On 27 July 2021, Australia Post released a series of stamps featuring Australian native bonsai from the National Bonsai and Penjing Collection of Australia (NBPCA). The stamp issue highlights the beauty and art of Australian native plants as bonsai.

The Australian native species featured on the stamps are a bottlebrush, fig, and paperbark, each crafted in a different style.

The National Bonsai and Penjing Collection of Australia is extremely proud to be involved in this.

Leigh Taafe, Curator of the NBPCA assisted Australia Post by providing access to the Collection and advice about bonsai, and he features on the medallion cover photograph. Stamp photographs: © Copyright Australian Postal Corporation. Reproduced with permission.

 Featured in the Australian Native Bonsai stamp issue, which will be released on 27 July 2021, are three examples of Australian native plants as bonsai: a bottlebrush (Callistemon viminalis ‘Captain Cook’), in an informal upright style; a fig (Ficus ribiginosa), in a formal upright style; and a paperbark (Melaleuca linariifolia ‘Claret Tops’), in a slanting style. The minisheet features a banksia (Banksia integrifolia) in a semi-cascading style.

$1.10 Callistemon viminalis

This stamp design features a bottlebrush as bonsai, in an informal upright style (some bend or lean in the trunk). The bottlebrush is the cultivar ‘Captain Cook’, a dwarf form of Callistemon viminalis, which has a weeping appearance. The bonsai artists are Derek and Sue Oakley. The stamp photograph is by Leigh Taafe.

$1.10 Ficus rubiginosa

This stamp design presents a fig as bonsai, in a formal upright style (no bend or lean in the trunk, and the trunk does not go all the way to the top of the tree). The fig is a Port Jackson Fig (Ficus ribiginosa), known for its thick trunk and long, twisted roots that tend to grow along the trunk’s surface. The bonsai artist was Max Candy. The stamp photograph is by Ben Kopilow, Fusion Photography.

$2.70 Melaleuca linariifolia

This stamp design showcases a paperbark (or honey myrtle) as bonsai, in a slanting style (where the apex of the trunk falls between 10 and 45 degrees to the left or right). The tree is a dwarf form of Melaleuca linariifolia, known as ‘Claret Tops’ – a cultivar named for the reddish new growth that appears on the leaf tips. The bonsai artist is David Willoughby. The stamp photograph is by Ben Kopilow, Fusion Photography.