Miniature toy camel souvenir

Datec 1952

Object number00015969

NameToy

MediumVinyl with synthetic fibres

DimensionsOverall: 140 x 170 x 90 mm

ClassificationsToys, games and souvenirs

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Fabbro Alfredo

Terms

Bur Said

DescriptionMany postwar immigrants travelling to Australia bought souvenirs from traders plying their goods from bumboats – small oared lighters – in the Suez Canal. Placing their trust in the vendor below, the customer sent down their money in a basket lowered on a string from the deck of their ship. Their Egyptian memento came back in the same basket. In 1952 Guiditta Fabbro bargained for two miniature camels, a wallet and a scarf from Port Said on her way from Italy to Australia, where she was to meet her husband who was living and working on the Snowy Mountains Scheme at Cabramurra in southern NSW. To an observer a small camel is simply a souvenir, but to its owner it may stir up all sorts of memories associated with a long sea journey to an uncertain future in a new country.