Ivy Irvine and her four daughters, Valma, Olwyn, Molly and Nola were wonderful collectors and sharers of Jamberoo’s history, and I’m very grateful that some of that history was passed on to me.
I was tidying it up the other day, making sure it stays in pristine condition, and came across a couple of envelopes of stamps. Having written about the work the Lions Club does for children with cerebral palsy, I was excited to see whether these stamps could help the cause.
One is a registered airmail envelope posted in Port Moresby on 6 September 1939, the first day these Papua airmail stamps were issued, addressed to Mrs R. A. Irvine, “Clover Hill”, Jamberoo. On the back is the Sydney postmark of 11 September 1939. It made its way here in the very week Australia entered the Second World War.
Jon Phipps and the late Hilton Bloomfield became known as Kiama’s stamp men, collecting used stamps and selling them to raise money for the Australian Lions Children’s Mobility Foundation. Jon carries on that work today. The Foundation provides walkers for children who can’t walk unaided. Each walker costs about $7,500, and every stamp helps. Thanks to Ivy, this little envelope may raise up to $100 toward one.
If you have stamps tucked away in a drawer, an old album or a box of family letters, please drop them at RMB Lawyers, Kiama Pharmacy or Blooms Pharmacy. Keep them on the original envelope where you can, because collectors value the postmarks as much as the stamps.
And if you’re a stamp collector, Jon would love to hear from you.
Ivy and her daughters kept Jamberoo’s history safe for all those years. Now a piece of it can help a child walk. And I wonder who Ivy knew in Port Moresby who knew she would love to add them to her stamp collection