Aussie Blog .... Keep the flies away, Maaaate!

Aboriginal art and Australian Indigenous artifacts from China, Indonesia and the Philippines? Well, it’s about as strange as Thailand importing rice and coconuts from Alaska.

The latter doesn’t happen and we believe, the former shouldn’t happen.

We have received a number of offers such as the following one from Indonesia:

“Do you import boomerang, didgeridoo and clapstick from Indonesia too? We are exporters of wood and bamboo art, and are looking to export boomerang, clapstick and didgeridoo...”

My reply (in terms of our policy at Australia Gift Shop):

“It goes against our business practices and ethics to import Australian Aboriginal artifacts.



WE ONLY EXPORT AUSTRALIAN-MADE Australian Aboriginal artifacts and Aboriginal art products.

Thanks for contacting Australia Gift Shop.” 

This is the identikit image of a suspicious boomerang promulgated by the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Customs Service. The boomerang is wanted for questioning in connection with a series of incidents involving a cleverly-disguised piece of timber, believed to be of Asian descent, fraudulently posing as an Australian Indigenous artifact.

It was seen lurking inside a dingy souvenir shop, waiting to be picked up by a well-heeled tourist. After being taken back to the tourist's hotel and apparently stripped of all pretence, the boomerang fled to the nearby tourist precinct. The victim, who was with a group tour from the United States, was exceedingly regretful, saying, "All I wanted was a good artifact. I paid my money, so why shouldn't I get what I was after?"

The boomerang is believed to have returned to one of the many tourist shops in the area and taken camouflage amongst a crowd of seedy souvenirs waiting to make a few dollars in the hands of another gullible tourist who wants nothing but a good artifact.

Please immediately report any information which you think may help the authorities in establishing the whereabouts of the boomerang in question. 

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We recently received an email asking:

“Where do you get your aboriginal art? Do you buy it from aboriginal communities?” 

We responded with the following statement:

“Thanks for contacting Australia Gift Shop.

We source our Aboriginal art from many different people in many different places.

Some is purchased directly from local Aboriginal artists here in Queensland, a lot is from a variety of sources in New South Wales and South Australia from manufacturers who employ Aboriginal artists to handpaint artifacts and everyday products or who buy the rights off Aboriginal artists to print their artwork onto merchandise.

We also purchase Aboriginal artwork from Australian auctions.”

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Another common query we recently received was about our catalogue:

“Looking for a very Australian gift for approx. 80-100 people for a function we are holding in Los Angeles and was wondering if you would have a catalog, so we can view all that you have for sale. Thanks.”

Our response is quoted below:

“Thanks for contacting Australia Gift Shop.

We do not have a printed catalogue.

Our catalog is online.

It begins at http://www.australiagift.net/categories.asp with descriptions and links to each of our product categories.

Secondly, we also have a downloadable .pdf file Catalogue of Export products at http://www.australiagift.net/exports/Catalogue-of-Export-Products.pdf .

Thirdly, there is an excellent list of "Australian Corporate Gift Suggestions" in our blog at http://www.australiagift.net/blog/?view=plink&id=126 . You would find this list particularly helpful for your requirements.

Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions, K….. Thanks for visiting Australia Gift Shop.”

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All of our retail Aboriginal art products (unless temporarily out of stock) can be found in the various categories in our online shop, at www.australiagift.net/australia (for all prices in Australian dollars) [or www.australiagift.net – for prices in US$] then click on "Products".

We supply a lot of Aboriginal Art products that we don't sell through our retail online shop. They are in our "Catalogue of Export Products". Of course, these products are not only for export and wholesale within Australia. Many of the products available in the catalogue are simply available in a wider range of designs than what's offered in our online shop.

To download our current Catalogue of Export Products .pdf file, click the following link or paste it into your web browser : 

www.australiagift.net/exports/Catalogue_of_Export_Products.pdf . The catalogue file requires Adobe Reader software. If you do not have this software, you can download it for free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html .

Our wholesale price list only applies to export orders over Au$3000 and wholesale domestic orders over Au$500 (excluding GST and delivery).

For orders under this total value, pricing depends on quantity ordered. Items sell for the same retail prices as those marked online, except that you would receive discounts of 10% - 25%, depending on the product and quantity. 

Email or phone us (www.australiagift.net/contact.html ) at the time for pricing or quantity pricing for any of the catalogue products or any items in the corporate gift list above.

We can always have orders of available products to you [in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane] by courier within 1 to 3 business days.