The Great Barrier Island Pigeon Post is one of New Zealand's most iconic philatelic stories.  Typically innovative, the Pigeon Post story is a example of settler ingenuity to overcome communication challenges in a geographically challenging environment. 

 

Great Barrier Island was not the first Pigeon Post ever used by a long shot - pigeons have been used throughout the millennia and most recently had been used substantially during the siege of Paris in the Franco - Prussian War in 1870.  In fact pigeons had been used extensively in NZ with records abundant of pigeon post services being frequently used from the goldfields surrounding the Karangahake Gorge by Waihi to send messages to Thames in the 1870s and 1880s.  No - Great Barrier Island Pigeon Services claim to fame was the first use of a specifically designed postage stamp for the service - the world's first airmail stamp.

 

Enthusiasts to this day still celebrate this achievement and regular anniversary events and Cinderellas, as well as official NZ Post stamps, have been issued to remember the occasion.  There are many chapters to this story - click on the title images below to learn about the history of these wonderful stamps and the key personalities involved.