PLACE REPRESENTED: Australia
ITEM: Tote Bag
NOTES: Australia on a tote bag. At least someone had the good sense to include Tasmania, as well as other countries to the north. We are not an island. Well, we are, but I was speaking metaphorically.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: material
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 38cm wide x 30cm high
PLACE REPRESENTED: Samoa
ITEM: Fridge Magnet
NOTES: Now, this fridge magnet I like. Wooden and hand painted in the shape of a turtle. The Independent State of Samoa is a island group in the south pacific.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: Samoa, I suspect
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 6cm across x 6.5cm high
PLACE REPRESENTED: Western Australia , Australia
ITEM: Small Nic Nac Plate
NOTES: A small nic nac plate for the largest State in Australia. It depicts all the familiar motifs, the black swan, the local flowers including the Red and Green Kangaroo Paw, and the famous grasstree.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 8cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Hervey Bay, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Fridge Magnet
NOTES: Caricatures mixing it up: a koala riding a dolphin. Not likely.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: plastic
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 8.5cm x , 5cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: New Zealand
ITEM: Key Chain
NOTES: A Maori Tiki for a key ring.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: plastic
MADE IN: New Zealand
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 5cm tall x 2.5cm wide
PLACE REPRESENTED: Gold Coast, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Ashtray
NOTES: Tourist mecca, the Gold Coast as an ashtray. Some would say that’s apt. That’s harsh perhaps.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: Taiwan
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 13cm x , 13cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Middlemount, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Keychain
NOTES: Middlemount is a mining town in Central Queensland, Australia. Hence the depiction of the dragline excavator. Middlemount, like many other mining towns in Queensland virtually sprung up overnight in the early 1980s. It services two large coal mines, Foxleigh and German Creek. At the 2011 census, Middlemount had a population of 1,914. It’s population, I suspect, is dependent of the fortunes of the mining industry. Maybe that’s why the image is framed in a horseshoe … for luck? If solar or green energy become a easily accessible reality who knows what will happen to Middlemount, or Queensland for that matter.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: steel
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 9.5cm length overall
PLACE REPRESENTED: Singapore
ITEM: Wall Ornament / Small Display Plate
NOTES: Small pewter plate-let depicting Singapore. Clean and well delineated, just like Singapore.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: pewter (98% tin)
MADE IN: Kuala Lumpur
MANUFACTURER: Selwin Pewter
DIMENSIONS: 8cm diameter FOR
PLACE REPRESENTED: Pattaya , Thailand
ITEM: Keychain
NOTES: A memento of the Holiday Inn Sands Hotel at Pattaya. If you google Pattay don’t do it with the “images” tab on, well, not with kids around.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: plastic and steel.
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 10cm long (including chain)
PLACE REPRESENTED: Guadalajara , Mexico
ITEM: Wallet
NOTES: A small change wallet. Simple, festive and very useful.
I always wanted to go to Guadalajara ever since I heard Elvis Presley sing a song of the same (on TV in the 70s) name in the film, “Fun in Acapulco” … “Guadalajara, Guadalajara / Tienes el alma de provinciana / Hueles a limpio a rosa temprana”. Yes he sang it in Spanish (it was written by the great Mexican composer Pepe Guízar). I digress.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: Leather
MADE IN: Mexico probably
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 9.5cn x 9cm