The colony of German New Guinea used stamps based on the German colonial template until 1914. Following the Australian occupation, German New Guinea and Marshall Islands postage and registration labels were overprinted with the abbreviation G.R. I. and sterling denominations. By March 1915 they had been replaced by Australian miniatures overprinted “N. W. Pacific Islands,” which meant the Northwest Pacific Islands. New Guinea's own postage stamps with a view of a native village appeared only in 1935. A multi-stamp series of airmail stamps followed in 1939, with denominations ranging from 10 pence to 5 pounds, intended primarily for sending packages of gold dust from Bulolo to Rabaul.