Australia Post stamp featuring Ellarose Savage's 'Turtle'
A new series of stamps features museum treasures, including Turtle, a ghost net sculpture by Indigenous artist Ellarose Savage.
‘Turtle was the first ghost net sculpture acquired by the Museum from the Erub Erwer Meta art centre on Darnley Island in Torres Strait’, said Scott Mitchell, Head of Culture, Conservation and Business Services.
‘Erub’s colourful depictions of Torres Strait marine life bridge the Museum’s dual interests in nature and culture’, he said.
Ghost nets, sometimes called ‘walls of death’, are abandoned pieces of fishing and trawler net. Sometimes many kilometres in length, the nets float through the ocean, trapping and killing animals in their path.
‘Fortunately, Indigenous communities across the region are leading the way in fighting back against this menace.’
© Australian Museum
Australia Post Philatelic Manager Michael Zsolt said: ‘Museum collections help tell our cultural and historical stories. They are treasure houses, and the “Collections Australia” stamp issue celebrates the important artefacts preserved and exhibited in museum collections nationally.’
Other stamps in the series, designed by Gary Domoney of Melbourne-based studio Visua, include an anchor from HMB Endeavour (National Museum of Australia), a replica of the ‘Welcome Stranger’ gold nugget (Sovereign Hill in Victoria and Australian Museum) and a model automatic totaliser (vote-counting machine, from the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences).
The stamps are on sale from today, Tuesday 19 May.
