A 250f value stamp was issued to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the arrival of James Cook at Tahiti.  The figure shown on the left is Tupaia, who joined Endeavour.

Ian Boreham

Originally published in Cook's Log, page 33, volume 42, number 2 (2019).

Six stamps were issued to celebrate the contribution food has made to the story of South Georgia. 

One of the two 55p values shows Johann Reinhold and Georg Forster, based on the 1782 etching of father and son by Daniel Berger. 

The other 55p value shows Greater burnet (Aceana magellanica, also known as Acaena adscendens), a sample of which was collected by the Forsters, and is now in the Natural History Museum, London.  On 17 January, 1775, Captain Cook described their visit to South Georgia.  He wrote, “Our Botanists found here only three plants, the one is a coarse strong bladed grass which grows in tufts, Wild Burnet and a Plant like Moss which grows on the rocks”.

This plant became important to later visitors as medicinal food because of its high vitamin C content.  It is thought that burnet was used by Captain James Weddell to cure scurvy when he passed by the island in 1823 during a voyage to Antarctica. 

Ian Boreham

Originally published in Cook's Log, page 2, volume 42, number 4 (2019).

I have seen this issue described as “Tuia Encounters 250”, as “the 250th anniversary of the journey of Tupaia from Tahiti to New Zealand” and as “Michel Tuffery’s Artistic Journey of Discovery”.

There are five stamps, all based on paintings by Michael Tuffery.  These stamps also appear in a miniature sheet.  The designs are described by the NZ Post Office as follows.

$1.30 A messenger from Ra’iate
Here, the white heron/ kotuku is a messenger of connection looking towards Opoutama, a site of significant exchanges between Tupaia and Uawa tangata whenua.

$1.30 Taiato and Young Nick, the adventurers arrive in Aotearoa, 1769
Tupaia’s nephew Taiato appears here alongside a fellow 12-year-old boy from the other side of the world.  It was Nicholas Young who sighted land from Endeavour’s masthead on 6 October, 1769.

$2.60 Te Maro and Solander, two intellectuals from opposite sides of the world, 1769
Te Maro’s descendent Nick Tupara is depicted here in place of his ancestor who was killed at this tragic first meeting of Maori and British at the Turanganui River.

$3.30 Parkinson at Opoutama, 1769
White blossoms of Tahitian tiare maori join Aotearoa’s vibrant red ngutukaka/kakabeak in this portrait of natural history artist Sydney Parkinson that celebrates his relationship with Tupaia.

$4.00 Not another Kuki story
Here we see Tupaia as migratory tuna, guiding Cook on his voyage and translating between people long separated yet always connected—seeds sown from Ra’iatea.

Ian Boreham

Originally published in Cook's Log, page 32, volume 43, number 1 (2020).