PLACE REPRESENTED: Melbourne, Victoria , Australia
ITEM: Nic Nac Dish
NOTES: A small but well detailed nic nac dish depicting the Melbourne skyline as it was in the early 1960s.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s
MADE FROM: china
MADE IN: Australia
MANUFACTURER: Westminster
DIMENSIONS: 9.5cm x 9.5cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Bundaberg, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Cap
NOTES: Bundaberg, the “Fresh Heart of Australia”. I haven’t heard that before. I only know about Bundaberg Rum, made from the dominant local crop, sugar cane. Goodling suggests otherwise “the heart of Australian food” and the “the heart of Australia’s fresh food”. Hmmmm, there are a lot of food bowl areas in Australia that would disagree. Apparently Tourism Australia is pushing Bundaberg as a culinary destination. Well, who am I to argue.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2000s
MADE FROM: 100% polyester
MADE IN: China
MANUFACTURER: Headwear
DIMENSIONS: One size fits all
PLACE REPRESENTED: Brisbane, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Wall Plate
NOTES: A vivid plate of Brisbane at the time of the Queensland Centenary in 1959. The sites are all intact and not in abundance such was Brisbane in 1959. Accordingly, the plate makers have included Greenmount beach at Coolangatta on the nearby Gold Coast (which was then still relatively underdeveloped). All under the logo (“insert coat of arms or logo here”) of the Greater Brisbane H.T.A (a tennis association now defunct in Queensland) which is quite appropriate as tennis and sunshine mix well.
The plate has some special significance for me as my father and mother came to Australia, from Croatia (well, from Yugoslavia via other countries) in 1959 and 1960 respectively. They met here shortly thereafter and this is what they, no doubt, saw, and it was a lot les developed then what they were used to.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1959
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: Japan
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 25.5cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia
ITEM: Bottle Opener
NOTES: The bottle opener, sold in the millions and perhaps the most useful travel souvenir (at least until screw top bottles and pull tab cans came along).. Here we have vibrant colours showing off the Great Barrier Reef.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: steel, plastic.
MADE IN: Japan
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 12cm long
PLACE REPRESENTED: Sydney, New South Wales (specifically the Sydney Tower) , Australia
ITEM: Drinks Tray
NOTES: A drinks tray depicting Sydney’s third most identifiable feature (the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge probably beat it, if for no other reason than it seems to subject to frequent name changes. As wikipedia says “The name Sydney Tower has become common in daily usage; however, the tower has been known as the Sydney Tower Eye, AMP Tower, Flower Tower, Glower Tower, Westfield Centrepoint Tower, Big Poke, Centrepoint Tower or just Centrepoint”. The Sydney Tower is Sydney’s tallest structure and the second tallest observation tower in the Southern Hemisphere, and was opened to the public in 1981. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Tower
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: metal
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 32cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Gold Coast (specifically Warner Brothers Movie World), Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Frame
NOTES: A picture frame celebrating DC comics superheroes and DC Comics Super-Villains tenuously linked to the Gold Coast via the theme park studio. The characters depicted are old school from the golden age of comic design and have a pop art immediacy about them, without any of the cynicism or irony many contemporary superhero variations have. Putting your picture in the middle says what? Or, am I reading too much into this?
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2000s
MADE FROM: plastic , cardboard
MADE IN: China
MANUFACTURER: Warner Brothers
DIMENSIONS: 25.5cm x 32cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Alice Springs, Northern Territory , Australia
ITEM: Coffee Mug
NOTES: A coffee mug, or, rather, half a coffee mug. Has anyone ever asked for half a cup of coffee? Perhaps in pre barista instant coffee days in Australia.
“Central Australia” is often equated with “Northern Territory”. Either way Alice Springs in in its centre and the camel lounging under an umbrella, with an esky and a cool drink is apt. … ie: it’s hot.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 9cm high x a 10cm semi circle
PLACE REPRESENTED: Coober Pedy, South Australia , Australia
ITEM: Cap
NOTES: A nicely detailed cap exhalating Coober Pedy, the “Opal Capital of the World”. Very stylish, as far as calps go ..and you will need one in Coober Pedy. Well, when you are above ground.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2000s
MADE FROM: 100% cotton, suede
MADE IN: China
MANUFACTURER: Ace
DIMENSIONS: One size fits all
PLACE REPRESENTED: Warnambool, Victoria , Australia
ITEM: Tray
NOTES: A vivid drinks tray depicting life in Warnambool on Victoria’s south coast, circa nineteen seventy something. Life seems a lot simpler them
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: steel MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 33cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Noosa Heads, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: T Shirt
NOTES: I was expecting something more colourful from the sub tropics but at least it is made in Queensland. That has to be a novelty.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: 100% cotton
MADE IN: Queensland, Australia
MANUFACTURER: Beach Party
DIMENSIONS: XXL