Tag Archives: 1960s

MACKAY, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Pin Cushion

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Mackay - pincushion - shell (3)PLACE REPRESENTED: Mackay, Queensland , Australia

ITEM: Pin Cushion

NOTES: A  most unusual pin cushion and quite a good one. I’m not sure is this locally made as I’m not sure Mackay is famous for its shells given it’s located on a river (the Pioneer river) though it is a jumping off point for the nearby Great Barrier Reef, and the Whitsunday Islands. Still, I would be happy to put my pin in this cushion.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s

MADE FROM: shell

MADE IN:  unknown

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 7.5cm long x 5cm high

Mackay - pincushion - shell (2)   Mackay - pincushion - shell (1)

GRINDELWALD, SWITZERLAND – Wall Plate

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Grindelwald - Wall Ornament (1)PLACE REPRESENTED: Grindelwald , Switzerland

ITEM: Wall Plate

NOTES: A suitably rustic wall hanging declaring Grindelwald, a village in Switzerland’s Bernese Alps in the south which had a population of about 3300 in the 1960s at the time of this souvenir (and about 4000 now). I’m no expert but the flowers could be the Mountain Avens (or maybe Edelweiss), perhaps a Dissecta and maybe an Alpine Forget-me-not (the “King of the Alps”). This is simple and pretty.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s

MADE FROM: wood

MADE IN:   Switzerland probably

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 20cm diameter

 

GRAND CANYON, USA – Mitt Holder

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Grand Canyon - mitt holder (1)PLACE REPRESENTED: Grand Canyon, Arizona , USA

ITEM: Oven Mitt Holder

NOTES: How many oven mitt holders do you come across? This stylish piece of timber has room for the keys in the half urn whilst your mitts can hang from below. How do I know it as oven mitt holder? By the writing, “Take a holder from this hook, save your fingers when you cook”. The “Grand Canyon Nat’l Park” in a different font and writing indicates this may have been a “insert place name here” souvenir. Still, an oven mitt holder!

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s

MADE FROM: wood

MADE IN:  unknown

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 11cm wide x 14cm long x 5.5cm deep.

Grand Canyon - mitt holder (2)

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Fan

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North Queensland - fan (2)PLACE REPRESENTED: Queensland (specifically North Queensland) , Australia

ITEM: Fan

NOTES: Beautifully kitsch plastic souvenir fans from the 60s or early 70s. The fans fold in on themselves or open up.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s

MADE FROM: plastic

MADE IN:  Hong Kong (It’s written on the red bit at the bottom)

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 18cm tall , 3.5cm wide (when folded up)  25cm when opened up

     North Queensland - fan (4)     North Queensland - fan (1)     North Queensland - fan (3)

NAMBOUR, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Fan

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Nambour - Sunshine Plntation - fan (3)PLACE REPRESENTED: Nambour (specifically the Sunshine Plantation), Queensland , Australia

ITEM: Fan

NOTES: Beautifully kitsch plastic souvenir fans from the 60s or early 70s. The fans fold in on themselves or open up.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s

MADE FROM: plastic

MADE IN:  Hong Kong (It’s written on the red bit at the bottom)

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 18cm tall , 3.5cm wide (when folded up)  25cm when opened up.

         Nambour - Sunshine Plntation - fan (2)       Nambour - Sunshine Plntation - fan (4)     Nambour - Sunshine Plntation - fan (1)

TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA – Small Dish

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Batman Bridge - Tasmania - Displate Plate (1)PLACE REPRESENTED: Tasmania (specifically the Batman Bridge) , Australia

ITEM: Small Dish NOTES: A small nic nac dish celebrating Tasmania’s Batman bridge which crosses the Tamar River. The image and design of this is quite 1960s, which makes sense as the bridge was built between 1966 and 1968 and was the first cable stayed bridge in Australia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_Bridge

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s

MADE FROM: china

MADE IN:  Australia

MANUFACTURER: Westminster

DIMENSIONS: 11.5cm  x 10cm

Batman Bridge - Tasmania - Displate Plate (2)

KATOOMBA, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – Cheese Knife

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Katoomba - Cheese Knife (1)PLACE REPRESENTED: Katoomba, New South Wales , Australia

ITEM: Cheese Knife

NOTES: A nice sturdy cheese knife whose only indication as being a travel souvenir is the gold lettering on the faux bone handle, “Greetings from Katoomba”. Surely, repeated use would cause this to fade? Well maybe it will, but this, from its styling, seems to be from the 1960s, and it’s still going strong. Katoomba is the chief town in the Blue Mountains area of new South Wales. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katoomba,_New_South_Wales

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s

MADE FROM: steel , hard plastic

MADE IN:  England

MANUFACTURER: Viners

DIMENSIONS: 19cm long

Katoomba - Cheese Knife (2)

BOREEN POINT, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Dinner Bell

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Boreen Point - Dinner Bell (1)PLACE REPRESENTED: Boreen Point, Queensland , Australia

ITEM: Dinner Bell

NOTES: A cute, delightfully retro kitsch dinner bell. Made in Japan (it’s printed clearly on the inside) for the Australian market (what’s more Australian than a koala, or err a kangaroo?) all you had to do was insert a locality name and put it on shelf for sale. At least, the craftsmanship allowed for the place name to be written on in paint. By the 70s this would be plastic and a sticker would be used. The population of Boreen Point is 264 today, who knows how many people lived there in the 1960s, but I suspect the koalas outnumbered them. It is a locality north of Tewantin on the Sunshine Coast. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boreen_Point,_Queensland

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s

MADE FROM: ceramic material

MADE IN:  Japan

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 11.5cm high x 6cm diameter

Boreen Point - Dinner Bell (3)

CASINO, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – Ashtray

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Casino - Ashtray (1)     Casino - Ashtray (7)

PLACE REPRESENTED: Casino, New South Wales , Australia

ITEM: Ashtray

NOTES: An old ashtray with the coat of arms for the town of Casino in northern New South Wales. Neither of the animals on the coat of arms looks like a cow … and they should be given Casino is the beef capital of Australia*.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s

MADE FROM: steel

MADE IN:  Australia

MANUFACTURER: Daramount by KC Luke, Melbourne

DIMENSIONS: 11cm x , 11cm

* although the town of Rockhampton in Queensland also claims this title