For the introduction of the first stamps for the whole of Australia, a design competition was held in 1911 in which over 1000 designs were submitted. The winner was Melbourne’s Herbert Altmann for his design featuring King George V flanked by a kangaroo and an emu. However, Postmaster General Charles Frazer rejected the design. Instead, he commissioned a local artist, Blamire Young, to create a new design. Eventually, a design was accepted that showed a kangaroo with an Australian outline map in the background. The stamps began to be issued in 1913 and also went by the name “Roos”.

The issue was accompanied by derogatory comments and criticism. People complained that it showed an empty country where only kangaroos lived, no reference to the royal crown was made and was therefore unpatriotic to the point of saying that the stamps were an insult to the people of the Australian Commonwealth.

With a change of government in mid-1913 and the new Postmaster General, Agar Wanne, a 1 penny stamp was issued in 1913 with the original design by Herbert Altmann, followed by more. The expectation that the "Roos" would be withdrawn did not come true, on the contrary "Roos" were printed until 1945.