POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

'Secura Fishskin' condoms made in Australia

Object No. 2002/112/4

Condoms have been used to guard against sexually transmitted diseases since at least the 1700s when syphilis and gonorrhoea were prevalent, so they have always been associated with disease and illicit sex. As a contraceptive they were never quite 'respectable' and after the advent of the Pill they were considered decidedly old-fashioned. Ironically, it was a disease that brought about a recent meteoric rise in their popularity. Since the HIV/AIDS epidemic began in the 1980s, frank safer-sex campaigns have made condoms familiar and acceptable. Early condoms were made from such materials as sheep intestines. In the mid 1800s vulcanisation, a treatment that gives rubber greater strength and elasticity, made it possible to make condoms that were thin, strong and relatively cheap. Liquid latex became the main material for condoms in the 1930s. These 'Fishskin' brand condoms must have been made in the 1960s when Australia converted to decimal currency, because the prices on the packaging are given in both dollars and shillings. By that time, companies like Ansell were producing condoms that were tested electronically for holes, lubricated, and packaged in foil sachets. However 'Fishskin' condoms were evidently still sold in little paper envelopes which exposed them to the air. They were made from 'extra thin/ extra strong special latex' and although it was advertised that 'they will not perish' it is hard to imagine that they would have lasted as long as condoms in sealed packaging.