Members Pen Pictures

The following Pen Pictures were extracted from the Country Corner Bulletins, and were written by Ed Wolf.

David Collyer

A professional librarian at the Blackwattle Bay Campus Sydney, David also has a science degree in geology. He has been collecting since a child; his father was a well-known collector and a member of the APF before him. David’s interests are wide but he prefers military mail, polar, contemporary, postal history and some aspects of aerophilately. He has displayed at local, federal and overseas levels and is an Australian judge in the Postal History, Literature and Aero classes.

A researcher of some note David has published on Airgraphs and is currently working on a paper dealing with a Coronation event. A very willing helper David has been called on by many when they wish to find what has been published in their particular area. His knowledge of the philatelic literature field is vast and astounding and has led him to the National position of delegate to FIP Literature Commission. He is an archivist for the APF and is a member of many societies including The Royal of London and Sydney, the NSW, ACCC and Polar.

A recipient of the Member of the Australian Philatelic Order (MAP) David can be seen at most philatelic exhibitions in some capacity either as a judge or as an exhibitor. He devotes virtually all his spare time to his hobby. Long may he continue to do so!

Linda Lee

Linda is a stamp collector and exhibitor with a passion. She retired from the Department of Education and Training in 1999. Originally an English/History teacher, her teaching experience comes through in her strong interest in Youth Philately. She shamelessly uses all the means available to her to promote this aspect of the hobby to the point of demanding that all State and National Shows in NSW have a Youth Class. Fortunately her powerful and influential friends indulge her on this point so Youth Philately is quite strong and healthy in NSW, although more can be done of course!

Linda is very keen on thematic collecting and exhibiting and has had some success with her main collection “Women in Society”. It has been shown internationally and won a Gold Medal at Pacific Explorer 2005. She also has an exhibit “Flower Magic” which “grew” out of her passionate interest in flowers and gardening. She has recently made an attempt to enter Traditional class by producing a one-frame exhibit on the long-term definitive Australian stamp set,  “Pioneer Life 1972-75”.  She also collects Algeria Pre-Independence and has destroyed several French dictionaries trying to understand the literature well enough to understand what she is looking at.  If you hear her muttering “bleu foncee” or “bat a vap”, be very afraid!

When not actually working on a collection, she finds time to be involved in National Judging and in being the Secretary of the Philatelic Development Council. Her Minute taking betrays her long experience in the Australian Public Service. It is short and precise and accurate. Linda’s love of the hobby is clearly demonstrated in her dedication. She leaves no stone, stamp or cover unturned.

Lionel Savins

Although now best known as the President of Philas, Lionel wears several hats in the organisation and is kept very busy swapping these hats around. For example he is on the editorial committee for Philas News, on the Philas and Philatelic Development Councils, is on the house committee and helps on both Tuesdays and Saturdays. He is also a grandfather keen to see his grand kids play sport so his loyalty is divided on the weekend.

Like many, Lionel collected as a schoolboy his interest then being mostly confined to Australia, the British Empire (that dates him!) particularly Canada and Jamaica and anything else that caught his fancy. When University study interfered he claims he was first distracted by beer (as all engineers are) and then he discovered girls. Out the window went the thought of stamp collecting only to be revised some 20 years later when he got over his discovery phase.  He now concentrates on the stamps of New Zealand but has retained in interest in Jamaica that may well be rekindled.

Lionel now finds his time with stamps limited because his other involvements. He has exhibited at the Northern Beaches Stamp Expo on two occasions and also at the Black Wattle Bay exhibition held in 2005. He has sat for the course and is currently a State Level Judge.

An engineer by profession, he has not yet fully retired and manages to dabble in both work and pleasure in about equal measures. It is through Lionel’s determination that Philas is expanding its role away from solely an auction house with a library to the one- stop shop concept. This move is still developing. It is particularly in the area of exhibiting that Lionel has recognised the state needs to lift its game and he is doing everything possible to facilitate that process. We owe him a great deal of thanks.

John Batson

John is the quiet type that rarely gets a mention. It is not until you investigate what he has done that you begin to appreciate what he has achieved and then you dip your lid.

