Behind the complexity
New Zealand’s postal service began in 1840, with the Treaty of Waitangi, signed by the Governor and over 500 Maori Chieftains all around the country. This guaranteed the rights of both Maori and Paheka (non-Maori) people to property and representation in Parliament. It signalled the end of lawlessness in the North Island by bands of whalers and sealers. And it set a firm constitutional framework for the future growth. That year, nine Post Offices opened on both islands.
In 1841, New Zealand officially became a Crown Colony and control of the Post Office passed from New South Wales to the GPO, who ran things until 1848.
New Zealand’s first stamps appeared in 1855 and were created by Perkins Bacon. Known as the ‘Full Face’ stamps, they used the portrait of Queen Victoria by Alfred Edward Chalon, which depicts the Queen on the occasion of her first speech in the House of Lords. The portrait appears in the stamps of nine other colonies. And like all Perkins Bacon’s stamps at the time, they were recess-printed.
The plates were shipped to New Zealand along with the first supplies of stamps and printing passed to a commercial printer: J Richardson. The
