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.

Australian Indigenous Artists Ranked According to Highest Selling Price for a Single Artwork

Warning. This article contains the names and images of Aboriginal and Islander people now deceased. It also contains links to sites that may use images of Aboriginal and Islander people now deceased.

* These Australian Indigenous artists are ranked according to highest selling price for a single artwork, whether paintings or sculptures.

Click here for more information about  Aboriginal art top prices.

* Disclaimer : This list of "Top Aboriginal Artists" is based on our own limited research. There has been no "cash for comment" involved in the publishing of this list at all and the ranking of the artists is subject to change at any time. The rankings and data are neither exhaustive nor authoritative.



The artists are ranked according to highest selling price [based on our own limited research] for a single artwork, whether paintings or sculptures. 



Australia Gifts Online (aka Australia Gift Shop) provides no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability or completeness of the furnished data.

To visit the American Dollar [ US$ ] area of Australia Gift Shop, go to www.australiagift.net  .

To visit the Australian Dollar [ AU$ ] area of Australia Gift Shop, go to www.australiagift.net/australia  .

:: Copyright © 2008 Australia Gift Shop

About Reconciliation, the Stolen Generation and the Apology for the Sorry Business: http://www.getup.org.au/files/campaigns/sorryFAQ.pdf



ANTAR = Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation. By purchasing "Sea of Hands" Pins or other merchandise from the ANTAR Shop ( http://www.antar.org.au/shop/ ) you are showing your support for Indigenous people, and assisting to bring about moral and legal recognition and respect for the rights of Indigenous Australians.

Visit the Sea of Hands to make a commitment to justice for Indigenous Australians, especially regarding native title rights and reconciliation: http://seaofhands.antar.org.au/normal

After making the transaction, she asked me the following question and added a couple of helpful comments:

“Can you please send me a list of what else you have or can buy?  I am always looking for Australian type gifts but not cheap and nasty.

I have done the Drizabone wine cooler bags and Australian wine to death!”

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

Thanks for your question about other Australian type gifts, because that's what we specialise in. All of the products listed below are made in Australia, except for the neckties, which use aboriginal art designs created in Australia by Australian Aboriginal artists.

Our most popular corporate gift products of quality (that are "not cheap and nasty") include:

 

 - Coffee Table Books about Australia (hardcover & featuring superb photography by Steve Parish)

 - Macadamia Nuts in Resealable Pouch (choc-coated or honey-roasted)

Plus a variety of stylish products featuring a selection Aboriginal art designs:

 - Necktie (for men)

 - Yiyangu Pamper Pack - Rainforest Fig & Daintree Rivermint (for women)

 - Hip Flask

 - Emu Caller with display stand

 - Fine Art Canvases (Aboriginal art paintings that are hand-painted on small [15 x 15cm], medium & large canvases)

 - Boxed Boomerangs with display stand in 6" and 14" sizes

 - Clap Stick with display stand

 - 8" Bowl with Aboriginal Art Brolga Design on Hand-Crafted Metal

 - 8" Plate with Aboriginal Art Brolga Design on Hand-Crafted Metal

 - Nut Bowl with Aboriginal Art Design on Hand-Crafted Metal

 - Trinket Box with Aboriginal Art or Australiana Design on Hand-Crafted Metal

All of the products listed above (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".

For a much wider selection of sizes and Aboriginal art designs on these products, view our "Catalogue of Export Products" (see details below).

------------------------------------------------------------

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. 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 : Catalogue of Export Products . 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 orders over Au$3000.

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 or 2 business days.

 http://www.australiagift.net/australia 

If you are thinking you may have difficulties finding just the right gifts to give your loved ones and corporate colleagues, think again! The range of gifts at Australia Gift Shop http://www.australiagift.net [ link to shop for this item in Australian Dollars ] is surprisingly broad and refreshingly original. 

http://www.australiagift.net/australia/proddetail.asp?prod=TKBOX

[Link to browse in Australian Dollars]

Gifts for women range from Aboriginal Art and Australiana Trinket Boxes [ link to shop in Australian Dollars ], hand-crafted in alloy that never needs polishing, to cosmetics and beauty products such as the new Yiyangu Pamper Pack [ link to shop in Australian Dollars ] with the enlivening and unique fragrance of Australian Rainforest Fig & Daintree Rivermint. Chocolate-coated Aussie coffee beans are a wonderful accompaniment to any gift.

