Curiosity Corner #147: Newaf-O

NIUAFO'OU / TIN CAN ISLAND

The Government of Tonga has officially granted permission to the Island of
Niuafo'ou to issue postage stamps inscribed "NIUAFO'OU / TIN CAN
ISLAND". These newly inscribed stamps will be for the exclusive use of
the Niuafo'ou postal service and will supersede the currently used Tongan
postage stamps. The newly formed Niuafo'ou Postal Administration will be
set up under the direction of the Ministry of Finance, Tonga.

The beautiful painting by Chris Mayger (copyrighted)
should be 250 copies, some signed around, when released by
Tonga in 1983.
http://groups.msn.com/Stamps/shoebox...to&PhotoID=547

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

NIUAFO'OU (pronounced Newaf-O) translated means "The Island full of
the best coconut trees", although it may be better known to collectors as
TIN CAN ISLAND due to its unique mail service (established in 1882).
Tin Can Island (Lat. 150° 33' South, Long. 175° 39' West) is closer to
Samoa and Fiji than it is to the main islands of the Tongan group. With a
population in the region of one thousand, this beautiful unspoilt tropical
island is one of the remotest in the entire world, although because of its
resident population, it has a long and interesting postal history going back
over one hundred years.

Enquiries regarding future issues of the Tin Can Island/Niuafo'ou should be
addressed to: THE NIUAFO'OU SEC-T1ON, THE PHILATELIC
BUREAU, TREASURY BUILDINGS, NUKU'ALOFA, TONGA.

1983 STAMP PROGRAMME

MAY 11: INAUGURATION OF AIRPORT POSTAL SERVICE (2v)
MAY 11: INTERIM DEFINITIVES (16v)
SEPT. 29: 25th ANNIVERSARY OF RE-SETTLEMENT AFTER 12
YEARS OF VOLCANIC ACTIVITY (4v)

THE STORY OF THE TIN CAN MAIL

The far-flung Kingdom of Tonga includes many distant possessions, but
none so distant as Niuafo'ou, more than two hundred miles away from
Vava'u and twice as far from Nuku'alofa the capital.
Yet nineteenth-century commerce required traders to settle there to buy
copra and shell from the islanders and to sell them manufactured goods in
exchange.
Such traders' mail would be brought by the ships that collected and
delivered the trade goods. But often it was not worth the captain's while to
land: the laborious performance of manoeuvring through risky channels or
dropping anchor in fathomless waters was simply not undertaken for a
handful of letters.
To the isolated traders who were waiting it seemed cruel that cargo
steamers should pass so close and yet leave them to wait, often for many
months, for their mail to arrive.


In 1882 William Travers proposed to the Tongan postal officials that mail
should be enclosed in a large metal container for buoyancy and thrown
overboard from the steamers, to be collected by islanders swimming, or in
canoes; and once this scheme was seen to be workable, arrangements were
made to transport outward mail to the steamers in the same way.

Thus Tin Can Mail was developed to serve a genuine postal need and it
continued to provide a unique facility for more than fifty years. The outside
world became curious and interested and by the 1930's ocean liners
cruising the Pacific would pause off Niuafo'ou in order that their
passengers might use this remarkable service.
After 101 years, a re-enactment celebrates the first successful Tin Can
Mail.
We should not forget that the days of Tin Can Mail are almost past and
may never occur again. For if all goes well, Niuafo'ou's own airport will
come into service later this year and the island's isolation will be ended for
ever.


The Australian Stamp Monthly, April, 1983