New Zealand issued this attractive set on 24th March 1994 as the fourth of a series titled "NZ's Emerging Years" to show highlights of our history. This set features the 1950s.

The stamps are:

45c ... Rock & Roll.

80c ... Conquest of Mt Everest.

$1 ... Aunt Daisy.

$1.20 ... The Queen's Visit, 1953.

$1.50 ... Opo, the friendly dolphin.

$1.80 ... Auckland Harbour Bridge opening day.

Mint unhinged, and in pristine condition. ACS 1143 - 1148. Catalogue value = $13.

=== Maud Ruby Basham MBE (1879 – 1963), usually known as Aunt Daisy, was a well-known New Zealand radio broadcaster from 1930 to 1963. She was born in London, and her family emigrated to New Plymouth in 1891. She married Frederick Basham in 1904, and they had 3 children.

During the 1920s Daisy broadcast programmes on the lives of composers illustrated with song. She was initially on the Government YA network and the private Friendly Road station in Auckland run by Colin Scrimgeour (Uncle Scrim), but she is remembered for her time on the ZB network (commercial, but run by the government) from 1933 to 1963. She averaged 202 words a minute during her shows and her morning show opened to the song 'Daisy Bell' and the greeting "Good Morning everybody".

Opo was a bottlenose dolphin who became famous throughout New Zealand during the summer of 1955-56 for playing with the children of the small town of Opononi on the Hokianga harbour.

Opo was a wild dolphin who started following fishing boats around Opononi in early 1955 after her mother had been killed, and would swim daily in the bay close to town. Unlike the majority of dolphins, she had no qualms about human company, and would perform stunts for locals, play with objects like beach balls and beer bottles, and allow children to swim alongside her and make contact.

The dolphin became a local celebrity but news of her soon spread, and visitors from throughout the country would come to watch her.

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