169:, a volcanic Tongan island. Since Niuafo'ou lacked a deep water harbor to accommodate ships, postal deliveries were received via the so-called "Tin Can Mail" system of having mail thrown overboard in biscuit tins and retrieved by local swimmers. To swim mail out, Tongans adopted the traditional fishing technique of using a buoyancy pole, called a fau, to swim out with a biscuit or kerosene tin to visiting ships. Using the pole for support the swim could take several hours. After a shark killed a Tongan swimmer in 1931, swimming was banned and canoes had to be used. The specially marked Tin Can covers of the 1930s and 1940s became collectors items after an Englishman, Charles Ramsey, became the first and only white man to swim out with the mail. A German trader, Walter Quensell, cashed in on what had become a major tourist attraction with visiting cruise ships, by stamping all the mail and sending it on. There was great rivalry between the two men. Ramsay, who was an agent for Morris Hedstrom Ltd on the island, made 112 swims, many of them at night. Frequently, they lasted for hours in treacherous seas. Ramsay started the practice in commercial innocence but Quensell, who was an agent for the rival trading company Burns Philp (South Seas) Pty Ltd was more shrewd. He set up a shed on the shore and cacheted the covers for the passengers on the cruise liners, in a totally unofficial but rather profitable operation. Ramsey, who had given romance and created world interest in the special mail service, was purposefully exploited by his commercial rival. Quensell never made the swim himself, but his sister-n-law, Pauline Hoeft, a champion swimmer in Australia became the only woman to make the swim, occasionally helping the Tongans.
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189:, thus matching the design of the coins being commemorated. Subsequent philatelic issues employed other off-beat designs – including stamps shaped like hearts, birds and fruit – and Tonga continued to issue self-adhesive stamps printed on paper. Although several of the stamps were too big for placement on conventional first-class mailing envelopes, Tonga's unusual postage stamps have become popular with philatelists around the world.
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can be traced to the
Wesleyan missionaries, who landed in the islands in 1826, and sent regular communications back to London and Sydney from the day of their arrival. The Tongan Post Office was established in 1887, but even before then postage stamps featuring the image of
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In April 2008, the Tongan government announced the Tongan Post Office would be corporatized. However, the Tongan Post Office was not included in the 2008 effort to privatize other agencies and departments run by the government.
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Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
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Content in this edit is translated from the existing
Russian Knowledge (XXG) article at ]; see its history for attribution.
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In the early part of the 20th century, philatelists began seeking out postal cancellations from
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The stamps of Tonga. Handbook by A. A. Rosenblum. Orlo-Smith & Co, Melbourne, 1935
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The first Tongan stamp, 1 penny, issued in 1886, that depicts George Tupou I of Tonga
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to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is
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Landfalls of
Paradise: Cruising Guide to the Pacific Islands
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The Postal history of the
British Solomon Islands and Tonga
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98:{{Translated|ru|История почты и почтовых марок Тонга}}
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237:"Rhode Island Around the World - International Mail"
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a machine-translated version of the
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360:. Radio New Zealand International. April 28, 2008
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35:expand this article with text translated from
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259:"Innovations range from practical to offbeat"
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314:. University of Hawaii Press. p. 157.
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261:. Linn's Stamp Monthly. Archived from
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290:. Philatelic Database/Stamp News
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288:"Self-adhesive stamps of Tonga"
157:were produced in New Zealand.
96:You may also add the template
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768:This philatelic article is a
564:Falkland Islands Dependencies
427:The Stamps of Tonga: handbook
286:Rodney A. Perry (July 2006).
379:"Niuafo'ou – Tin Can Island"
206:Tonga has issued stamps for
109:Knowledge (XXG):Translation
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107:For more guidance, see
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143:The beginnings of the
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383:StampWorldHistory.com
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80:copyright attribution
886:Philately by country
717:Philately portal
522:Australian Antarctic
179:self-adhesive stamps
173:Self-adhesive stamps
425:Rosenblum, Alec A.
193:Recent developments
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183:philatelists
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161:Tin Can mail
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84:edit summary
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896:Tonga stubs
742:WikiProject
629:New Zealand
870:Categories
619:New Guinea
609:Micronesia
490:Queensland
420:1872465498
364:2009-04-08
294:2009-04-08
269:2009-04-08
243:2009-04-08
214:References
39:in Russian
480:Australia
208:Niuafoʻou
167:Niuafo'ou
102:talk page
727:Americas
706:See also
599:Kiribati
552:Aitutaki
510:Victoria
500:Tasmania
138:of Tonga
78:provide
689:Vanuatu
557:Penrhyn
422:, 296p.
336:"Tonga"
100:to the
82:in the
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737:Europe
722:Africa
684:Tuvalu
594:Hawaii
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644:Palau
614:Nauru
405:Tonga
187:paper
149:Tonga
62:DeepL
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732:Asia
634:Niue
589:Guam
569:Fiji
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