Billabong playing cards
Billabong Dual Deck by Hudson Industries, 1950s.
Billabong dual deck by Hudson Industries, 1950s. This dual deck features two paintings by Peg Maltby, both of young and glamorous aboriginal girls. Peg Maltby was a renowned artist, but these two images: Talinga and Wongana, appear to have been specially commissioned rather than prints of existing paintings.
Above: Billabong Dual Deck by Hudson Industries, 1950s. Both packs have two jokers. The box is a two part plastic box with a clear lid and map of Australia in low relief on the inside. The reverse of the box also shows the tax code (3/3).
By Matt Probert
Member since March 02, 2012
I have adored playing cards since before I was seven years old, and was brought up on packs of Waddington's No 1. As a child I was fascinated by the pictures of the court cards.
Over the next fifty years I was seduced by the artwork in Piatnik's packs and became a collector of playing cards.
Seeking more information about various unidentified packs I discovered the World of Playing Cards website and became an enthusiastic contributor researching and documenting different packs of cards.
I describe my self as a playing card archaeologist, using detective work to identify and date obscure packs of cards discovered in old houses, flea markets and car boot sales.
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