Category Archives: Queensland

WOOMBYE, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Snow Globe

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Nambour - The Big Pineapple - Snow Globe (1)PLACE REPRESENTED: Woombye (specifically The Big Pineapple), Queensland , Australia

ITEM: Snow Globe

NOTES: It doesn’t snow anywhere near the “Big Pineapple” so why a snow globe? Why not I say!

The “Big Pineapple” was a big and a major tourist attraction in the 70s … people would travel for miles to see the “Big Pineapple”. They don’t as much any more but they should as there is should be a market for “retro chic hipster tourism”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Pineapple

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s

MADE FROM: plastic

MADE IN:  China

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 18.5cm high x 7cm

BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Coasters

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Queensland - Parliament coasters (1)     Queensland - Parliament coasters (2)PLACE REPRESENTED: Brisbane, Queensland , Australia (specifically Queensland Parliament)

ITEM: Coasters

NOTES: Four coasters in a tin case depicting the Queensland Parliament’s coat of arms.

Queensland’s Parliament sits in Brisbane and is often quite surprising. Well, more surprising than this souvenir.

It’s a good thing the coasters don’t depict governments as they seem to change frequently.

Why would anyone buy a souvenir like this? Perhaps an ex-politician took it on the way out.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2000s

MADE FROM: tin , rubber   (base)

MADE IN:  unknown

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 9.5cm diameter

GOLD COAST, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Salt & Pepper Shakers

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Surfers Paradise - SP Shakers in pipe shape (1)Surfers Paradise - SP Shakers in pipe shape (2)PLACE REPRESENTED: Gold Coast (specifically Surfers Paradise), Queensland , Australia

ITEM: Salt & Pepper Shakers

NOTES: Handled salt and pepper shakers in fake bone with a fair bit of detail.

Perfect kitsch. Much like Surfers Paradise itself, perhaps?

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s

MADE FROM: plastic , steel

MADE IN:  unknown

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 14cm long , 6cm high each

ROCKHAMPTON, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Ornament

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Rockhampton - Boomerang (1)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

Rockhampton - Boomerang (4)

BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Paperweight

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Brisbane - Expo 88 paper weight (1)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

GOLD COAST, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Ornament

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Gold Coast Sea World - Polar Bear (2)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

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 —