent ice and snow, is equivalent to around 75 per cent of the land mass of Australia.
East Antarctica makes up two-thirds of the Antarctic continent and includes the 5.9 million square kilometres of the Australian Antarctic Territory. The East Antarctic ice sheet flows off the Antarctic continent into the surrounding Southern Ocean. Many species, including penguins, seals, seabirds, corals and fish rely on this pristine environment for survival.
This stamp issue features several deep sea creatures that contribute to the unique biodiversity of the waters off East Antarctica. These are:
- $1 Antarctic sea star (Odontaster validus)
- $1 Antarctic neosquid (Alluroteuthis antarcticus)
- $2 Pogonophryne ssp. and Antarctic pink anemone (Urticinopsis antarctica)
- $2 Dorid nudibranch (Tritoniella belli) and Deep sea bryozoan
Designer
Stacey Zass, page 12 Design
Products released in this issue
- First day cover (blank, gummed, minisheet)
- Maxicards
- Minisheet
- Stamp pack
- Postal and numismatic cover
Technical specifications
- Issue date
- 7 March 2017
- Issue withdrawal date
- 30 September 2017
- Denominations
- 2 x $1, 1 x $2, 1 x $3
- Stamp design
- Stacey Zass, page 12 Desig
- Product design
- John White
- Printer
- Ego
- Paper - gummed
- Tullis Russell Red Phos
- Printing process
- Offset lithography
- Stamp size
- 35mm x 35mm
- Minisheet size
- 170mm x 80mm
- Perforations
- 14.28 x 14.28
- Sheet layout
- Module of 50
- FDI postmark
- Kingston TAS 7050
- FDI withdrawal date
- 4 April 2017
This content was produced at the time of the stamp issue release date and will not be updated.
