Date of Issue : 11 Aug 2009
Postmark : Rippleside VIC 3215
Denomination : 4 x 55c
Stamp Size : 37.5 mm x 26 mm
Paper : Tullis Russell
Printing Process : Lithography
Flexible, lightweight, cheap and reusable, corrugated iron is a familiar material in the Australian landscape. Corrugated iron, despite its name, is now made of steel and is metal crimped so as to greatly increase its strength. A product of industrial and imperial Britain, where it was invented and patented in 1829, it was exported to Australia from 1850 onwards. Vast numbers of prefabricated dwellings were erected to house colonial settlers, gold miners and other workers. Today, corrugated iron pervades the cities; it is no longer just a symbol of the bush. This stamp issue features a few of these corrugated buildings – a water tank in Fleurieu Peninsula SA, a traditional house in Broken Hill NSW, a shearing shed in Bushy Park Cattle Station QLD and the Magney House in Bingie Bingie Point NSW.