The South Australia Act, 1834 created the Province of South Australia, built according to the principles of systematic colonisation, with no convict settlers. After the colony nearly went bankrupt, the South Australia Act 1842 gave the British Government full control of South Australia as a Crown Colony. The first stamp of South Australia was issued on 1. January 1855. The arrangements for the first issue of stamps had been made by the postmaster John Cliffe Watts in 1854. Perkins Bacon was commissioned to design and produce a design for the colony. Todays stamp (6 pence) is from 1855 and shows the portrait of Queen Victoria