Gifts and gift packs like these will help you express love beyond words. They can ignite an ineffable magical flash that could transform the Star of Bethlehem into a warm, glowing beam of light from heaven to the heart of your loved one. (Please accept our apologies if you think that this was a bit over the top or unabashedly and tastelessly ethnocentric!)

http://www.australiagift.net/australia/products.asp?cat=57

[Link to browse in Australian Dollars]

Gifts for men range from vibrant and colourful Aboriginal Art Watches [ shop in AU$ ] and Ties (neckties) [ shop in Aussie $ ] to stylish hip flasks and collector artifacts (with display stands) featuring Aboriginal art designs. Resealable pouches of macadamia nuts in chocolate coating are extremely popular as that little something extra to support a special Christmas gift.

http://www.australiagift.net/australia/products.asp?cat=56

[Link to browse in Australian Dollars]

Gift suggestions for couples include exquisite Aboriginal Art Prints [ shop in AU$ ] by the famous Australian indigenous artist, Susan Betts, who designed the artwork on the "Nalanji Dreaming" Qantas jumbo jet. These artworks make truly stunning home decor.

A wide variety of hand-made Australiana and Aboriginal art tableware items, fashioned in alloy that never requires polishing [ link to shop in Australian Dollars ], is becoming increasingly popular as corporate gifts and as a house gift for couples. There are nut bowls for Christmas entertaining and larger bowls for fruit, biscuits and sweets.

Plates and coasters are among the other pieces that shine in this Aussie craft range, which sits somewhere between artwork and functional tableware. Most pieces display specially-commissioned Aboriginal artwork representations of Australian native wildlife, drawn by Marsha Hall, a widely-respected Aboriginal artist from Far North Queensland. The local wildlife representations include the pretty green tree frog, the brolga and the crocodile. Some of this tableware features the perennially popular Australian flowering gum design. Any of these pieces looks great on a favourite coffee table or dining room buffet.

Children are certainly not to be forgotten as another group of seriously important recipients of Xmas gifts. Especially for boys and girls alike, Australia Gift Shop stocks a very cuddly range of soft toys [ link to shop in Australian Dollars ]. There are fluffy kangaroos and koalas with flags and swags and red ribbons for Christmas. A couple of shelves are lined with tiny cling koalas that can clip on to other objects. Some hold the Aussie flag and some don't.

http://www.australiagift.net/australia/products.asp?cat=43

[Link to browse in Australian Dollars]

Koalas that snore, plush crocodiles and even kangaroo and koala trolley bags for little travellers are all waiting to be given a home. Our range of Australian Children’s Books [ shop for these in Aussie Dollars ] provides some excellent offerings for Christmas gifts. Eucalyptus gum drops and Outback fruit lollies and confectionery often follow the toy marsupials wherever they go. This is an Aussie Toy Story [ shop in AU$ ].

Most boys love to play with colourful returning boomerangs [ shop in AU$ ]. The plywood ones are the most suitable for this purpose. Girls enjoy accessorising with a koala opal pendant or a furry koala leatherwork purse. One particularly trendy carry bag features an embroidered koala and a mobile phone holder [ shop in Aussie Dollars ].

These gift ideas could become your Christmas revelations. Christmas gifts of compassion and imagination bring joy to the heart. Appropriate gifts harness a universal language of their own. They have psychological and emotional depths that can motivate us to become better people, kinder people and more loving human beings. Thoughtful and imaginative gift-giving has the power to help evoke and reinforce the spirit of Christmas.

http://www.australiagift.net   [Link to browse in US Dollars]

http://www.australiagift.net/australia  [Link to browse in Australian Dollars]

http://www.australiagift.net/australia/products.asp?cat=12

[Link to browse in Australian Dollars]

Warning. This article may contain the names and images of Aboriginal and Islander people now deceased. It also contains links to sites that may use images of Aboriginal and Islander people now deceased.

However, on Wednesday the 23^rd of May, Mbantua Gallery owner Tim Jennings set a new record at a Lawson-Menzies auction in Sydney when he paid Au$1,056,000 (US$910,345) for Earth's Creation by the late artist, Emily Kame Kngwarreye. It was previously owned by a superannuation fund in Adelaide, South Australia that commissioned the work in 1995, a year before the artist’s death. This painting is an epic work depicting multiple dreamings or myths of the Dreamtime of creation.

