Category Archives: Australia

KINGS CANYON, NORTHERN TERRITORY, AUSTRALIA – Salt & Pepper Shakers

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Kings Canyon - SP Shakers (1)PLACE REPRESENTED: Kings Canyon, Central Australia , Australia

ITEM: Salt & Pepper Shakers

NOTES: Kings Canyon is part of the Watarrka National Park in Northern Territory, Australia, about 323 km southwest of Alice Springs. The plant depicted, the Sturt Desert Pea, is one of Australia’s best known wildflowers and is native to the arid regions of central and north-western Australia.

I’m not sure what plant is more prevalent at King’s Canyon but I do note that Sturt’s Desert Pea is the State floral emblem for South Australia not the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory has Sturt’s Desert Rose as it’s emblem.

How’s that for trivia?

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s

MADE FROM: ceramic material

MADE IN:  Australia

MANUFACTURER: Crow’s Souvenirs

DIMENSIONS: 9cm tall

Kings Canyon - SP Shakers (2)

COOMA, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – Ornament

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Cooma - Clog boat (1)PLACE REPRESENTED: Cooma, New South Wales , Australia

ITEM: ornament

NOTES: A wooden statuette of a boat. This is a beautifully detailed travel trinket where the sails even move! But the trinket seems to have been made from left overs from other souvenirs. The boats hull is a Dutch clog (confirmed by the windmill depictions), the sails seem to resemble that of Spanish galleons, the flag on the main mast (I talk the salty sea dog talk) is Dutch and there is a little sticker that says Cooma, NSW.

Waste not , want not, huh?

Cooma is no where near the coast either so I’m not sure about the whole boat choice.

As far as I know neither the Dutch nor the Spanish colonised Cooma, but I wouldn’t put it past them.

Cooma, though, did become the headquarters of the Snowy Mountains Scheme (a hydroelectricity , irrigation, and dam complex  that is the largest engineering project ever undertaken in Australia taking some 25 years to complete) during the 1950s and 1960s. The employment of workers was from 32 (mostly European) countries so, perhaps, this explains the cultural potpourri of this trinket.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s

MADE FROM: wood

MADE IN:  unknown

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 15cm high , 6cm long

Cooma - Clog boat (2)Cooma - Clog boat (4)Cooma - Clog boat (5)

FRASER ISLAND, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Bottle Opener

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Fraser Island - Bottle Opener (1)ITEM: Bottle Opener

NOTES: Bottle opener on a key ring … just like the ones you find all over the world’s largest sand island, Fraser Island, after the weekend warriors have finished drinking and carving up the sand in their four wheel drives.

The coloured sands on Fraser Island are examples of where the sand has been stained over thousands of years due to the sand conglomerating with clay.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): unknown

MADE FROM: steel

MADE IN:  unknown

MANUFACTURER: Collectors World

DIMENSIONS: 11cm  long

Fraser Island - Bottle Opener (2)

SARINA, QUEENSLAND – Salt & Pepper Shakers

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Sarina - SP Shakers (2)

PLACE REPRESENTED: Sarina, Queensland, Australia

ITEM: Salt & Pepper Shakers

NOTES: True kitsch – clearly manufactured en masse with space for your home town to be written in later. Also, I’m sure you couldn’t walk your feet off around Sarina. It’s not that big.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s

MADE FROM: ceramic material

MADE IN:  Japan

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 8cm across, 4cm high each

Another view of the feet for you podophiliacs —

Another view of the feet for you podophiliacs —

 

WESTERN AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA – Fan

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Western Australia - fan (2)

PLACE REPRESENTED: Western Australia , Australia.

ITEM: Fan

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

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

Western Australia - fan (4)Western Australia - fan (3)Western Australia - fan (1)

NHULUNBUY, AUSTRALIA – Thermometer

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PLACE REPRESENTED: Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory , Australia

ITEM: Thermometer

NOTES: Shells and thermometers. It doesn’t matter where you are, though on the water would be preferable, shells and thermometers always go together. Where do these shells come from? Not Nhulunbuy, surely. Maybe, it’s on the coast. Nhulunbuy is the name of the township on the Gove Peninsula in the Northern Territory. This is remote!

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s

MADE FROM: shells

MADE IN: unknown

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 10cm high