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Robert Maurice Conly was a prominent stamp and coin designer. His stamp designs included New Zealand issues as well as Tokelau, Ross Dependency, Niue and the Cook Islands.
He joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) in 1941 to train as a pilot but a freak accident left him unfit for active service, so he turned to his other love, that of painting and soon after he was appointed the RNZAF Official War Artist. Over the next 50 years, Maurice Conly had the opportunity to travel wherever the RNZAF was serving - from Fiji and the Solomons to South East Asia.
In 1969 he traveled to Vietnam to cover the actions of the New Zealand Army, who had approached the Air Force to “loan” Conly to be their artist as they did not have an ‘official’ one at the time. | 
