Qantas - Pacific Islands

Qantas Pacific Islands is a cartoonish poster designed by Harry Rogers for Qantas Airways. The image shows a pacific islander with a flower garland rowing a sailing boat. The exotic representation is to promote pacific islands as travel destinations. This poster, designed by Harry Rogers, is part of a series that was considered by Qantas to be a very successful campaign. The success ensured a long association between Qantas and Rogers.

Qantas Airways (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services) is the most popular airline in Australia, nicknamed The Flying Kangaroo. Founded in 1920, it is the third oldest airline in the world after KLM and Avianca. In 1935 Qantas operated its first overseas passenger flight from Brisbane to Singapore, a four-day trip. Today, Qantas flies to 20 domestic destinations and 21 international destinations in 14 countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe.

Harry Rogers (1929-2012), was an Australian poster artist and graphic designer who worked for Qantas from the early 1950s through to 1985. He moved to California in 1953 to study Animation at UCLA; his love of animation is reflected in his poster designs. As a freelance artist he worked for different companies, such as Coca Cola and Colgate, but Qantas became his main client. He created a different ‘look’ for each series by using different techniques: cut outs, collage and geometric shapes. Rogers also designed a font called cyclone, which Qantas used from 1970 to 1984 in all of their branding.

This poster has an additional line of text at the bottom, which reads "in association with Air India, B.O.A.C., S.A.A. and Teal." This records the collaboration of Qantas with leading airlines in India, Britain, South Africa and New Zealand, mapping a worldwide reach by the company. Another example of this poster is in the collection of the National Library of Australia.

Watch Gallery Owner Mickey Ross discuss our collection of Qantas posters in further detail, here: https://postergroup.com/blogs/the-ross-art-group-blog/video-vintage-qantas-posters-their-history

This is an Original Vintage Poster; it is not a reproduction. This poster is conservation mounted, linen backed, and in excellent condition. We guarantee the authenticity of all of our posters.