2020 Mail Steamer Service 150 Years: Sydney - San Francisco Limited Edition Medallion Cover

2020 Mail Steamer Service 150 Years Sydney - San Francisco Limited Edition Medallion Cover

On 26 March 1870, the SS Wonga Wonga departed Sydney, commencing the first regular mail steamship service between Sydney and San Francisco, via Auckland and Honolulu.

The SS City of Melbourne departed Sydney a month later, on 21 April.

The two vessels would ply the Pacific as far as Honolulu, where passengers and cargo would bre transferred to the US-flag steamers Idaho and Ajax, bound for San Francisco: the same arrangement occurred in reverse.

The stamp and silver-plated medallion show a water colour of the Wonga Wonga by Australian ship enthusiast and maritime author and artist Charles Dickson Gregory (1871-1947). The steamer was built by J & G Thompson on the Clyde River in Glasgow, in 1854, for the Australasian Steam Navigation Co, from which it was chartered for the first year of the Pacific mail route.

• Denomination: Medallion
• Metal: Zinc Alloy finished in Nickel
• Weight: 49 gms
• Diameter: 61x37mm
• Mintage: 2,000

**Stock Images Used - PNC Number will differ to that shown.