AAT 2020 RSV Nuyina Icebreaker Miniature Sheet of 4 Stamps MUH

Issue date: 29 September 2020

The RSV Nuyina is the new Australian Antarctic icebreaker, replacing the long-serving RSV Aurora Australis, which departed Hobart on its final polar voyage in March 2020. DMS Maritime, a subsidiary of Serco Australia, won the procurement tender for Australia’s new custom-built state-of-the-art vessel, and the Dutch company Damen Shipyards Group began construction of the Danish Knud E Hansen design in Romania in May 2017. The Nuyina has been designed to perform as a scientific research platform, an icebreaker and a resupply ship, and conceived for a 30-year life span, a period matching that of the Aurora Australis. This means the vessel must be designed to fulfil research needs that are not yet known.

Due to depart on its first voyage to the Australian Antarctic Territory in 2021, Nuyina will carry 32 crew and up to 117 scientists and other personnel from the Australian Antarctic Division. Incorporating some 10,000 tonnes of steel in its construction, the vessel is 160.3 metres in length and has a maximum beam of 25.6 metres, making it significantly larger than the Aurora Australis at 94.9 metres, with a 20.3-metre beam.

The four stamps in this issue present differing perspectives of the ship, using renders from the maritime designer’s digital 3D model of the vessel. The second element in the design helps tell the story of the RSV Nuyina, pointing to its functions, identity, and place in Australian polar maritime history.