2026 Creatures of the Palaeozoic Medallion & Stamp Cover

2026 Creatures of the Palaeozoic Medallion & Stamp Cover 

This issue features prehistoric creatures that lived on our continent around 500 million years ago, in the early Cambrian Period of the Palaeozoic Era. At this time, organisms had not yet emerged from the water to live on land. They had, however, developed skeletons, shells and other external and internal hard structures.

The fossils of the extraordinary early Cambrian creatures on the stamps were found in Emu Bay Shale deposits on Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Nesonektris aldridgel was a large vetulicolian (swimming chordate) that grew to around 18 centimetres in length. It had a streamlined body, a mouth opening at the front and a flexible tail probably used to propel it away from predators.

The four-centimetre-long lobopodian, informally known as the Emu Bay Shale Monster, was a soft-bodied, velvet worm-like creature with protective spines on its back and body segments bearing pairs of spiny filter-feeding legs in the anterior body and short anchoring lobopods in the posterior part. The fierce-looking Anomalocaris doleyoe was, at around 50 centimetres long, one of the largest animals in the oceans at that time, and had swimming flaps running along its body, large compound eyes, and a single pair of segmented frontal appendages used to grasp prey.

The predator Redlichio rex reached around 25 centimetres in length. Bigger than a dinner plate, this species is the largest trilobite from the Cambrian Period yet found in Australia. A predator, it had formidable legs with spines used for crushing and shredding food. As shown on the stamp, it may have hunted other trilobites.

Fixed to the envelope are 4 official $1.70 Australia Post stamps which is post marked First Day of Issue and the envelope includes Australia Post's Seal of Authenticity.

Postmarked 10 February 2026, Adelaide SA 5000

Denomination :       Medallion

Metal :                     Zinc Alloy

Weight :                  94 gms

Diameter :               65.00 mm

Mintage :                 1,000

Australia Post Seal of Authenticity

Serial Numbers will vary. Pictures for illustration only.