William Craig, Research

William Craig of Hobart has been a student of the often-neglected field of Revenue Stamps over a lifetime. While collecting revenues was popular in the late 19^th Century, their popularity diminished in the 20^th century, largely due to the lack of easily available catalogues and information; a dearth which particular affected Australian States and Commonwealth post-1901 issues.

Bill Craig was instrumental in compiling, editing and publishing, personally, and in conjunction with others, comprehensive listings for the Commonwealth and Australian States Revenue stamps.

The first of these, for Tasmania, was published in 1978 and the last for Victoria, in 1999. These annotated catalogues, for all states [except Western Australia], Australian Territories and the Commonwealth, incorporated much information, particularly on the post-1910 issues that had not previously been listed in any publication.

Printed and published by Bill Craig, as 'Revenue and Railstamp Publications', the publications appear on lists of all retailers of revenues literature worldwide. Bill's editorship, contributions and publications of various State listings were not driven by profit, but simply to further the collecting interest in Australian States' revenue stamps.

The impressive list of Bill's publications includes:

• The Revenue and Railway Stamps of Tasmania with Owen Ingles in 1978
• The Revenue Stamps of Queensland in 1982;
• The Revenue Stamps of N.S.W with D Osborn and Tony Orchard in 1983
• The Revenue Stamps of the Commonwealth of Australian and its Territories with others, in 1986;
• The Revenue Stamps of South Australia with Tony Presgrave and Martin Walker in 1993;
• Handbook of Tasmanian Revenue Stamps – an update of the earlier publication in 1997
• Handbook of Victorian Revenues in 1999
• The Revenue Stamps of the Commonwealth of Australia and its Territories – an update in 2002
• Handbook of Tasmanian Revenue Stamps - an update in 2002

The listings have been of enormous benefit to the collectors of Australian revenues, becoming the standard listings for collectors, judges and dealers alike.

The contribution of Bill Craig over the past 30 years to the collecting and exhibiting of Australian States and Commonwealth revenues has been immense. It far exceeds the contributions of any other philatelist in this field.

[ Source:  APF News, July 2003 ]