DISCOVERERS OF OCEANIA TORRES & QUIROS

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aukepalmhof
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DISCOVERERS OF OCEANIA TORRES & QUIROS

Post by aukepalmhof » Mon Jan 08, 2018 7:12 pm

DISCOVERERS OF OCEANIA. LUIS VAEZ DE TORRES AND PEDRO FDES DE QUIRÓS

Two new stamps dedicated to two great navigators serve to show a new philatelic printing technique on wood paper, alluding to the wooden ships these explorers sailed across the seas in search of adventure.
The stamp's design shows the silhouettes of Luis Vaez de Torres and Pedro Fernández de Quirós in colour against the faux-wood paper background.
When the two stamps are placed together, their outline forms the shape of "Austrialia", and inside that is the first page of the 1610 Memorial on "AUSTRIALIA incognita”. When they are separated, each one of the navigators “keeps” a part of the country.
Luis Vaez de Torres was a navigator in the service of the Spanish Crown, who embarked on an expedition in 1605 with Fernandez de Quirós to discover a new continent in the South. They found the strait that separates Australia from New Guinea, and which now bears his name (Torres Strait).
His shipmate, Pedro Fernandes de Quirós, a Portuguese navigator in the service of the Spanish Navy, sailed for the southernmost continent, discovering the island known today as Espíritu Santo.

There have always been many theories about the discovery of Australia. Many authors believe that it was Quirós who invented the word "Austrialia”, as he had named his islands "Australia del Espíritu Santo". However, he actually called them "Austrialia del Espíritu Santo" in honour of the Austrian dynasty then ruling Spain.
Among those who defended the theory that Quirós discovered Australia long before Willem Janszoon, Abel Tasman or James Cook, was a late nineteenth-century archbishop of Sydney, Patrick Francis Moran, and this theory was taught in Catholic schools for many years.
Based on this belief, the Australian poet James McAuley wrote an epic poem called Captain Quirós in 1964, which shows Quirós as a martyr for the cause of Christian Catholic civilisation.
Both the stamps have a value of 1.35 euros each and will be issued in sheets of 16 stamps.

Source: Spanish Post
Spain 2017 1.35 Euro each sg?, scott?
Attachments
2017 discoverers of oceania FDC.jpg
2017 discoverers of oceania 1.jpg

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