Invitation to Peter's 30th Birthday Concert at Reno Sweeney

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This is an invitation to Peter's 30th birthday concert held at his home away from home Reno Sweeney on February 10, 1974. Reno Sweeney was a New York cabaret supper club located at 126 W. 13th Street. The invitation was designed by Eliot Hubbard and illustrated by artist/illustrator Robert W. Richards, who illustrated some of Peter's concert posters. Two hundred were created for the concert. This one is numbered 178/200 and signed with the illustrator's initials 'RWR'. The illustration is very interesting because it's difficult to interpret. It has a Venetian masquerade feel, a touch of French neoclassical/rococo style, with a dash of medievalism. This particular invitation appears to have been glued into a scrapbook. The title on the front of the invitation Ask Me I Been There  refers to Peter's song, Just Ask Me I Been There .   The front of the invitation includes a message Peter wrote at the bottom which reads, "And still going! Love Peter"...
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The City of Canberra Cufflinks

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The City of Canberra Cufflinks

The City of Canberra Cufflinks

The City of Canberra Cufflinks

The City of Canberra Cufflinks

This is one of the most interesting and surprising items in Peter's collection. It is a pair of Parliamentary issued cufflinks from the early 1970s. They were presented to members of the Whitlam government. The Whitlam government refers to the Australian federal government led by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party, from 1972-1975. I have no idea how Peter got these cufflinks since he was never a politician nor was he ever a member of the Whitlam government. Maybe he received them when he was commissioned as Canberra's first ambassador-at-large in 1981, and was given the Keys to Canberra, but the years simply don't match up. Or maybe he received them from his old classmate and friend from Armidale, Senator John Knight who was a diplomat, politician, and served as a Senator for the  Australian Capital Territory from 1975-1981.

The gold cufflinks contain the coat of arms of Canberra with the motto "For the Queen, the Law and the People". The symbols on the coat of arms symbolizes the following:

  • The crown symbolizes the authority of the King/Queen in the Commonwealth Government.
  • The mace symbolizes the law making authority of the Parliament of Australia.
  • The sword depicts the sword of justice, representing national authority and the executive authority of the Commonwealth, exercised in the name of the Crown.
  • The castle symbolizes the dignity, importance and grandeur of the city.
  • The white rose is a White Rose of York, to recognize the role of the Duke of York (later King George VI) in the opening of Old Parliament House, thus establishing Canberra as the nation's new seat of government.
  • The portcullis is taken from the arms of the city of Westminster, thereby linking Canberra with the then "virtual capital of the British Empire".
  • Behind the portcullis is a gum tree which "represents the growth and progress of Canberra, and the fact that it is garden city".
  • The supporters are the Australian black swan, representing Aboriginal Australians, and the European white mute swan, representing European Australians.
  • The motto is "For the King, the Law and the People", a translation of the Latin phrase "Pro Rege Lege et Grege". The motto was updated to "Queen" during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, before reverting upon her death and the accession of King Charles III.

There is a '21' stamped on the back of each cufflink.

Item: 8.9/2024.BMLW

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