I second the suggestion of wine. Many large Australia wineries export to the US, but much of the good stuff is kept at home. I’d suggest a case of a big Australian shiraz (syrrah in the US, I believe), but without knowing where in Australia your husband’s cousin is going, it’s hard to suggest a particular variety.
A vork visa? 
I second that, but get a real boomerang, which is actually kind of tough to find in Australia (I pissed off an extremely attractive Australian bartender in California when I told her that). For examples of souvenir “boomerangs” that will never return to thrower, do a search for boomerangs on EBay and look for anything with the words authentic, Aboriginal and Australian in any combination. Ted Bailey’s site has links to a number of pages with good information on genuine returning boomerangs in Australia, and his auction page is a good place to correlate accurate descriptions of Australian boomerangs with pictures so you can get the hang of eyeballing the real thing. Unfortunately there’s a lot of cheap crap sold to tourists down under, and several acquaintance who have visited from the US have related stories of teaching Aborigines they’ve met how to throw a returning boomerang. That said, a couple of the best traditional boomerangs I have are from Australia, including one handcrafted by an Aborigine gentleman, PM Wason. The BAA page lists several real boomerang makers and where to find them. For collectible value, look for authentic Janetski, Read, Burwell, Lewry, or Hawes (American ex-pat). If your cousin does find some Aborigine boomerang craftsmen with good returning stuff, he might also get a unique opportunity for a throwing lesson. Boomerangs rule.
Granted, some of these will make you look very foolish indeed (especially if all worn at once) but if you want a real piece of Australiana, try these:
Admittedly, outside of the country, you hardly ever see anyone wearing Akubra hats or Drizabone coats and ug boots are mostly worn at home but you’re a foreigner so it doesn’t really matter.
You could also try some aussie beers, wines, vegemite or tim tams.
Please have your cousin take our Prime Minister back to Texas and you can keep him as a pet.
Oh wait, George Bush already did that.
[QUOTE=caligynephobia]
Unfortunately there’s a lot of cheap crap sold to tourists down under, and several acquaintance who have visited from the US have related stories of teaching Aborigines they’ve met how to throw a returning boomerang. That said, a couple of the best traditional boomerangs I have are from Australia, including one handcrafted by an Aborigine gentleman, PM Wason.
[QUOTE]
FWIW, there are numerous Aboriginal cultures, not all of which include a history of boomerang use.
Personally, I think boomerangs as Australian souvenirs are rather tacky–like going to US and carting home a feathered Native American headdress–but obviously YMMV. They’re certainly very touristy, not something commonly found in Australian homes.
… but speaking of tacky, I bought an American friend some Aussie Bum speedos (red, with Aussie Bum across the arse), as a souvenir.
I personally would LOVE a didgeridoo.
A cap that says “Pobody’s Nerfect in Australia”?
What would you say is the generic price of a pair? From what I’ve seen online, The average price appears to be over $100.
I really would love a pair. They look so cozy and comfortable!
You can get Ug boots anywhere in Australia including kinda classy better made ones at lots of places.
Interestingly the American bastards who sell UgG boots are trying to stop everyone in Australia selling them, even though they they have been on the market here since early last century. It is the equivalent of putting out a shoe trademarked as ShOe and preventing the rest of the world calling something a shoe. They will be much cheaper here.
Get some Aussie music CDs - be ahead of the crowd. Give us a hint what you like and we’ll tell you the local equivalent.
A friend of my brother sells Australian wool goods to tourists - apparently they are very cheap by US and Japanese standards.
The newly released Tia Maria Tim Tams and Kahlua biscuits.
Vegemite.
Don’t forget that your husband’s cousin may qualify (by association) to be aided by local Dopers who have nothing better to do, so keep us informed.
It’s probably cheezy no pun intended but a coworker of my husband’s brought back Kangaroo Ball’s coin purse that was kinda cool.
Those Aussie Bum are way cool, and the models are yummy to boot.
I don’t know about the Ogg boots. What if you get them and find out they are the wrong size or hurt your feet. I guess there is always Ebay to offload them on.
