One of the items inherited from my paternal grandmother is a collection of first day covers, some franked and some not. Such items don’t generally hold a lot of financial value, but they highlight significant historical events and milestones.

First day covers are issued by the postal service, Australia Post, previously the Post Master General’s Department. They commemorate the first day of a new stamp, and often include a special illustration known as a cachet. Being franked (postmarked) became another valued feature from the 1960s.

Amongst those collected by my grandmother is a first day cover in memory of Sir Winston Churchill, on the occasion of his death in January 1965. There are also first day covers from the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the 30th anniversary of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the 50th anniversary of the 1927 opening of Parliament House in Canberra, and the 30th anniversary of the first trans-Tasman flight in 1938 by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm.

First day covers can offer a kind of timeline, and a reminder of national and international events during the lives of our relatives.

Selected references

‘Welcome’, Australian FDC Guide, http://davidaedwards.com/ausfdclist/, accessed 14 September 2025.

‘Category: Australia First Day Covers’, Stamps of the World, https://www.stampsoftheworld.co.uk/wiki/Category:Australia_First_Day_Covers, accessed 14 September 2025.

‘First Day Cover (FDC)’, Find Your Stamps Value, https://findyourstampsvalue.com/helpful-terms/first-day-cover-fdc, accessed 14 September 2025.

‘First Day Cover Collecting Basics’, First Day Covers Online, https://www.firstdaycoversonline.com/first-day-cover-collecting-basics/, accessed 14 September 2025.