Unprecedented #1

WHAT WILL BE THE BEST EPHEMERAL RECORDS OF COVID 19? Looking back might assist.

A certificate from 1919, it reads

Thelma.. volunteered and worked as a member of the Staff Specially organised by the Australian Red Cross, New South Wales Division, for the purpose of stamping out the pandemic of Pneumonic Influenza (1919)…

NSW certificate acknowledging volunteer work during the 1919 influenza epidemic. 18.5 x 23.5 cm. Collection of Andrew H.

As an island continent Australia has always been interested in keeping the animate and inanimate in or out. This blotter reminds us to watch out for insects.

‘Keep Australia clean…’, Plant Quarantine Division, blotter, mid 1950s, 9 x 20 cm. Collection of Andrew H.