Antarctic working dogs in Australia’s 2014 stamp issue

Key facts

Issue date

9 September 2014 [source]

Creative credits

Design: Jo Muré; photography: Gary Backhouse [source]

Identify the issue before the image

Australia Post dates the issue to 9 September 2014. The archived product page uses the title Era of the Huskey, with that spelling, and lists four stamps across two denominations. It states that the products are no longer on sale. This is an issue record, not a current shop listing or a valuation of surviving stamps.

Photography becomes graphic design

The publisher describes two portraits and two landscape-oriented team images. Its account discusses the period photography, angled image windows and typography used in the designs. Credit the design and the photograph as separate contributions: the issue record names Jo Muré for design and Gary Backhouse for photography. This gives a researcher specific names to follow instead of attributing every creative choice to an unnamed institutional author.

What a stamp can tell a researcher

Compare the dog’s representation with its context: an individual portrait, a team at work or a commemorative narrative. Note the issue date separately from the date of the underlying photograph. A stamp can establish that an image was selected for a particular publication; it does not by itself establish the identity, breed registration or complete working history of every dog pictured. Keep observations about composition separate from claims about the dogs’ lives.

Using the record responsibly

For an exhibition or article, save the exact title, issue date, design credit and source address in the research notes. Link readers to the publisher’s archived entry. Buying a physical stamp is separate from obtaining permission to reproduce its design or the source photograph. Before printing a large image, ask which rights apply to the intended use rather than assuming a collectable is an unrestricted image asset.

Common questions

Sources & further reading

References for this guide. Rules and services can change; check the responsible organisation for current details.

• Australia Post — AAT: Era of the Huskey archived issue (opens in a new tab)

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