Postage stamps and postal history of New Zealand

Postal services in New Zealand have existed since at least 1831, when the Postmaster-General of New South Wales deputed a Bay of Islands merchant to receive and return mail.^[1] Governor William Hobson issued an ordinance covering postal matters, although the British government retained control until 1848.

In these initial years, only a small number of post offices were established. Postal services expanded greatly from the mid-1850s, with the Local Posts Act of 1856^[2] allowing Provincial Governments to establish post offices, and the Post Office Act of 1858,^[3] which re-organized postal services under a Postmaster-General.

The New Zealand Post Office continued to operate as a government department until 1987, when postal services were re-organized as New Zealand Post, a state-owned enterprise.

Postage stamps have been issued in New Zealand since around 18 to 20 July 1855 with the "Chalon head" stamps figuring Queen Victoria. The design was based on a full face portrait of the Queen in her state robes at the time of her coronation in 1837, by Alfred Edward Chalon. The stamps were initially hand cut from sheets, but from 1862 on, these sheets started being fed through perforating machines. The Chalon heads were used until 1874 when the lithographed sideface stamps in various designs replaced them.