Exhibition Report from Darryl Fuller, Australian Commissioner

I was lucky enough to be the Australian commissioner to Philakorea 2009 (24th Asian International Stamp Exhibition), with the able assistance of Ross Wood from Western Australia (pictured below left - centre).

The exhibition was held over six days from 30 July to 4 August 2009, at the COEX exhibition centre in Seoul and celebrated the 125th anniversary of the first postage stamp of Korea.  It was the fourth major exhibition to be staged in Korea under the Philakorea banner with previous exhibitions held in 1984, 1994 and 2002.  Philakoera 2009 attracted a great range of exhibits from across Asia.  It was a pleasure to be involved with this exhibition as it was very well run.

As commissioner, one always needs to check the exhibits to ensure they are mounted to their best advantage.  There were five Australian exhibits that needed minor attention prior to judging and I was very impressed with the way they were all attended to within 20 minutes of my request.  Indeed the entire exhibition was run this way.

Korean culture was a central theme to the opening ceremony and the awards dinner with some wonderful performances by Korean singers and dancers.  There were a number of, mainly, Asian dealers in attendance including one with a fascinating range of covers from around the world.  The post office had a steady stream of collectors buying stamps and stationery.  Interestingly to get them postmarked with the days cancellations you had to take them to another stand.  There were up to six different cancellations every day.

There were activities for children including a classroom where stamp collecting was the subject of the day.  The COEX venue is very large and sits on top of the largest underground mall in Asia I believe.  The exhibition had free entry, and had a steady stream of people attending, both to buy stamps and to look at the displays (Ross Wood's thematic exhibit of ducks was very popular as it was the first display you saw when you walked in).

Australian Medal Results

Australian exhibitors entered 16 exhibits, as well as having two judges on the jury and a late extra judge on the expert panel.