Kings Park Festival is being celebrated by Australia Post with its recently released Floral Festivals Australia stamp issue.
The five 60c stamps feature colourful photographic depictions of popular flower species - the gerbera, jacaranda, Australian everlasting, violet and tulip - representing five floral festivals across the country (click image to see full series enlargement).
The Australian Everlasting is recognised as a symbol of the Kings Park Festival held in Perth each spring. Hundreds of thousands of people gather at the Festival every year to see the spectacle of more than 30,000 Everlastings in full bloom.
'Western Australia has several thousand native plant species, and the Kings Park Festival provides a perfect opportunity to showcase the state's many beautiful wildflowers. This floral festival is located in a spectacular setting overlooking Perth and is represented on the stamp by the Australian everlasting', said Australia Post's Philatelic Manager, Mr Michael Zsolt.
'We anticipate that the beautiful designs in this stamp issue will appeal to a great number of people and we expect to see many 'flowers' travelling through the post now that these stamps are available', said Mr Zsolt.
It is hoped that the Australian Everlasting stamp will encourage more visitors, especially those from further afield to come and enjoy the 2011 Kings Park Festival and celebrate the beauty of the Everlastings.
Festival Director Jacqui Kennedy said the annual Kings Park Festival aims to connect people with plants.
'We want to inspire greater environmental awareness and conservation action. Iconic flowers like the pink Everlasting attract people's attention and make them take notice of the natural beauty of other native wildflowers across Kings Park.
'Western Australia is one of the world's biodiversity hot spots and I invite local people and visitors to see our beautiful and unique wildflowers.'
The Kings Park Festival is unlike any other botanic festival in Australia. It offers a fabulous array of events for the full month of September, engaging gardening enthusiasts and those with an interest in native flora and fauna, in a range of creative and community activities.
The Festival is a major tourist attraction for Western Australia, with over 500,000 people visiting Kings Park over the month of September.
