PLACE REPRESENTED: Jordan
ITEM: Paperweight
NOTES: Sand art is found wherever there is a lot of sand. Jordan has a lot of sand. Jordan is also famous for the street sand art bottles like this one. It is simple and quite the talking piece (Jordan is written on the inside of the bottle and the rest is layers of sand poked into shapes).
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: sand , glass
MADE IN: Jordan
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 13cm high X 5.5cm across
PLACE REPRESENTED: London , England
ITEM: Mug
NOTES: A big brash and shiny mug depicting the famous London open platform double decker bus (known as the Routemaster) which is also big and brash though not always shiny. In the mid 2000s the routemasters were largely replaced (by other closed double decked buses and standard buses) but there are still a few around on heritage lines and as tourist buses.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2000s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: China
MANUFACTURER: Wondabox
DIMENSIONS: 8cm diameter opening x 11cm tall. The box is 12cm x 12cm x 12cm.
PLACE REPRESENTED: Sicily , Italy
ITEM: Wall ornament
NOTES: Ion typical Italian fashion an elaborate wall ornament. The rim of the plate has the major places of Italy. The center is where you insert your locality. Here they are celebrating Sicily, Wonderfully detailed and quite vivid.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 24cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Adelaide, South Australia , Australia
ITEM: Wall Ornament
NOTES: A nice little dippled steel ornament depicting the exclusively Australian koala, kookaburra and kangaroo (where is the wombat and platypus!). The Adelaide in the middle is of the glue town logo in here variety.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s
MADE FROM: steel
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 12cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Mildura, Victoria , Australia
ITEM: Coffee Mug
NOTES: Mildura is on the Murray river in the northwest of Victoria. It is called Victoria’s Food Bowl and is famous for its citrus fruits (especially oranges), grapes (depicted on the mug), old paddlesteamers (depicted on the mug) and Calabrian mafia (not depicted on the mug).
Great colours on the print though it should be on the other side of the mug. Assuming most people are right handed when using the mug the image faces you … it should face out.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 9cm high, 8.5cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Jamaica
ITEM: Fridge Magnet
NOTES: A vivid handmade (the wood is plain masonite) and hand painted fridge magnet from Jamaica depicting a traditional house. Quite wonderful, by fridge magnet standards.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2000s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: Jamaica (maybe … it could be Haitian)
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 9cm 7cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Rijeka , Croatia
ITEM: Wall Ornament
NOTES: The St. Vitus Church in the old town of Rijeka. The construction began in 1638 based on the design of the Jesuit architect G. Brian. The Venetian church, Santa Maria della Salute, served as s model. This simple hand made glazed pottery piece is quite effective and, suitably, old looking.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1997
MADE FROM: Pottery
MADE IN: Croatia
MANUFACTURER: Dekor-Rijeka
DIMENSIONS: 16cm x 12cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Holland
ITEM: Scarf
NOTES: A beautiful silk (?) scarf from Holland with all its major towns and national symbols shown. You could frame this (errr, after ironing)
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s
MADE FROM: It appears to be silk
MADE IN: unknown
PLACE REPRESENTED: Venice , Italy
ITEM: T Shirt
NOTES: Venice, Italy quite stylish coat of arms of Marina Militare (the Italian Navy depicting the emblems of the four Maritime Republics, Venice, Pisa, Genoa and Amalfi). I don’t know what the flags on either sign signify but they are probably the nautical flag alphabet. The Italians famous for the their clothes had this made in Bangladesh. Ah, cheap labour and free trade in the 21st century.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2017
MADE FROM: cotton
MADE IN: Bangladesh
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: Size 9/10
PLACE REPRESENTED: Brisbane (specifically Mamma Luigi’s Restaurant), Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Small Wall ornament
NOTES: A restaurant as a sight? Sure, why not. It may not as well known as Delmonico’s, or Figlmüller, or L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele but Mamma Luigi’s is central to Brisbane’s culinary history. Australia was very Anglo-Celt and insular until after World War 2, Brisbane, the third biggest city, even more so. Brisbane never had the number of southern European migrants as Sydney or Melbourne. Despite this one of the few migrants that was here, Mamma Luigi (“Mama” Cesarina Deambrose with her husband Joe), decided that 1942 (when Australian’s were fighting Italians in North Africa) was the right time to open a Italian restaurant at a house (it wasn’t flash) at 240 St Paul’s Terrace in the inner-city suburb of Spring Hill. Perhaps there were enough Italian Americans in the US army based in Brisbane to give them the idea. Who knows? But, with that move Mamma Luigi’s Restaurant is regarded as the first restaurant in Brisbane to serve Italian food and, perhaps, the first foreign food restaurant in all of Brisbane. The restaurant became a hit with local Italians, Italians on holiday from the north (Italians had been farming in the north of the state since the 1920s), adventurous Australians and celebrities: General Douglas MacArthur and singer Nat King Cole ate there, and former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was a regular. It was, perhaps the most well known and dominant Italian restaurant in Brisbane until the Italian Club in Newmarket went upscale in the 1970s. Many Italian restaurants followed. Every Brisbanite of a certain generation remembers Mamma Luigi’s and everyone’s parents ate there as did mine (Italian speaking Croatians). Mama Luigi’s restaurant closed in the 1980s. The restaurant eventually changed hands and the property was sold in 2003 and restored by the new owner. It sold in 2017 to Berson Properties who applied to demolish the house but after public outcry Hutchinson Builders were involved in the buildings relocation to Toowong as a suburban house and where it remains today.
This souvenir may have started off as a advertising promotional tool but it becomes a travel souvenir. The colours pop, and all the information you would now see on a website (well, a lot of it) is contained on the dish.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: China
MADE IN: Australia
MANUFACTURER: Westminster
DIMENSIONS: 10cm diameter
The restaurant at Spring Hill, 1960s
Mamma Cesarina and husband Joe
The building in Spring Hill, 2000s
The Vacant lot , Spring Hill circa 2024
The new home for the building in Toowong, circa 2024