Summary

Postcard from an album assembled by the original owner, E. Taylor, which relates to a 21 day bus tour that he and his wife took through the ACT, New South Wales and Victoria in March/April 1938. Album features arguably the first postcard of Phar Lap produced by the Museum, as well as an early magazine clipping showing Phar Lap on display surrounded by a group of reverential onlookers.

This postcard was produced in the 1930s by the National Museum of Victoria (now Museum Victoria) as a souvenir of the newly acquired mount of the champion racehorse Phar Lap. Surprisingly, the year of his death is erroneously shown as '1933', rather than the correct '1932'.

Physical Description

Rectangular postcard with a photographic image of the mount of Phar Lap, with `Phar Lap (50)' and `National Museum, Melbourne' printed on the front.

Significance

This album's main attraction for the collection is contained on one page, which features arguably the first postcard of Phar Lap produced by the Museum, as well as an early magazine clipping showing Phar Lap on display surrounded by a group of reverential onlookers. The postcard is very similar in style to the other National Museum and National Gallery postcards acquired recently, and will be the earliest example of Phar Lap merchandising in the Museum's collection. The clipping is also an exciting find as there are few early images of Phar Lap on display at the Museum. The fact that a whole page is taken up by these cards, and they are the only representation of the National Museum, shows the importance that Phar Lap played as a Museum attraction from the time he was first installed. A number of other items in the album relate to Melbourne and Victorian attractions and are a good representation of what an interstate visitor saw as worthy of inclusion in a documentation of their visit. Places such as the Shrine of Remembrance and Captain Cook's cottage had only been opened a few years when the Taylors visited, so it is not surprising that they visited them and included them in this album.

This album was purchased from a dealer and comes with no provenance. However the following details have been deduced by examining the album. It was assembled by a Mr E. Taylor from Kulpara, South Australia, and relates to a 21 day bus tour that he and his wife Jean took through the ACT, New South Wales and Victoria in March/April 1938. The journey depicted in this album is a interesting example of the kinds of commercial tours that had become more common during the 1920s and the 1930s, as larger motor vehicles were being produced which could comfortably transport a group of people around areas of Australia. As the tourism industry grew, more and more hotels and resorts sprang up in cities and towns around the country, specifically catering to the tourist market, such as those featured in the album.

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