The sale of Earth’s Creation has proven to be merely a prelude to an even greater watershed event in this booming art market. On Tuesday the 24^th of July, the National Gallery of Australia purchased Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri’s 1977 painting titled Warlugulong for Au$2.4 million at a Sotheby's auction in Melbourne. None of this artist’s works had ever sold for over Au$400,000 before.  The gallery director, Ron Radford, says that the huge canvas "is to dot painting what Blue Poles is to American art".

The previous owner, Hank Ebes, is a Dutch-born Melbourne art dealer who recently retired. He paid Au$36,000 for the painting at an auction 11 years ago. For most of the time between 1996 and when the artist originally sold the painting for Au$1200 in 1977, the canvas had been hanging in the cafeteria of the Commonwealth Bank staff training centre in Melbourne. To the ex-art dealer’s credit, he says that he felt at the time that he had scored the "bargain of the century". He has said that the work is as significant to Aboriginal art as Rembrandt's The Night Watch is to Dutch art.

The appreciation of Australian Aboriginal art has come a long way at a rapid pace since 1980 when the Art Gallery of South Australia became the first museum in the world to purchase and display a Western Desert dot painting. It seems as if it has spiralled 360 degrees when one considers that that painting was also a work by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. Ron Radford, who was a curator at that state gallery back in 1980, is quite open about attitudes to the first public displays of Aboriginal art. He observed that the art establishment of commentators and directors "regarded it as tourist art". The works were described by one prominent museum director as "an abstract tourist hoax”. Collectors can be tourists (or souvenir hunters), so it follows that souvenir hunters are collectors. History has certainly documented the fact that the traditional Aboriginal people of Australia were both hunters and collectors. Maybe deep down in our collective human psyche, regardless of how sophisticated we may be, there resides a souvenir hunter and collector.

Original Aboriginal art paintings are available online for souvenir hunters and collectors from Australia Gift Shop at www.australiagift.net [ link to shop in Australian Dollars ] . The precise Webpage where these artworks are displayed and for sale is the Paintings on Canvas page [ link to displays in Australian Dollars ]. Each work also includes some brief details about the indigenous artist, who, in the case of these artworks, is Sue Terare of Bundaberg in the state of Queensland in Australia. Sue is a half-descendant of the Goreng tribe from the local region.

Why won’t my boomerang come back?

I have tried throwing it several times but to no avail.

If a boomerang which you purchased is boxed (such as the one in the above image) with a display stand then it is essentially a display boomerang. It may be cut to return ("flighted to return"). However, it is certainly not guaranteed to return from everyone's hands.

In fact, display boomerangs (such as the one pictured above) are made of hardwood. They do return for expert throwers.

However, they come with a display stand because they are essentially meant to be display artifacts featuring Aboriginal art. 

Lighter plywood boomerangs are ideal if you are after a boomerang which anyone can have returning within the first few throws.



These plywood boomerangs come in a large range of very colourfully-painted artifacts in our online shop.

The product displays which include a number of 14-inch plywood boomerangs are at http://www.australiagift.net/products.asp?cat=17 . This link for Australians (or for customers wishing to purchase in Australian Dollars)  is http://www.australiagift.net/australia/products.asp?cat=17 .



If you purchase one of our plywood boomerangs and it does not return at all for you, we will be happy to refund you the purchase price (including postage) on the plywood boomerang.



The plywood boomerang is probably just what you need to avoid any disappointment if you are after a throwing stick that you can rely on to return at least some of the time.  

Will a killer boomerang be allowed through customs?

Yes. We send these collector artifacts and souvenirs overseas almost every working day and we have never once had a problem with customs anywhere. On the customs declaration we specify that these items are "souvenir boomerangs (artifacts)". 

Killer boomerangs are not made to return at all. They are heavy throwing sticks designed by the Australian Aboriginal people for the purpose of killing animals which they hunt. The returning boomerangs are used to scare, direct and manoeuvre the animal prey, prior to engaging the killer boomerang to fulfil its purpose and justify its name. These are heavy weapons which are made of hardwood such as brigalow timber.

