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Toms, David Charles, 1962-

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1962-

Biography

David Toms was born in 1962 and grew up in central western New South Wales in Australia and now lives in Toronto, Canada.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s air travel was still a privilege which most of the Australian population did not have access to on account of physical location and cost. If they did travel, Australians generally travelled by ocean liner especially to Europe with companies that offered 'line' voyages around the world.

The Australian aviation industry at the time was dominated by the two major domestic airlines, Trans Australian Airways (government owned) and Ansett (privately owned), which operated under the "Two Airlines" policy which stipulated that only two airlines were allowed to operate flights between  state capital cities and major regional centre airports. International services were offered by Qantas (government owned) with strong ties to BOAC (later British Airways) and Air New Zealand. It was only at the beginning of the 1970's and the introduction of the Boeing 747 and Douglas DC-10 that international travel fell more into the reach of the average Australian. On the domestic front it was not until 1990 with the de-regulation of the airline industry in Australia and the introduction of the short lived Compass Airlines that air travel became more affordable for Australians travelling domestically.

Mr. Toms' first flight was with Qantas to Christchurch, New Zealand at age 12 and since then he has been an avid collector of airline and ocean liner memorabilia, including menus, safety cards, ticketing and baggage-related items and promotional materials. His first flights were memorable family vacations to South East Asia and also flying to Japan for a year as an exchange student at age 18.

The collection has since grown from those early days with Mr. Toms acquiring items from personal travels, friends and family, flea markets and various other sources.

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

David Toms Collection

 Collection — Box 1
Identifier: TL013
Abstract

The David Toms Collection consists of 1,059 transportation-related items from 123 airlines and cruise lines. The collection primarily consists of airline menus and safety cards, with a strong secondary component of airline-related ephemera and cruise ship menus.

Dates: 1952 - 2008; Other: Majority of material found within 1952 - 2008