Fascinating Robin. It seems the packaging was designed for exported flour - specifically to merchants in Davao and Medan respectively, so I would think they (the merchants) would have had the consumers at those destinations in mind, hence, perhaps, the bittern was the Philippines species and the finches, although 2 seem Zebra-finch-like, ones familiar to the Sumatrans as cage birds. That theory would evaporate if it appeared that the packaging was used in the Australian market-place.
From: Robin Hide [
Sent: Thursday, 20 December 2012 2:32 PM
To: Canberra Birds
Subject: [canberrabirds] on bitterns and flour bags and trademarks......
Missed the recent Kellys visitor, but I was interested to see in the recent issue of the NSW State Library's magazine (SL Summer 2012-13, p. 5) an interesting Bittern image in an article on "trademark" graphics designed for screen printing onto cotton bags used for exporting Australian flour pre 1940- a change from more cliched images?
Online the image is at: http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/agriculture/produce/flour/image03.html
There is also an attractive one with finches
http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/agriculture/produce/flour/image12.html
Robin Hide
