Martin Walker began collecting stamps in the late 1960s and in 1970 he joined the then new Para Hills Stamp Club. By 1972 he was a member of the Junior committee of the club; in 1986 took on the position of Treasurer; in 1988 he became President, a position he still holds today.>/p>

He became interested in collecting the stamps of the Australian Colonies, as he says, 'simply because no one else wanted them' His interest in Postal History was kindled by the discovery of some South Australian stamps with postmarks like Alice Springs S.A. and Port Darwin S.A. and the collecting of postmarks took on a whole new meaning.

In 1976 he was invited to attend a meeting called to assess the feasibility of forming a club specialising in the collecting of things other than postage stamps, but still related to the postal service. This Club was founded as the Postal Stationery and Postal History Society of Australia which produced a journal, The Posthorn and Martin held the position of editor for a period of time until work commitments precluded his further involvement.

Martin then commenced collecting details about PO's from which he had examples of postmarks and this ultimately led to details about all post offices in South Australia and Northern Territory.

He formed the finest collection of Postal Stationery of South Australia which won Gold at exhibitions. The meticulous research carried out made this collection a monograph in its own right. Once this collection had reached a stage where it could not be improved, Martin sold it as a collection but unfortunately it was broken up before it could be recorded as such.

Martin then turned to other fields for research. At that time the study of South Australian revenue stamps was commencing so Martin took this project on and once again formed a collection of these stamps. A huge amount of personal research was required to assemble the collection and Martin's search for the relevant information led him to many sources including the people who designed and printed the stamps. He was a joint author of the original edition of a book "The Revenue Stamps of South Australia" and he has since revised the work and the results of this work are almost ready for publication. He also added materially to the research of the Railway Parcel stamps of South Australia.

The collecting of postmarks and the details of post offices has resulted in the recent production of a self published book titled "The Post, Telegraph, and Telephone Offices of South Australia and Northern Territory", a work that lists in some detail every known office in South Australia and the Northern Territory.

Martin has also been heavily involved in the preparation of the manuscript of the yet to be published book on the postmarks of South Australia and the Northern Territory.

He has written many research articles for journals including The Shilling Violet, The Posthorn and Philately From Australia and other journals, and assisted the late Ed Williams in the preparation of his work on the Postage and Revenue Long Stamps of South Australia.

Martin's research has not been confined to South Australia, he has also researched and formed collections of the College Stamps of Great Britain, a Thematic collection on Heraldry, one frame exhibits of the Melbourne Emergency Mailing Service, the Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition, an aerophilatelic collection of Harry Butler ephemera and a collection of ephemera relating to the town of Gawler where Martin resides.

Martin is always willing to share his knowledge of sources for research with those who are genuinely interested in the researching of South Australian philately and postal history.

[ Source:  APF News, August 2005 ]