For this card we have gone almost to the beginning of the Australian issues, and it is the earliest card I have been able to find, for which I am most grateful to Mr. Stephens. This set was issued in 1949 and it was the only set issued that year.
The first ever Sanitarium set was issued in New Zealand, in 1941. Most of the New Zealand issues are undated but thanks to dogged research we know the year of issue in most cases. This first set was called "The New Zealand Treasury of the Years", and it ran to two series, the first of fifty numbered cards, starting with card 1, and the second, issued in 1942, picking up the numbering from 51 to 100. These measured 65 x 50 m/m. Then there was a break and the New Zealand cards did not return until 1946, though it was called "Advance ANZAC Series - A Pageant of the Years - third series of forty cards", and slightly larger sized at 75 x 51 m/m. There was an extra card to this, of "Sqd. Ldr, L.H. Trent, V.C., D.F.C." That link will tell you more of his story, and if anyone has the card I will squeeze it in here.
These cards continued for eleven series, and five hundred cards, until 1955, and then they were replaced by "The Wonder Book of General Knowledge", starting from number 1.
Now you may be wondering why I mentioned all that, but when the cards started in Australia their first set, issued in 1942 and continuing into 1943, was called "Advance Australia Series". These cards measure 74 x 50 m/m and were numbered 1 to 60. They were issued across Australia and there are three different addresses to collect, Sydney and Newcastle, Perth in Western Australia, and Victoria and Tasmania, the last of which comes in two versions, with and without an album clause.
This was followed by a set of transfers, in 1944, which are most elusive, they came in two sizes (68 x 43 and 51 x 37 m/m), and we think there was fifty but not all have yet been found. In 1945, the second series of "The New Zealand Treasury" was re-issued in Australia, but not the first. This must have been a bit confusing, unless it was renumbered, because originally it had been numbers 51-100. The following year, 1946, the set was "The Children`s Australian Treasury", which remains one of their best loved sets ever, and it did seem to have a long run because the next set was not issued until 1948, and that was "Marvels of the Great Barrier Reef". There were several versions of this, you can find it completely un-numbered, which was the first version, and led to much confusion as to where to place the stickers in the albums. This was hastily rectified by adding the number on the back, but there is another version, presumably later, which has the number on the front instead.
And the next set, issued in 1949, was ours. This is catalogued in our original Australia and New Zealand Index as :
1949-1 "Australia - Yesterday and Today". 78 x 55. Nd. (50). Anonymous plain-backed cards are known. ... SA2-106
The cards are in sub-sets, and these again start with "The First Australians" (4 cards), followed by The First White Men" (4), "The Early Pioneers"(4), "Australian`s Hall of Fame" (7), "Australian Wildlife" (10), "Australian Birds" (5), "Australia Today" (5), "Australia - Land of Beauty and Colour" (7), and "Australia`s Fighting Forces" (4, which includes our card).