Like many other collectors, John Batson started his interest in stamps at en early age.  He thinks he was about seven years old.  Again like many before him he reached the age of 16 and probably discovered other things because he gave away his collection of stamps to pursue other interests.

It was many years later at work at Prospect County Council that a fellow employee rekindled the old flame.  A 5/- Harbour Bridge was brought into work and the talk led from one thing to another to eventually ending with a change of ownership at about $70 of one green stamp.  John was away on his second launch.

In 1973 he joined the Parramatta Philatelic Society. His talents were soon recognised and before long John had joined the committee of this thriving club.  He was elevated to the position of treasurer and did such a good job there they kept him in that role for about 15 years.  In 1987 he was made a life member of the P.P.S.

Besides collecting Australian mint and used in the late sixties early seventies, John also started a thematic display revolving around his secondary interest aircraft.  When the Isle of Man started to issue stamps in its own right in 1973. John thought it a good idea to add these to his collecting requirement.

The next step up in the philatelic world, in 1981, was an invitation to join the Stamp Promotion Council of N.S.W. Within six months he was elected President and served in this position until 1993. In 1988 he took on the position of Treasurer and is still clinging to the purse strings of the SPC (in its latest guise as the Philatelic Development Council of NSW). One of John’s claims to fame has been his involvement in the production of Maximum cards on behalf of the SPC.  This venture was most successful financially and provided funds to aid philately in NSW in other areas.

In 1997 John took on the position of Frames Officer, for the A.P.F. overseeing the delivery of the current national display frames from Singapore. He supervised the unpacking, maintenance (organising working bees) and storage of the frames and supervising in the movement of the frames to and from the National Exhibitions.

He retired from this position in 2002.

John’s long association with the ASPC, APF, PHILAS and the NSW Stamp Council has enabled him to provide an ongoing valued contribution to National and State organised Philately. In 2003 John was presented with a SPAN award by the APF for his contribution to Philately in Australia.

Although he has by now been retired form active work for more than 10 years, his activities with the Philatelic community demand that much of his time that he still has not yet managed to return to his collection.  With a son Anthony in the US and a daughter Lynette with three sons, living in Australia, family has also played a role.  John and Judy make frequent trips overseas to keep the links of the family strong. A collection has been put away for Anthony and Lynette without either being aware of its existence

Three of the grandsons attended the Parramatta 2006 Christmas function and are showing early stages of a collecting interest. I am sure that grandpa will supply them with enough material to keep them busy.

Just when he thought things were getting a little easier he accepted the invitation to take on the position of Hon. Treasurer at Philas due to the retirement of long serving Treasurer Nita Wilson

John is a thoroughly nice guy that can be relied upon to produce the goods whenever asked. Thanks for all you have done for the stamp world John.

Geoff Lewis

I first met Geoff in 1995 when he was exhibiting his material at the Sydney Centre Point National Exhibition. There his 8-frame Philippines entry was rewarded with Large Gold and the ASDA prize of a set of Crystal glasses. This just goes to prove that perseverance pays off because Geoff had exhibited a portion of the same entry 12 years earlier at Ausipex 1984 where it earned a Large Silver medal.

Geoff’s interest in anything Hispanic and particularly the Philippines are no doubt connected with his wife Lolita who hails from there. Rather than collect postage stamps, Geoff’s slant has always been the postal history aspect and preferably in the stampless period. He has expanded his horizon to include Cuba, another major Spanish colony and continues to be on the lookout for that elusive material.

As a researcher he has co-authored a book on the Spanish mail system titled The Postal History of the Spanish Philippines in 2000. No mean feat when your native tongue is English! His Monograph and journal articles on the Spanish Philippines have an importance in regards the postal history of adjacent areas in Asia.

He has also written journal articles on a range of pre twentieth century postal history topics. Dr Lewis has also fostered research in the NSW Philatelist, published by the Philatelic Society of New South Wales where he has been President for over 10 years.

He has formed significant exhibits of Postal History on the Spanish period of Philippines and Cuba as well as mail through Spain. The research shown in each of these exhibits has helped them attained high awards at International level.  He is one of a few international collectors who have been invited to be a member of the Spanish Academy of Philately.
Currently besides Geoff’s exhibiting he is also the President of Sydney Stamp Expo 2007 and was a big help with the organising of Sydney Stamp Expo 2005 and Pacific Explorer 2005. Starting from the Northern Beaches Stamp Expo judging program Geoff has rapidly passed through the ranks and is now a National and International judge as well.

