Toy collection by 'real life soldier' stands test of time at Helensburgh

THE first toy soldiers in Ross McLean's collection were bought by a real-life soldier — his grandfather.

Mr McLean, of Helensburgh, says he has "hundreds" of detailed toy soldiers — made by the company William Britain.

Many were handed down through his family, with the first bought about 100 years ago by his grandfather Jack, who fought in the Great War.

"He was in World War I and went to Gallipoli," Mr McLean said.

"He was a marksman at one point and carried wounded around like Simpson.

"As a reminder of the friendships that he had established with the people in Egypt and later in France, he bought toy soldiers."

His maternal grandfather operated a Sydney toy store.

"On mother's side, we've got her father Ernest. He was a store owner at Mosman," he said.

"He bought Britain soldiers and other brands to sell in the store.

"My mother had him put some aside just in case she got married and had a son. So I have some of those."

The toys are on display in the Museum of Sydney's Toys Through Time exhibition.

Some show the wear and tear of battle — after all, you can't give toy soldiers to a child and not expect him to play with them.

"Some are in good condition and some are in terrible condition," McLean admits.

"There is a range of those on display.

"One regiment, there's only two of them that have survived the battles over time when originally there would have been half a dozen.

"The most common injuries are that the paint wears off or you have amputees.

"Most often they'll lose an arm. So we've got a couple of amputees on display."

Most of the soldiers were outside toys but the royal carriage was an inside toy.

"There were certain rules laid down about which ones could go where and when I could play with them," Mr McLean said. "And who else I could play with them as well — which of the neighbours were careful enough not to damage them.

"We would line them up in a battle line and fire matches like a cannon.

"If the match hit one of them, he had to fall down. It didn't really damage the soldiers."

These days, the soldiers are often used as a backdrop for Mr McLean's model train sets. He bought his Helensburgh property so he could build a big shed out the back for the trains.

While that's being built, the soldiers are in storage, which is part of the reason he likes taking part in Toys Through Time — because he can bring them out and play with them.

"Seriously, that's what you're doing. You're playing with them. We have guys who say they operate model railways but there's a lot of us who prefer to say 'Oh, we're playing trains'," he said.

Toys Through Time project manager Bob Whight said toys resonated with people.

"It was through that process of trying to tell the story of childhood that we came to realise the story of toys and what they can actually tell us about childhood and about ourselves today," Mr Whight said.

"That's something that seems that people can relate to much more.

"What we found with toys is there seems to be an ongoing fascination; the nostalgia trip for people.

"So when you start looking at toys, it's got this immediacy that can take you back to a certain place in time.

"That seems to be a much stronger trigger than other things that we might have from our childhood."

The aim of the exhibition, which is arranged chronologically from the early 1800s to the 1970s, is to be "light-hearted and fun" rather than academic.

But Mr Whight said the toys also told stories about us.

"We found toys are a really great way to uncover different stories about our city — the people who have lived here, the shops that used to sell the toys, the manufacturers who used to make them," he said.

There is a wide range of toys in the exhibition — a pull-along wooden deer owned by the children of John and Elizabeth McArthur — Barbie dolls and clothing, pedal cars, rocking horses and tin rocketships.

There is even a collection of those plastic toys that came in cereal packets in the 1970s, from journalist Barry Divola.

A collector of Crater Critters, Divola even wrote a book about his quest to find them — Searching For Kingly Critter.

"Like a lot of people, he'd thrown out the collection he had as a kid," Mr Whight said.

"Then he rediscovered a passion for them as an adult and set out systematically trying to collect them all."

He said some adult toy collectors had held on to toys they had as a child and later decided to expand their collection."

Museum of Sydney’s Toys Through Time exhibition ends on August 9. The museum is on the corner of Phillip and Bridge streets, Sydney.

Details: 92515988 or sydneylivingmuseums.com.au