Now, if it were me, I’d look for local music ( rock, folk) and books. Local beer and chocolate would be cool gifts and fairly package. A coffee mug would always be welcome as well. I’d also haunt the local charity/salvation army shops for T-shirts of a local flavor. But that would be me. Spend $10k to get there and go rummaging.
Russell Crowe? 
I have a few didges from Australia. They were a serious pain to get back to the States; they required special handling as airline baggage and the one I shipped back was cracked en route. A real didge is going to weigh 15 to 20 lbs and be somewhere around 5’ long. They aren’t cheap, and there’s no guarantee that you’ll get one that you can play or that sounds good to your ear. I absolutely love the ones I have, but you may not endear yourself to this traveller if you ask for one. Or, he may buy you a cheap 3’ long fake didge that’s hard to play and sounds terrible.
The musk lifesavers are a good gag gift (rather literally) and the vegemite is requisite. I also have a canned platypus that’s very cute, I recommend them.
Uggies (ugg boots) are about $50 AUD (~$35US). Thats what they are selling for at Target. I just rang the local wool fleece products shop in Sydney - $49.
As BigNik said uggies are not usually seen in public - maybe early in the morning on the way to the shop to pick up some milk or taking the garbage (trash) out.
If you have to get a didge, look for one with a flare at the end. Nearly all didges sold in the cities are crap, so beware.
I also recommend wine.
Second picture from the top is a ssleeeping wombat. You often see wombats sleeping at the side of the road. Cute.
“” Or, he may buy you a cheap 3’ long fake didge that’s hard to play and sounds terrible. “” No problem, though…they make great bongs.
Depends on various things. Basically, how much do you want to pay?
You can get a well-made pair of ankle-high ones for A$40 to a top-of-the-line, knee-high pair for A$140 from the sheepskin place down the street from me (A$1=$US0.78). They were about half of that last winter, but drought and o/s demand has shot prices up. Actually, buying them from Paddy’s Markets - traditionally the cheapest method - is now much more expensive because they are catering to the tourist trade.
And as house slippers, they’re difficult to beat. If you’ absolutely must wear them outside, please note that they accessorise with stone-wash jeans and flannel shirts over Metallica T-shirts. They match well with cans of VB, packets of Winfield Blues kept inside the right shirt sleeve, and a mullet that has been washed no more recently than a fortnight ago.
Ha ha ha ha
Note however, that the stone wash jean combination works best with women. Ugg boots on men combine most attractively with tight black denim jeans (and an EH Holden).
On the OP. How about a footie jumper. I think that would make a great gift. You have three* codes to chose from, each with about 12 teams - AFL, ARL and ARU. Even better get a jersy from a team that is no longer in the first grade competitions eg Newtown Jets . This makes it even more special, since you probably cant order these over the net.
*soccer not included (but if your friend is ethnic or gay, it may be a good idea)
Ha ha ha ha
Note however, that the stone wash jean combination works best with women. Ugg boots on men combine most attractively with tight black denim jeans (and an EH Holden).
On the OP. How about a footie jumper. I think that would make a great gift. You have three* codes to chose from, each with about 12 teams - AFL, ARL and ARU. Even better get a jersy from a team that is no longer in the first grade competitions eg Newtown Jets . This makes it even more special, since you probably cant order these over the net.
*soccer not included (but if your friend is ethnic or gay, it may be a good idea)
I beg to differ. I got mine online because they’d never bring long-sleeve XXLs to the games.
“Oh Newtown is coming! Hear the bluebags humming! Newtown! Newtown!
Newtown is flying - there’ll be no denying Newtown! Newtown!
Thirteen men all dressed in blue, look out 'cause they’re coming through…”
I suppose you can get nearly everything from Australia online. And now with the new bilateral trade agreement there is probably no point picking up anything from Australia at all.
The USA will be awash with musk Lifesavers, Tim tams, Victas, Hills Hoists, Neighbours, Akubras and Uggies. Of course the Australian market will be flooded with Twinkies, Dingdongs, Yeehahs, and … um those night vision Wintergreen Lifesavers.