PLACE REPRESENTED: Tasmania , Australia
ITEM: Display Plate
NOTES: Great detail … the manufacturer has managed to cram everything about Tasmania on there.
Well, at least all the positive things.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 20.5cm diameter
Click on image below for detail
PLACE REPRESENTED: Taree, New South Wales, Australia
ITEM: Nic Nac Bowl
NOTES: Victoria Street, the main drag in Taree which is located on the Manning River on the mid north coast of New South Wales … well actually, from the picture, Victoria Street circa 1930.
It looked nicer then … less cars.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1930s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: Czechoslovakia
MANUFACTURER: ‘Victoria’ Schmidt & Company
DIMENSIONS: 13.5cm x 13.5cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Rockhampton, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Souvenir Boomerang Ornament
NOTES: I’m not sure if this boomerang will come back. It’s machine shopped but it is made in Australia (in Melbourne) and made from mulga wood. Mulga is a shrub or small tree native to arid outback areas. It has adapted to its environment and makes sure it captures all rain and moisture. Accordingly, sheep and cattle love it, as do bees for its flowers. Humans, also, use it as a good source of firewood as well as a wood to make implements and … boomerangs. There is a kangaroo decal at the center just in case you didn’t know where it came from. Rockhampton has been etched into the boomerang off-center, and, perhaps, as an afterthought.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: Australia
MANUFACTURER: Australian Mulga
DIMENSIONS: 26cm long (the boomerang) x 5cm wide at its widest
PLACE REPRESENTED: Roebuck Bay, Western Australia , Australia
ITEM: Tray
NOTES: Now this is remote.
A serving tray depicting native Australians in traditional gear striking a (John) Fordian pose for a “Coastal Scene, Roebuck Bay, Near Broome, N.W. W.A”.
Broome is situated on the traditional lands of the Yawuru people.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s (or 1950s)
MADE FROM: steel
MADE IN: Australia
MANUFACTURER: Willow
DIMENSIONS: 44.5cm x 32cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Brisbane , Australia
ITEM: Paperweight
NOTES: A lump of marble in the shape of Australia celebrating World Expo 88 in Brisbane.
An event that (arguably) with the Commonwealth Games of 1982 put Brisbane on the map … though it led to a lot of forced evictions, and dodgy dealings for land along the Brisbane river.
The stone depicts amongst other things a monorail, which, much like the monorail in “The Simpsons”, has not been seen since.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1988
MADE FROM: marble
MADE IN: Australia
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 15cm long x 12cm top to bottom x 2cm thick
PLACE REPRESENTED: Sydney, New South Wales , Australia
ITEM: Key Chain
NOTES: The iconic Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House … again.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: steel
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 11cm long (with chain)
PLACE REPRESENTED: Tweed Heads (specifically Razorback Hill), New South Wales , Australia
ITEM: I’m not really sure what this is. I’m assuming it’s a tea bag strainer. (postnote: actually it’s just miniature souvenir ware of a shaving mug – see comments below)
NOTES: Razorback Hill is a long, narrow hill located at the end of Razorback Road between Tweed Heads (in New South Wales) and Coolangatta (in Queensland) which offered a beautiful outlook of rolling hills, the sea to the east, and mountains to the west. At the summit on the western side there was a restaurant called the Chalet. The Swiss owner, Karl Hiendlemayer, began to build his dream in 1916 and added to it over the years until it became a major tourist curiosity. He sold it to the Sutherland family in 1939 and, during the war years, it proved to be amongst the most popular venues for the relaxing and free-spending American servicemen. (see – you can learn things on the internet). Apparently the chalet on Razorback Hill (given the amount of artefacts with “Interior of The Chalet,” label on them) was quite the place to be and, apparently, had a stunning view.
It’s all gone now and has been built up and built out.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1930s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: Czechoslovakia
MANUFACTURER: ‘Victoria’ Schmidt & Company (I believe this “Victoria” stamp was used from approximately 1919-45)
DIMENSIONS: 8cm across x 5.5cm high
PLACE REPRESENTED: Sea World, Gold Coast , Australia
ITEM: Ornament
NOTES: Yes indeed there are polar bears on Queenslands sunny Gold Coast … at Sea World. I’m assuming (and hoping) their enclosures are air conditioned.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): © 2002
MADE FROM: acrylic
MADE IN: China
MANUFACTURER: Sea World Property Trust
DIMENSIONS: 6cm high , 7cm long
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
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
