Trash or Treasure Exhibition
If "My mate went to Sydney and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" is your idea of a quality souvenir then you had better get yourself to the Trash or Treasure? exhibition quick smart.
By Jessica Frawley
From the first badges worn by medieval pilgrims to that retina-violating fluoro T-shirt your aunt brought back from Florida in 1987, souvenirs tell us something about the world we live in and how we "remember" it.
And remember it people do. Alexander the Great needed 3,000 camels and mules to cart back everything he'd looted from his time in the Persian Persepolis - and that was in 330BC. King Fahd of Saudi Arabia also raided the souvenir shops on his round-the-world trip, needing two Boeing 747s and one Saudi Air force Hercules to haul them back.
If your collection of treasures rivals that of King Fahd then meet your match at this Sunday's all-day seminar at The Australian National Maritime Museum. Leading the day's events is Tony Wheeler - seasoned traveller, souvenir hoarder and co-founder of the travellers' bible, Lonely Planet. Antique travel items collector Daryl Mills will give you the low-down on serious treasure hunting (map not included). Holiday historian Dr Richard White and Professor of tourism Peter Spearritt will also be there.
Seasoned travel writer Tony Wheeler
Best Sydney souvenir you've seen? At the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony, kids were handed these marvelous little suitcases - inside them they had stickers that you could stick onto the front, and a plastic Olympic torch that you could wave around. At one point hundreds of thousands of these flashing lights were being waved in the air. It was a fantastic moment, and a fantastic souvenir.
If you had to create a souvenir for Sydney what would it be? It would have to be a snow storm. I love snowstorms and I have a huge collection of the things back at home. It would have the Opera House, the Bridge, the Harbour - everything in all one small, tasteless package.
What's the tackiest souvenir you've ever bought? Anyone who has ever been to the Persian Gulf will have come across the alarm clock in the shape of a mosque. It wakes you up with the call to prayer.
Do you still use it? Yes, although it does tick rather loudly. It's incredibly cheaply made and very tacky so it's no surprise.
If you could take home a Sydney souvenir... Given the chance, I'll take the Opera House.
Trash or Treasure Seminar is on Sun 27 July at the Australian Maritime Museum. Trash or Treasue Exhibition runs to 17 May 2009.