Ring of Brodgar and Stonehenge star on stamps

Submitted by Andy B on Thursday, 05 May 2005 Page Views: 5399

We may sit at opposite ends of the planet but the UK and Australia have cultural heritages steeped in thousands of years of history and mystery. Now Royal Mail and Australia Post celebrate eight of their countries’ World Heritage Sites on a special joint stamp issue out now for a limited time.

Each country has both natural and cultural (man made) sites, but it was decided that Australia would draw on its array of incredible natural formations while the UK focused on its equally celebrated man–made monuments. Stonehenge is on the First Class and Brodgar can be found on the 68p stamps. You can view the designs here.

Royal Mail’s Head of Special Stamps Julietta Edgar, said: “These eight stamps provide a fantastic showcase of both countries cultural heritage”.

One man who could tell a tale or two about natural Australian landscapes is Francis Firebrace, the celebrated Aboriginal Australian storyteller who is touring the UK.

He visited Stonehenge to launch the World Heritage Site stamps, re-enacting an Aboriginal ceremony within the stone circle itself, watched by 60 schoolchildren from nearby Durrington Primary School.

Earlier in the day, an image of the Stonehenge stamp was projected onto the stones at sunrise and photographed by local photographer Charlie Waite.

Brief Background to the sites:

Hadrian’s Wall

Built on the orders of the Emperor Hadrian c. A.D. 122 at the northernmost limits of the Roman province of Britannia, the 118-km-long wall is a striking example of the organisation of a military zone.

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

Featuring spectacular geological formations that dominate the vast red sandy plain of central Australia, the park is most famous for Uluru, formerly Ayers Rock, the world’s largest monolith.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge and Avebury, in Wiltshire, are among the most famous groups of megalithic monuments in the world. The two sanctuaries consist of circles of menhirs (single standing stones) arranged in a pattern whose astronomical significance is still being explored. These holy places and the nearby Neolithic sites are an incomparable testimony to prehistoric times.

Wet Tropics of Queensland

Tropical rainforests dominate this 450km stretch along the north-east coast of Australia. It also offers a particularly extensive and varied array of plants, as well as marsupials and singing birds, along with other rare and endangered animals and plant species.

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace, near Oxford, stands in a romantic park created by the famous landscape gardener ''Capability'' Brown. It was presented by the English nation to John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, in recognition of his victory in 1704 over French and Bavarian troops.

Building work on this eclectic palace began 300 years ago in 1705 and was completed in 1722.

Greater Blue Mountains Area

The Greater Blue Mountains Area consists of 1.03 million ha of sandstone plateaux, escarpments and gorges dominated by temperate eucalypt forest.

Heart of Neolithic Orkney

The monuments of Orkney, dating back to 3000-2000 BC, consist of a large chambered tomb (Maes Howe), two ceremonial stone circles (the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar) and a settlement (Skara Brae), together with a number of unexcavated burial, ceremonial and settlement sites.

Purnululu National Park

Western Australia’s Purnululu National Park contains the Bungle Bungle Range composed of quartz sandstone eroded over a period of 20 million years into a series of beehive-shaped towers or cones.

These cones owe their existence and uniqueness to several interacting geological, biological, erosional and climatic phenomena.

Note: More ancient site stamps in our gallery

Contributor Bio for Andy B: Megalithic Portal Founding Editor.

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