Woodtoys - another house and more info

While I was staying with my sister in Bathurst, we spent a couple of days in Canberra. As well as catching up with friends, meeting a collector, and picking up a dolls house that Anna-Maria was holding for me, I was able to spend more time in the National Library of Australia, and go through four years of the Australasian Sportsgoods and Toy Retailer journal, 1975-1978.
I found lots of ads or displays at fairs for dolls houses made both overseas (I'll show some of the them in another post) and in Australia - I now have several new names of dolls house makers, and have identified the makers of some of my new dolls houses.

This is one of the houses I have in Bathurst - I bought it on ebay from Sydney late last year, and the seller was happy to post it. I bought it because some features reminded me of other houses - though now I can't remember which, or by which maker.

 

Well, never mind - I now know that it was made by Woodtoys in 1977. You may remember that I bought a house nearly two years ago that is a dead spit for a Bodo Hennig model (1979-1987), but which has the name Woodtoys on the brick paper on the back of the house.

In the toy trade journal, I found information about Woodtoys dolls houses in 1975, 1976 and 1977. 

 

"The four toys shown in the accompanying photo are the work of Woodtoys, PO Box 64, Lakemba, NSW 2195, which is a partnership of father and son, I J and A T Burden. Father is a former departmental buyer and the son is a former 'Knight Of The Road' with a large general toy wholesaler.

The Burdens make no apologies for the fact that they are in a modest way, and they have had some ups and downs. "In fact," says young Burden, "the respect we have for fellows like Jim Bonaretti [of Bestoys - RG] and, in the past, Keith Lovelock, has increased tenfold - paint dust in everything, no room to move; shoving equipment around to make room for something else; returns from customers through carriers' rough handling. I could go on for hours!"

However, the trauma has passed and now the duo operate in about 3,500 ft. of space, which still is not enough but is a big improvement on the original area. They now do all their own work since the installation of a table saw, band saw, docking saw, sander and other units and employ labour.

The items illustrated show a Georgian style Dolls' house, a pony rockaway, dolls cradle and a table and chair set. They propose several new lines in 1976 including a traditional type rocking horse on a stand similar to the one put out years ago by Roebuck."

Australasian Sportsgoods and Toy Retailer, December 1975, p 62.

Woodtoys' 1976 display at the toy fair shows the same Georgian-style dolls house, which seems to be painted in a range of colours. The caption reads:

"Woodtoys, Lakemba, NSW, displayed Georgian-style dolls houses, pony rocker, toy tidy; dolls wardrobe, rocking cradle, Ampol service station; kitchen dresser; table and chair set; rocking horse and box of blocks. Pictured is proprietor Ian Burden."

Australasian Sportsgoods and Toy Retailer, March 1976.

 

In 1977, there are photos of Woodtoys' displays at both the Sydney and Melbourne toy fairs, so we get several views of their new dolls house.

Yes! It's my new dolls house! Can you see the canopy over the downstairs window, and the poles supporting the roof of the carport?

The caption says:

"Australian-made range of wooden toys, including coloured table and chair set, a toy tidy which makes into a desk, pony rocker, dolls house, cradle, dropside cot, Mickey Mouse and Abba table and chair sets. All toys come unassembled and are individually cartoned with assembly instructions ... they are all NEW. Most popular item on display was the Deluxe Rocking Horse."

Australasian Sportsgoods and Toy Retailer, April 1977.

I can't read all the writing on the sign, but I can see that the address for Woodtoys is now Greenacre, NSW, a suburb next to Lakemba - so perhaps the Burdens had moved to new premises with more space.

  

Detail of the house from the photo above - it's on the right, in the centre.

 

Australasian Sportsgoods and Toy Retailer, July 1977.

The photos of the display at the Melbourne toy fair show the dolls house end-on - and it's a very distinctive view, with a doorway from the rooftop patio to the house cut out of the end wall of the house:

The other Woodtoys dolls house I have has printed paper wallpaper, brick paper and flooring. This dolls house has the wall and floor designs printed straight on to the plywood.

Note the fabric "hinge" which attaches the front door to the wall.

 

The interior, showing the floors.

 

Parquet tiling downstairs and hexagonal tiling upstairs.

 

A geometric design upstairs, and a blue houndstooth design downstairs.

 

Simple red tiling for the rooftop patio, and in the carport, grass around the edges, gravel in the centre, and clear plywood for the driveway and the parking space.

This house is 16th scale. I haven't furnished it yet - I will look out some of my 16th scale pieces to take down next time I go to Bathurst.

A Bodo Hennig in Australia?

I was quite excited when I saw this dolls house on Australian ebay earlier this year:

I recognised the design from diepuppenstubensammlerin's Update: Bodo Hennig Dolls Houses 1955-1981. In Germany, it was called the MIDI-Puppenhaus Allgäu. I had also seen it in the 1983 catalogue of a UK importer, Stephen Burghard. There, it was called Tina's House:

So perhaps it had been imported into Australia, too?

I could see, though, that the wallpapers in the Australian house were different from the ones used in Haus Allgäu / Tina's house, which I recognise from my Bodo Hennig Bodensee.

(I think the stairs got a bit bumped during the trip.)

The dolls house was in Canberra, and Anna-Maria (The Shopping Sherpa) very kindly collected it and held it for me, until I went to Canberra and picked it up from her last weekend.

I mentioned in an email to Anna-Maria how great it was to find a Bodo Hennig dolls house in Australia, and not have the expense of shipping it from overseas.

The rugs came with the house, and seem to have been made for it. Major trip hazards for dolls, though!

After she had picked it up, Anna-Maria replied,

 Except it’s not a Bodo Hennig L Sorry to break that to you, but unless BH manufactured under the name ‘Woodtoys Pty Ltd’ I think you’ve just bought an Australian licensed product. Which actually might be more interesting… J

The name Woodtoys is clearly printed on the back of the house:

I agree with Anna-Maria that it's even more interesting - I had not heard of Woodtoys Pty Ltd before, and I am always delighted to learn about Australian makers of dolls houses!

I still don't know much about Woodtoys - Anna-Maria found company information which showed that they were registered in 1977, and deregistered at the end of 2009. Apart from the wallpapers, the design of this dolls house appears identical to the Bodo Hennig Haus Allgäu / Tina's house, and the dimensions are the same as those given in the Burghard catalogue. So it would seem that it was made under license. I wonder if other Bodo Hennig models were also made here, or whether Woodtoys distributed Bodo Hennig dolls house furniture (smaller and lighter to import than dolls houses)?

If you know anything about Woodtoys, I'd love to hear from you! I hope one day, too, that I'll be able to look through issues of the Australian toy trade journal, and maybe I'll find some information about Woodtoys in that. I was able to visit the National Library of Australia while I was in Canberra, and skimmed through issues of the toy trade magazine from 1964-1969. I did discover some Australian-made dolls houses that were new to me, as well as some imported ones - I'll show some of my discoveries in another post. I didn't have time to look through later issues from the 1970s and 80s, so didn't find any mentions of Woodtoys.