In his working life Geoff is best known for the software he develops for accounting packages one of the best known being the PAY-PACK payroll system. He gained his doctorate in mathematics from the University of NSW after showing very early talent in this field.

A quiet achiever he really is an asset to the philatelic world.

Cyril McColough

I can’t remember when I first bumped in Cyril but I do recall that it was a long time ago. Clearly he has been involved with the hobby for a long time but then he has passed the three score years and ten mark by some considerable distance.

You could really sum up Cyril by saying “ if it’s a Sydney based stamp organisation Cyril has had his hand in it somewhere”. Just to prove the point try this for involvement

  • Member of Philas since inceptionin 1971 and thus a member of some society BEFORE that date.
  • By the 1990 Cyril hit his straps because he was a member of the Stamp Delegation to China 1990 and Shanghai 1991 (that sort of junket doesn’t go to a junior member).
  • Following this visit he formed the China Study Group of the Philatelic Society of NSW and became its secretary in 1991 and in the same year became a Committee member of Philas. (He has been there ever since).
  • That year he also became the co-founder of the Sydney Youth Group and leader of the Junior group of that excellent institution aiming to raise awareness of stamps amongst kids. Has been involved on Kids corner at Mountex, Centrepoint 95, Australia 99, Olymphilex 2000 and again at the recent SSE2007. He also distributes the Youth magazine to all the junior stamp groups in NSW since 1999.
  • For his past efforts Cyril was awarded the Philas medal in 1996, which must have been an encouragement award because he has been pedaling faster ever since!
  • When the Stamp Council was formed and then became the Stamp Promotion Council and now bears the lofty title of Philatelic Development Council, Cyril was there before you could say "Stamp" occupying the position of Publicity Officer for 2001/2004 and Youth Project Officer from 2005 to the present.
  • A life member of the Philatelic Society of Australia he also doesn’t have to pay any fees at Campbelltown and District Stamp Club for the same reason.
  • As a Philas delegate he wears two hats because he represents both St George Philatelic Society and Earlwood and Districts Stamp Club.
  • Cyril doesn’t drive a car, believes in public transport and is a mine of information on bus timetables.
  • He as exhibited at Zoopex 1980, Sydpex 1988, Norpex 1987, Newcastle 1994 and 1997, Centrepoint in 1995 and Canberra.
  • He has also been known to give displays at the Sydney metropolitan Stamp clubs and Societies when asked on either China Postal rates or aspects of the changing states during WW1.

If that is not enough just as a “sideline” he has been a volunteer at the Power House Museum for 19 years assisting curator Richard Peck, who has since retired, cataloguing material Philatelic and musical material donated by the late Ernest Crome.

You can’t keep a good man down.

Ed Wolf

Like many other stamp collectors, I caught the bug at the tender age of 8 when our class in primary school had a few kids who wanted to swap their stamps.  I can still remember the first stamp that touched my sensitive soul. It was a 1947 stamp from the French Somali Coast and it was the first stamp I had seen in multicolour. Scott lists it as # 252 and it currently catalogues at 20c but boy it got me.

I remember having a small red stock book in which I wrote the names of the countries as they were represented on the stamps. There were also many Royal heads of the various houses then still ruling Europe as well as a glut of German WWII stamps showing either Hitler or von Hindenburg. As a child growing up in the Netherlands it was a wonderful way to forget about the cold weather.

There was no formal education or teacher that showed the way, we kids just swapped usually one-for-one although a big pretty stamp could easily fetch a premium. I was given a Davo album for my birthday, which consisted of bound blank pages. I started to fill the pages allowing one page per country. Those Czechs seemed to have a lot of stamps and the British colonies were a problem as to how to collect and record those. Without knowing it, I had already begun that terrible process of sorting choosing and selecting.

When I migrated to Australia at the age of twelve I took my precious stamps with me and discovered that in Australia there were shops and people who were as mad as I was. The Royal Arcade was soon discovered and the sets of some countries at 1/- for a row of 10 were seen as bargains. Visits to Sydney were not common but in Parramatta, where I then lived, there was also a small shop in the Psaltis Arcade that displayed stamps in its window. I bough my first Berlin occupation stamps there.

