Diana Pottery in Marrickville NSW made the Waltzing Matilda jugs and mugs in 1951 and 1952 only. They were designed by Tony Valek and the colour scheme was designed by Mirel Smisek. Several thousand were produced in the two years of production but the larger jug with the hand painted red gum tips is the most sought after piece from the range. For Diana they were very expensive to produce as they were hand decorated and the musical mechanism in each one of them was imported from Switzerland.
Not only are they iconic pieces of Australiana, the attention to detail is superb and was a credit to the skills of the artists that Diana Pottery employed.
My great grandmother worked for Diana Pottery so I have been surrounded with Diana all my life. The yellow jug here was given to my grandmother by her mother and now my mum has it. We will be listing the blue jug on the website for sale.
