December 20, 2014

1364 UNITED KINGDOM (Pitcairn Islands) - Oeno Island


Oeno Island or Holiday Island is a coral atoll in the South Pacific Ocean, part of the Pitcairn Islands overseas territory. Located at 143km northwest of Pitcairn Island, it serves as a private holiday site for the few residents of this island, who will travel there and stay for two weeks in January. In 1824 Captain George Worth named the atoll after his ship, the American whaler Oeno. The island measures about 5km in diameter (is almost round), and has two larger and three smaller islets on or within the rim of the atoll. It has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) principally for its colony of Murphy's Petrels, which, at some 12,500 pairs, is estimated to be the second largest colony of these birds in the world.At the bottom of the postcard is a series of stamps, Oeno Island Holiday, designed by G L Vasarhelyi, and issued on June 26, 1995. The artwork for this issue is based on photographic material supplied by Meralda Warren and Steve Christian of Pitcairn Island.

About the stamp
The stamp is part of the first part of the series Royal Navy Visitors, deigned by Alfred Memelink and issued on December 9, 2009, which contains ships that came to Pitcairn Islands for various reasons, including survey missions, transportation of Pitcairners and missionaries, medical support and ‘policing roles’:
• HMS Actaeon (0,8 NZD)
• HMS Juno (0,8 NZD)
• HMS Calypso (0,8 NZD)
• HMS Sutlej (2 NZD)
• HMS Shah (2 NZD) - it's on the postcard
• HMS Pelican (2 NZD)

References
Oeno Island - Wikipedia
Oeno Island Holiday - Pitcairn Islands Philatelic Bureau official website

Sender: Pitcairn Islands Philatelic Bureau
sent from Adamstown (Pitcairn Islands), on 28.07.2014

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