PLACE REPRESENTED: Madrid , Spain
ITEM: Ornament
NOTES: Madrid – a black fan, dancing. Fair enough. But this trinket is not really for hanging or sitting ….I’m not sure how you display this.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: plastic
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 14cm across , 8cm high .
PLACE REPRESENTED: Boreen Point, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Dinner Bell
NOTES: A cute, delightfully retro kitsch dinner bell. Made in Japan (it’s printed clearly on the inside) for the Australian market (what’s more Australian than a koala, or err a kangaroo?) all you had to do was insert a locality name and put it on shelf for sale. At least, the craftsmanship allowed for the place name to be written on in paint. By the 70s this would be plastic and a sticker would be used. The population of Boreen Point is 264 today, who knows how many people lived there in the 1960s, but I suspect the koalas outnumbered them. It is a locality north of Tewantin on the Sunshine Coast. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boreen_Point,_Queensland
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: Japan
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 11.5cm high x 6cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Canungra, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Hand Towel
NOTES: Canungra, is derived from the local Aboriginal word “gungunga” which means “a long flat or clearing” or “caningera” after a small owl, or “coonoongra” meaning “the small grey owl that has its home along the creek” or, perhaps, “good place with plenty of game”. Either way, Canungra, is also called the “Valley of the Owls” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canungra,_Queensland
This is hand stitched onto a normal hand towel. This sort of Nana (grandmother) embroidery still exists. Perhaps it’s a dying art as more women flock to careers in the post-feminist world – do people sing the praises of knitting, quilting and home crafts? They should … the arts / crafts are evocative as expressions of identity, both individual and group.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2017
MADE FROM: Cotton
MADE IN: Australia
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 41cm x 64cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Fremantle, Western Australia , Australia
ITEM: Wall ornament
NOTES: A vivid wall ornament (or trivet) which captures the bright colours of a sunny beach going Australia. Kitschy and contemporary but quite nice … just like Fremantle, perhaps.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2000s
MADE FROM: Tile
MADE IN: Australia
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 15.5cm x 15.5cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Malta
ITEM: Ashtray
NOTES: Small ashtray depicting Malta and its towns, though you would need a magnifying glass to read the same. This is quite vivid and nicely rustic for a small mass produced ceramic piece.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 9cm diameter .
PLACE REPRESENTED: Holland
ITEM: ornament
NOTES: Miniature clogs from Holland … naturally enough. Or maybe they are clogs for hamsters or mice? The Dutch are nothing if not efficient.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 3cm across , 7cm long each
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: Hudson, New Hampshire , USA
ITEM: Trivet
NOTES: Hudson, New Hampshire on the Merrimack River is famous for its crabs … or rather crab meals. You can put a pot of that on this handy trivet.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: tile, wood
MADE IN: USA
MANUFACTURER: Besheer Art Tile
DIMENSIONS: 15cm x , 15cm.
