Soon some letters posted from the Belconnen post office will be stamped with their very own pictorial postmark featuring the much-loved Owl sculpture.
The staff at Belconnen post office in the Westfield complex have successfully lobbied Australia Post to produce the Belco-centric postmark.
A postmark is the inked rubber stamp that shows where and when the item entered the mail system. A pictorial postmark is often used to celebrate certain events but the Belconnen one is permanent, especially designed by an Australia Post team in Melbourne.
Belconnen post office manager Bradley Stanhope said he and his team applied in January for a postmark featuring the Owl sculpture, as a way to express their pride at working in Belconnen.
It was approved this week and will start appearing on letters from May 12, the anniversary of Owl's unveiling in 2011. There was no question the sculpture, on the corner of Belconnen and Benjamin ways, was going to be the postmark.
"I think there was only one design we would have gone with, it's the most iconic thing in Belconnen," Mr Stanhope said.
The #Belconnen Owl is taking flight - thanks to @auspost! "Belconnen Owl - Ngunnawal Country" will be a permanent pictorial postmark from 12 May. pic.twitter.com/bW7x2noHa5
— Tara Cheyne MLA (@In_The_Taratory) April 27, 2022
Not all letters will get the special postmark - there is only one actual stamp to be used by the staff. People can go into the post office to ask for their letter to get the owl postmark and other letters will randomly be stamped with it.
Mr Stanhope was thrilled with the design and couldn't wait to share it with Australia Post customers.
"It works so well on a stamp," he said.