PLACE REPRESENTED: Australia
ITEM: Oven mitt aka oven glove
NOTES: An oven mitt with a map of Australia and some of the flora and fauna associated with it. Perhaps an oven mitt is appropriate … flora, fauna, global warming.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2000s
MADE FROM: cotton
MADE IN: China
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 30cm long x 15cm wide
PLACE REPRESENTED: Ingham, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Bottle Opener
NOTES: Ingham, Queensland. Famous for its sugar cane. Many a migrant spent their time cutting cane thereabouts. Well, many a non-English speaking migrant, to be specific. Well, many a Italian, Croatian, Hungarian, etc etc. So many Italians worked and settled in the area during the last century, but especially during the 1950s and 1960s that Ingham is known as “Little Italy” and has an “Italian-Australian” festival. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingham,_Queensland
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: steel
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 12cm long
PLACE REPRESENTED: Norfolk Island , Australia
ITEM: Salt & Pepper Shakers
NOTES: Norfolk Island depicted by the (I assume) Norfolk Pine and (I assume) the Bounty sailing ship (the one famed for the mutiny) which never actually went to Norfolk though some of its mutineers did or, it could be the HMS Resolution the ship Captain Cook commanded when he first discovered (White European discovery) the island in 1774.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 8cm high x 4.5cm diameter (at largest)
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
PLACE REPRESENTED: Canberra, Australian Capital Territory , Australia
ITEM: Jigsaw
NOTES: The Telstra Tower in Canberra. Well it’s a nice change from the Houses of Parliament or the Australian War Memorial. It is only a small jigsaw … no doubt the houses of Parliament would be the 10000 piece one where the pieces don’t fit and, inevitably, the final piece is missing.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: cardboard
MADE IN: China (very little in Canberra seems to be made in Australia)
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 17cm x 25cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Cairns, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Paperweight Water Cube
NOTES: Two water cubes. One with fish and one with crocodiles. It’s a good thing they are not in the same cube.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2014
MADE FROM: plastic
MADE IN: China
MANUFACTURER: Wilmot Harvey
DIMENSIONS: 5cm x 5cm x 5cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Norfolk Island , Australia
ITEM: Key Holder
NOTES: Rustic, locally made (by P. Christian according to the back. No doubt a descendant of Fletcher?) pyrography piece depicting the ubiquitous Norfolk Island pine tree.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: wood , steel
MADE IN: Norfolk Island
MANUFACTURER: P. Christian
DIMENSIONS: 11cm wide x 11cm high
PLACE REPRESENTED: Uranga, Hervey Bay, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Spoon
NOTES: Souvenir spoon from Hervey Bay…specifically the Urangan beachside suburb.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s
MADE FROM: steel
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 12cm long
PLACE REPRESENTED: Port Lincoln, South Australia , Australia
ITEM: Coasters
NOTES: A set of six coasters depicting the delights of Port Lincoln famous for its fishing and bay. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Lincoln
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: plastic , cork
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 10cm x 9cm each
PLACE REPRESENTED: Mt Isa, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Pennant
NOTES: Pennants in red and blue depicting two scenes of typical Mt Isa : Lake Moondarra and the town with its mining infrastructure. Mt Isa is hot and dusty with a lot of mining which explains Lake Moondarra which is an artificial lake which supplies the town, and mines, water.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1971
MADE FROM: cloth
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 26cm long x 14cm wide