Alan Salisbury has been a stamp collector for almost 80 years, forming important collections in the fields of postal history, postal stationery, traditional and cinderella classes.  He has collections of many countries not widely sought in Australia, such as Tibet, Mongolia, Taiwan and Bulgaria, as well as collections on the Australian Commonwealth, New South Wales and Pacific region.

Alan has been a member of the Philatelic Society of Canberra for 36 years, holding many positions on the executive, including President, during that time.  He also served on the ACT Philatelic Council and was a member of the Organising Committee for several State level exhibitions as well as the national exhibition Sydpex '80.  He has judged at numerous State and National exhibitions and at the FIP World exhibition, Ausipex '84.

Alan is best known for the monthly column Commonwealth Corner he wrote for Stamp News over 14 years.  He was also foundation editor of Capital Philately, which he edited for more than five years, writing many articles for that journal and for others such as Stamp Talk, Australian Commonwealth Collectors Club and Stamp News.  His research skills were recognised in 1975 by the Australian Commonwealth Collectors Club, which awarded him their Research Medal.

For the past 30 years, Alan has been at the forefront of philatelic teaching and training in the ACT.

He has run, or been associated with, the successful biennial School of Philately, has conducted adult appreciation courses through service clubs in the region, and has visited local schools to encourage children to take up the hobby.