Australian States - Detail

Australian States
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The Australian colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia produced their own issues before Federation in 1901.  Stamps inscribed for the individual states continued in use after federation until the end of December 1912.

New South Wales
From November 1838 the Sydney General Post Office supplied letter sheets pre-stamped with an embossing at 1 ½ d each or 1 shilling and 3 pence per dozen.  From January 1841, the price was reduced to 1 shilling per dozen.  The public was also able to present their own stationery for embossing. 
This practice continued until May 1852, when the Post Office refused to process mail unless it was franked with postage stamps.

The early postage stamps of New South Wales were printed under supervision and in January 1857, the responsibility of printing them was passed to the Government printer.
Interestingly, correspondence from New Caledonia was passed through Sydney and was franked with NSW postage stamps in combination with local stamps too.

Queensland
The area (named Moreton Bay District) was initially a part of the New South Wales colony and the first post office established in Brisbane used postage stamps of New South Wales.  In December 1859, the district was proclaimed as a separate colony but the use of NSW stamps continued until November 1860.

South Australia

Tasmania

Victoria
As the settlements in Australia were expanded, the growing population of the Port Phillip District in the south of New South Wales led to a movement that supported cessation.  The British Government approved the creation of a separate colony in 1849 but the colony wasn’t created until July 1851.

Postal reforms introduced by the New South Wales Legislative Council (January 1850) allowed the use of stamps inscribed ‘VICTORIA’ to be produced by local printers and used, even though the official status of the new colony wasn’t activated yet.

Western Australia