The only adhesive postage stamps portraying King Edward VII issued in Australia were of £1 and £2 denominations and were part of the Victorian regional series. Having appeared after Federation, they were Australian Commonwealth stamps.

The £1 denomination was issued on 18th November, 1901, and the £2 on 2nd June, 1902. It is of interest that the first two sheets printed of each value were reserved for the Royal Family, one pair of sheets being presented to King Edward VII and the second to the Duke of York.

The£1 stamp was initially carmine in colour and the £2 deep blue. Both stamps were printed on the usual "V over Crown" watermarked stamp paper then currently in use and issued in sheets of 80, perforated 12½. . In 1905, they appeared with perforation gauging 11.

Paper watermarked with the device of a "Crown over A" was adopted in 1905 for the printing of stamps for use in Victoria and the £1  stamp was issued on this paper in 1907 and the £2 in 1906, sheet content being as before. The colour of the £2 stamp in this printing can be described as deep blue. The£1  was in a salmon shade. A subsequent printing of the latter stamp, about 1910, was in rose colour and a still later printing, in 1912, in a deep dull rose shade.

The first printings on the Crown over A paper were perforated 121 but subsequently both this and an 11 gauge were in use. The two stamps remained current until replaced in 1913 by similar denominations of the Kangaroo and Map series.

While it is not practicable to give details of quantities issued of the two King Edward VII stamps during their currency, it is recorded that during 1904-05 the total issue of £1  stamps was only 110 and of the £2 only 85. In the following year the respective figures were 131 and 221. It would then seem that the demand increased rapidly and in the calendar year 1910 the issues were 13,874 of the £1  and 6,122 of the £2.

The accompanying illustrations show the approved design (at approximately actual size) and specimens of the stamps, slightly enlarged.

Extracted from APO Philatelic Bulletin Vol. II no. 4, February 1964