National Development Issue 1970

The search for new mineral deposits, mining and offshore oil drilling are very much in the news today and so the issue of a series of Australian postage stamps devoted to National Development was most timely.

The first four stamps in the series went on sale at post offices throughout Australia on 31 August 1970.

The stamp designs depict the Snowy Mountains Hydro - electric Scheme, the Ord River Scheme, bauxite mining and the exploitation of oil and natural gas. It is intended that other national development subjects will be featured on future stamps in the series.

The National Development stamps replace the Barrier Reef series. 7c Humbug Fish. 8c Coral Fish. 9c Hermit Crab and 10c Anemone Fish which have been on issue since the introduction of decimal currency in 1966.

The stamps of the National Development series have a common format; in each, the left-hand panel shows the development of the natural resource, and the right-hand panel shows utilisation or finished products. Three Melbourne artists prepared - the designs.

The Snowy Mountains Scheme was initiated in 1949 with the setting up of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority by the Commonwealth Government. It was to become the largest single engineering project ever undertaken in Australia.

In an area of more than 2,000 square miles of rugged mountainous country, so far there have been built 50 miles of aqueducts, 90 miles of tunnels, 16 large dams, seven power stations and hundreds of miles of transmission lines.

Falling 2,600 feet through the tunnels and power stations, the waters generate electricity for the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Victoria, supplementing the power grid system of these areas, especially at peak load periods. When completed in 1974 the Scheme will be producing 5,000 million kilo-watt hours annually. Revenue from electricity supply will meet all costs of the Scheme, expected to be $800 million, and the additional water for irrigation is thus a bonus, made available without charge.

The Ord River Scheme was planned to provide water storage and irrigation facilities for the area. The first dam was completed in 1963. This, the diversion dam, stores a large amount of water, and controls the flow to the farms already established. The main dam is now under construction further back in the mountains; when completed it will have a storage seven times the capacity of Sydney Harbour, and will permit irrigation of more than 170,000 acres.

The new town of Kununurra which is a modern community specially planned for the semi-tropical location is the centre of the Ord Scheme.

The black soil plains are ideally suited to cotton. which is the main crop. The land is usually heavily irrigated in October and November, and seed is planted in December. The first flowers appear after about six weeks, a id picking of bolls begins about June. Cotton flowers are yellow when they first open. changing gradually to pink.

Besides cotton. some rice, safflower. linseed and cereals are grown. Apart from these modern innovations, the traditional Kimberley cattle industry continues on the big pastoral properties in the area.

Until the 1950s Australia had no known deposits of bauxite of sufficient size and quality to develop for aluminium production. Then, in quick succession, three major deposits were recognised — at Weipa in Queensland, at Gove in the Northern Territory, and in the Darling Ranges in Western Australia. Now Australia is ranked with Guinea as equal first in the world in respect of bauxite reserves.

Bauxite is heated under pressure with caustic soda, and converted (through several stages) to alumina. Aluminium is then obtained by passing an electric current through alumina. About four pounds of bauxite make two pounds of alumina, which makes one pound of aluminium.

There are three alumina refineries operating in Australia. The oldest is located at Bell Bay close to the mouth of the Tamar River on the North Coast of Tasmania. This plant first produced alumina in 1955. The other refineries are at Kwinana, Western Australia and at Gladstone, Queensland. A fourth alumina plant at Gove in the Northern Territory is expected to be operational in 1971.

The three aluminium smelters at present operating in Australia are at Kurri Kurri, near Newcastle in New South Wales, Point Henry near Geelong in Victoria and Bell Bay, Tasmania.

Although natural gas was used to light the streets of Roma, Queensland, in the early 1900s. the search for oil and natural gas in Australia was only recently intensified.

In 1965, extensive off-shore discoveries of oil and natural gas were made along the Gippsland coast of Victoria and natural gas from these Bass Strait fields is being piped to Melbourne. Shortly, the fields will also supply about half of Australia's total crude oil needs.

Further fields have been developed near Roma, and natural gas from there is supplied to Brisbane. The Moonie and Alton fields in Queensland and the Barrow Island field in Western Australia produced about 8 per cent of Australia's crude oil in 1968. In far north South Australia, the Gidgealpa-Moomba fields are producing natural gas for Adelaide.

The potential value of natural gas in Australia is still not fully realised — already used extensively for domestic and industrial fuel, it may also provide the means for developing new industries, and become a valuable export, in liquid form.

The new stamps are in a larger size (37.5 mm x 25 mm) than the Barrier Reef stamps. Printing was by photogravure by the Note Printing Branch, Reserve Bank of Australia, Melbourne.

Source: Post Age: September 1970