Traditionally, the speckled paintwork on the tips of the killer boomerang (as pictured above) was applied by spitting. However, the local Aboriginal craftsmen and artists who make our killer boomerangs here in Bundaberg, in the state of Queensland in Australia, actually employ a toothbrush to paint this effect on the products which we sell. And by the way, it is NEVER a toothbrush anyone uses to clean their teeth with. We do uphold the state health and safety standards!

The product display for our kangaroo killer boomerang is at http://www.australiagift.net/proddetail.asp?prod=KBOOM14%2DROO .  This link for Australians (or for customers wishing to purchase in Australian Dollars) is http://www.australiagift.net/australia/proddetail.asp?prod=KBOOM14%2DROO  .

1. Hold the boomerang as in diagram 1.
   
   


2. Face approximately 45 degrees to the right of any oncoming wind.
   
   


3. Tilt the boomerang over to the right at about 30 to 40 degrees (see diagram 2).
   
   


4. Throw the boomerang out at a point about 6 metres from the ground, making sure to give it a spin as it leaves your hand.

Boomerang Safety

We recommend that you do not attempt to catch the boomerang. If you must try, catch it flat between your palms, making sure it is below neck height.



Our returning boomerangs [link for Australians] are not children’s toys and should be thrown only by youths and adults. Our killer boomerangs [link for Australians] are not crafted to return. Some of these have already made their way to Afghanistan via Australian soldiers and security personnel. These have been purchased solely as souvenirs and playthings.

Development continued in the streets adjoining the grassland and traffic increased in leaps and bounds because of a booming population in the seaside resort that is about 4 kilometres east of the vacant lot. As a result of these changes over the last five years, we often did not see a kangaroo for several days when we passed by the grassland. They would be hiding around the hill in the scrubby bushland. Sadly, some had also been hit by cars.











However, there have recently been three or four kangaroos grazing in the middle of the grassland in the morning. It warms our kids’ hearts (and ours) when a few roos are spotted basking in the early morning sun in the middle of the vacant lot.

The corollary to this story is that the vacant lot will begin a great change within the next few months. The construction of a residential estate is now council-approved and imminent. The herbivorous marsupials will become confined to the small area of nearby scrubland.

The marsupials don’t pursue you for peanuts or bananas like the aggressive, street-wise simians in the beautiful Malaysian gardens. Nonetheless, kangaroos can be cheeky. We certainly witnessed evidence of this fact at Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast just south of here. It is the zoo where the late Steve Irwin, the Australian Crocodile Man, was based.







With an inner chuckle, I’m recalling the time at Australia Zoo when a big kangaroo sized up our youngest son, hopped with deliberation over to him and pushed him over in a daring stroke of bravado. The big grey female then simply turned away, before sedately and quietly hopping away with an imperceptible smile on its face.

Marsupials

The embryo is born at a very early stage of development (at about 4-5 weeks), upon which it crawls up its mother's belly and attaches itself to a nipple (which is located inside the pouch). It remains attached to the nipple for a number of weeks. The offspring later passes through a stage where it temporarily leaves the pouch, returning for warmth and nourishment.

We can't bear to be without our koalas. In fact, they're all over the shop. We love them so much that we would never sell them all. Koalas are in all sorts of unsuspected hidey holes throughout the office, in the storeroom and even in the corner behind the office sofa.

Just now I noticed one peeking out from behind the computer monitor, thinking she couldn't be seen because of the big gum leaf hanging out of her mouth. There's another one in the shadows in the storeroom, disguised as a swaggie waiting for the billy to boil. What he doesn't realise is that he'll be waiting a long time due to the somewhat comforting thought that he doesn't know how to start a fire. A mother koala with a baby on her back is skulking on the railing of the stairs above the storeroom. 

 When koalas eat their beloved eucalyptus gum leaves, do they get the same coolness we feel in the throat and nostrils when we suck on eucalyptus lollies aka sweets aka candy? Aussies call these sweets "gum drops".

Kids (and their parents) love to suck on gum drops during a Sunday drive together in the family car. Also, as common as the misconception that koalas drink water, is the misconception that they eat gum drops, unless of course, they're sitting with the kids in the back seat of the family car on a Sunday drive - stuffing themselves silly.