The Australian Post Office (PO) has issued souvenir (event) covers (not to be confused with first day covers) since 1970 to commemorate events of (a) major public interest—royal visits, world conferences, sporting events etc and (b) postal services events (opening of a new PO and centenary celebrations of others). Such covers are usually promoted in conjunction with commemorative postmarks. By the end of December 1996, 224 souvenir covers had been produced; the Catalogue lists these.

In addition, the PO has issued blank (unserviced) general purpose philatelic covers for use when souvenir covers are not available. In March 1991, the Fifth (and current) series, Australia Through Stamps, was released, bringing to fifteen the number issued since 1972; the Catalogue fully details the fifteen envelopes.

Recently a third category, more correctly a sub-category, of cover reached catalogue status when the latest update was released in August 1997. In Supplement No. 1 (published October 1987) eleven Golden Wattle and Map general purpose covers were priced and illustrated at the back of the book. Back of Book listing arose out of doubt about the status of the covers which had a few lines of text applied to them by means of a rubber stamp (RS). To add to the confusion some covers were prepared at the local post office while others were done at head office. An assortment of coloured stamp pads was used to affix the cachet. The covers were issued in the period 1972-76 for the opening of some post offices, mainly in NSW and Victoria. In the last ten years fourteen more covers have surfaced. The author has illustrated and priced the RS covers having satisfied himself of their official status as that are the Australian Post Office.

The Catalogue, the reference work in its field, is devoted to the study and classification of the above two types of covers, appropriately called Special Events Covers (SECs) and General Purpose Covers (GPCs) by the author.

The status coding of each cover, as used in the first edition (1982), has been continued, as many covers were issued without publicity or notice in the Australian Stamp Bulletin, like the $500 Gold Coast envelope illustrated on the front cover of the Catalogue. Few collectors were aware of the existence or status of many of the envelopes, including the Gold Coast cover, until Mr Almeida studied and listed them.

Catalogue numbers (GP, SE and RS) have been allocated by the author and the latest market values incorporated. Every cover is illustrated, together with line drawings of the ten envelopes knives or cutting dies used for the different prints of the general purpose cover series.

The Catalogue is a priced, numbered, chronological, fully illustrated listing with 286 covers. It has 186 pages in the international B5 size, with card covers.  The full catalogue comprising the original book and all four supplements is priced at $45.

The following is a listing of scarce Australian commemorative postmarks of the decimal period that began in February 1962.  Only those postmarks are listed below where the quantity postmarked is below 1000 and the official figure has been published in the Australian Post Office Stamp Bulletin. Study the extremely small postmarking figures and do keep in mind that they include articles lodged for normal postal transmission and commercial use thus reducing the number of unaddressed covers available to general postmark collectors and those who collect by topic or theme.

Catalogue Numbers are from Australian PictorMarks® 2001 by Colleen A. Woolley and Janet S. Eury and used with permission. All postmarks are clear good strikes on unaddressed covers.

Kindly note that the covers that appear with this listing are examples of what the cover looks like and may not be the exact cover we ship. The postmarks are accurate, of good quality and as shown. Many covers are virtually the same and because a picture is worth a thousand words we feel it is better to see some thing than nothing.