Dr Geoffrey Neil Kellow (FRPSL, APR) - Member Dr Kellow is a philatelist who joined our hobby at an early age and continued with it. In his developmental period in Melbourne his mentors included J.R.W. Purves and later Phil Collas.

Dr Kellow is best known for his work in Philatelic Literature and the organisation of philatelic libraries. He used this background to research numerous areas and has made his knowledge widely known.

Dr Kellow has assisted numerous exhibitors and collectors (especially in Melbourne and Sydney) form their collections with detailed and knowledgeable advice, support and guidance. He possesses an extensive library on the Philatelic literature of the British Commonwealth. He is generous with these resources to serious collectors. Evidence of this is found in the many times his work is quoted in journals, books and in particular in auction catalogues when referencing or describing unusual and rare varieties.

As a consequence of his major work The Stamps of Victoria (1990) which was prepared over a seven year period, Stanley Gibbons Ltd revised and re-numbered their published listing of Victoria in their British Commonwealth Part 1 Catalogue over seven separate editions (1992-98).

Dr Kellow has written hundreds of research papers on subjects as diverse as printing methodology, postal rates, plate making techniques, maritime history, marcophily, paper, ink/shades, plate varieties, postal treaties, combination franking, interpretation of official archives, census data and a very large volume of indexes on a multitude of subjects. Much of this research concerns both the Colonial and Commonwealth philately of Australia.

His work will be found over a period of approximately the last 30 years in journals in both Australian and the United Kingdom.

Further, Dr Kellow has undertaken extensive research in the archives of the Victorian State Government (Melbourne), The State Library of Victoria (Melbourne) on the philately of Victoria. For the Commonwealth period his has researched the archives of the Reserve Bank of Australia (Sydney), ANZ Bank (Melbourne) and Australia Post Headquarters (Melbourne). This work has lead to the Australian Commonwealth Specialist Catalogue being revised. The inclusion of archival information has increased the stature of this publication.

Current projects include an electronic database of the libraries of The Royal Sydney Philatelic Club, The Philatelic Society of New South Wales and The Philatelic Association of New South Wales (approximately 20000 individual items) all fully cross-referenced to that of The Royal Philatelic Society of Victoria.

In support of philatelic libraries he has also donated many hundreds of books, priced catalogues, journals, indexes and auction catalogues over a 30 year period to both The Royal Philatelic Society of Victoria and The Philatelic Association of N.S.W.

Dr Kellow has also been involved in the production of a number of books published by The Royal Philatelic Society of Victoria which has kept Australia in the forefront of philatelic literature.

Club membership assists in achieving what Dr Kellow has attained. He is best known for his membership of the Royal Philatelic Society of Victoria on which he served for over 25 years. His work on the issues of the Australian Commonwealth led him to join the Australian Commonwealth Collectors Club on which he has served on the Executive and of which he is currently President.

Dr Kellow is a well rounded philatelist who generously shares his knowledge and supports others.

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More photos of the 2006 Australian Philatelic Order Presentation Dinner are on show in our Photo Gallery.