At school we were more interested in swapping comic books than stamps so I had to find another way to get supplies. The comic books had advertisements in them for Seven Seas at Dubbo who would send you 111 stamps for a 1/- postal note. I was onto that in a flash and received quite a few parcels over the years even though it was supposed to be an introductory offer only.
What followed was being placed on the "approval list” by Seven Seas without my parents being asked to sign any consent form. That lasted until I was about 16 years old when for the next two years or so stamps had to take second place to the Leaving Certificate. When the LC was over it was back to stamps again.

At the age of about 17, I attended a Stamp show at the Parramatta Town Hall run by the local club and when I finished my High School studies I went back to that club and joined up. The sight of entering the cottage in Macquarie Street, Parramatta where "A" frames displayed sheets of stamps for sale was a powerful drawcard for me to return on the subsequent monthly Friday nights. The President Mr. Horrie Moss was a kind man who encouraged all and sundry to collect. He was a Grand Master in the order of Masons but that did not interfere with stamps. He did suggest that I should specialise in something.

As I was an active member of the ATC at School and was a member of the Sydney University Squadron, aviation had always appealed to me so I thought I would collect stamps showing aircraft. That lasted for a few years before I had difficulty with some of the artist impressions of aircraft and thus could not identify the craft. I decided to specialise in stamps showing the word Airmail in whatever language the stamps was issued in. I limited that collection to 1967 by defining it as the first 50 years of Airmail. I still have that collection and it runs into 10 volumes by now though it would be difficult to display more than a portion and it is unsuitable for exhibiting.

How long it took before I was on the committee I can’t remember, but I do know that after about 5 years as secretary I resigned as now University study at night interfered with my hobby. I have been involved in Society matters ever since. At Parramatta over the years the position of Secretary, Vice President, President and Editor were held, sometimes concurrently, though never Treasurer! By 1979 I had amassed sufficient service to be awarded a Life membership and have been proudly wearing that badge whenever I return to Parramatta.

It was at one of the Parramatta PS shows organised at the Police Boys Club in about 1966 that an elderly lady brought along a shoebox full of covers and timidly asked if anyone was interested. They were her husband’s flight cover collection. Mrs Murray had some difficulty in finding anyone interested in that sort of material. At the time everyone was madly collecting, hoarding and investing in Papua New Guinea! Finally I was approached as being interested in airmail maybe it was something for me. To cut a long story short that’s how my Flight cover collection got started. From the humble 40 or so covers of the mid 1930’s has grown a collection that now spans the world.

Whilst still at Parramatta, delegates were required to attend meetings to organise Anpex 1970. With Colonel Thompson in the chair and an audience consisting of WC Hansen, Mrs Campe, Cec Evenett, Wilson Ilbery and Miss Hawkins as secretary as well as many other prominent individuals, it opened my eyes to the wider world of philately. Together with David Race, Norman Sturton-Hale and Bob Kennedy we used to have a meal in the little Dutch shop off Park Street Sydney before attending the evening meetings held in a basement on Elizabeth Street. Needless to say that Anpex 1970 was a roaring success and provided the seed capital for Philas.

Over the years I have joined quite a few other clubs some of which have folded such as Liverpool and Blacktown but others such as Northern Suburbs, Manly, Willoughby and PS of NSW are still in existence.

My involvement with the administrative side of the hobby, in the last few years, has seen me active in the promotion of One Frame exhibits. The reason for this was to try and promote the exhibiting phase for collectors in NSW who had little opportunity to strut their stuff. Having successfully promoted Northern Beaches Expo over a period exceeding ten years we have now managed to produce the “nursery” for future judges. Additionally I have become more involved with the Philatelic Development Council and have pushed for more recognition and aid for our country cousins who have been neglected by the main scene. That too is now changing.

There has been no regret in my choice of hobby. When work or business was tough, stamps were a way of relaxing the mind. It has been more effective and far cheaper than a psychiatrist. The hope is that more people will take up the hobby because it has so many fascinating aspects that one can delve into.