Australia Post makes a stunning error in series of stamps created to mark nation’s volcanic past – can you spot the huge stuff-up?
- Australia Post releases ‘Australia’s Volcanic Past’ series of four $1.10 stamps
- Each shows the volcano captained, except the Wollumbin Mount Warning stamp
- Australia Post said the choice of Mount Doughboy on the stamp was deliberate
The release of a stunning national stamp series has been marred by a huge error in one of the collectables.
Australia Post’s new series depicting ‘Australia’s volcanic past’ includes four stamps each with an image of a different ancient volcano – except the stamp labelled Wollumbin Mount Warning shows a different NSW peak.
That stamp has the nearby Mount Doughboy in the foreground, with Mount Warning just visible at the very top right hand corner, under the $1.10 value.
The release of Australia Post’s stunning ‘volcanic past’ stamp series has been marred by what looks like a huge error in one of the collectables
The series includes four stamps each with an image of a different ancient volcano – except the stamp labelled Wollumbin Mount Warning shows a different New South Wales peak.
Both peaks are part of the huge extinct Tweed volcano, which was more than 100km in diameter and last erupted 23 million years ago.
Australia Post said the choice was deliberate in a statement to Daily Mail Australia and maintained the stamp was ‘accurate’.
‘All the features represented on the stamp are features of the Tweed Volcano, which is often called Mt Warning volcano in literature,’ it said.
‘Wollumbin is the central plug of the volcano, and the “Doughboy” is a lump of more resistant lava from the volcano.
‘While we can understand that locals might have expected that Wollumbin Mt Warning would be featured in the foreground, the decision was made to caption the stamps with the common geographic names.’
Tweed Shire Mayor Chris Cherry described the mistake as ‘unfortunate’ but was pleased the area would receive national exposure through the stamp series, the Courier Mail reported.
She invited Australia Post representatives to come to the Tweed and ‘enjoy the majesty of Wollumbin and its iconic presence’.
A drone aerial view shows the Tweed River and Wollumbin Mount Warning in the background
The volcanos shown on the other three stamps – Table Cape in Tasmania; Mount Elephant, Victoria; and Lord Howe Island, NSW – all match the captions on the stamps.
Australia Post’s Group Philatelic Manager Michael Zsolt said the new stamp issue highlighted the country’s rich volcanic history and would appeal to those interested in geology and the Australian landscape.
‘More than 4,000km of Australia’s east coast was forged by volcanic activity from tens of millions of years ago to just 5,000 years ago,’ he said.
‘This stamp issue will hopefully encourage more people to visit one of Australia’s many fascinating and beautiful volcanoes.’