Summary

Several blocks of stamps sold to support Rhodesian Independence (1965), sold in 1966. They were presumably collected by Lindsay Motherwell, a drummer who travelled through Africa playing music. He settled in South Africa from 1967-1969 before moving back to Australia in 1970.

Sylvia Boyes (a South African-born orphan) and Lindsay Motherwell (a Melbourne-born drummer) met in Cape Town, South Africa in 1967 through their theatre connections. They fell in love but due to apartheid laws were forced to leave South Africa to marry in London. They subsequently relocated permanently to Melbourne in 1970.

Physical Description

Several blocks of stamps with the slogan 'Good Luck Rhodesia' on them, along with the Southern Rhodesian flag and the date 1966. They state 'PAR AVION BY AIR' and also mention the 'CENTRAL AFRICAN TRADE FAIR APRIL 28th - MAY 7th'

Significance

Statement of Historical Significance:
This collection provides a significant opportunity to represent political and personal freedom as a motivation for migrating to Australia within the international context of both apartheid in South Africa and the end of the White Australia policy in Australia. The personal narrative is well documented and the objects provide a material way to follow the lives of both Lindsay and Sylvia, both separately and where they coincide in South Africa and onwards together to Melbourne. While this is ultimately a love story, it plays out through the collection against the backdrop of apartheid South Africa, sixties London and an increasingly multicultural Australia.

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