As a child of the 70′s my Doctor of choice is and always will be Tom Baker. He was beatified in 1981 by the Australian licensing gods with his own Streets ice cream, which as you know by now (if you’ve read my blog before anyway) is a sure sign that you have officially arrived Down Under. The TV ad for these ice creams has also turned up, with a grainy VHS copy uploaded to You Tube in 2011 by some kind soul.

The ice cream box and wrapper are extremely tough to find, I believe only one example of each has appeaered on Oz Ebay in 13 years. While I wasn’t able to win them I did manage to swipe the pics, they are poor quality but what can you do? If you were the lucky purchaser (or seller) of either of these items I’d like to both apologise for my use of your pics and plead for new ones!

Above is the landscape side of the box, here is the portrait…

And from a seperate auction, the wrapper (flattened)…

Another exclusive-to-Australia piece of Whomabilia is the rare “Showbag”, a plastic bag of cheap toys and ephemera sold at local agricultural and royal society exhibitions throughout the country, notably the Royal Melbourne Show. I sold the example below on ebay many years ago, and it is now one of the very few items I regret parting with. Another couple have turned up over the years, I cant find any references to what was inside but if any of the Whomaniacs out there know drop me a line and I’ll update this post.

The Showbag (Yes I should have used any background other than white)…

Doctor Down Under – Doctor Who Ice Cream & Showbag is a post from: Toltoys Kid

Issued outside Australia by Fundimensions, these great unpainted snap-together kits featured Steve Austin wrestling an alligator in “Jaws of Doom” and lifting a gorilla in “Fight for Survival”, which I presume is named for the ape! The best feature of these for the unskilled modeller (such as myself) is that they required no glue, a fact trumpeted on the box art.

Steve Austin Snaps! is a post from: Toltoys Kid

1981 Corgi Batman, Bond and Buck Rogers Australian TV Ad is a post from: Toltoys Kid

From The Argus, Wednesday 14 September 1938…

TWO ‘COMICS’ BANNED

SYDNEY, Tuesday. – Magazine distributors were notified to-day that seven publications had been added to the banned list, including, for the first time, two classified in the trade as “comics.”

These comics are publications for boys, and sell at fourpence. They are entitled “Keen Detective Funnies” and “Detective Comics.” Both come from America, where the price is 10 cents. Copies inspected to-night contained principally a series of crime and adventure stories in picture form crudely printed in colours. Some of the titles of the stories were “Dictator of the Pope Dynasty,” “Too Many Crooks,” “Bayfront Cowboy.” “Captain Jim and the Chinese Pirates.”

The names of the other magazines banned were “Black Mask,” “Clues,” “Yellow Book,” “Top – Notch Detective,” and  ”Gang Detective Fiction.”

How lucky my grandparents were to live in a country protected from the social evils of these new-fangled American “Comics”!

Detective Comics Banned in Australia! is a post from: Toltoys Kid

All three items are scarce today, particularly when boxed. The Action Jackson Formula Racer had an Aussie cousin, a yet to be formally documented promotional release in BP livery, if you have one I’m buying!

The Action Jackson Campmobile is a great VW Combi playset, Toltoys changed the “Discover America” sticker on the door to “Discover Australia” for the local release, but only managed to scratch out the “America” for the promo flyer shown above.

The Toltoys “Discover Australia” door sticker.

The reverse of the flyer shows the large Action Jackson “Jungle House”. This great playset is better known by its later release as the MEGO Planet of the Apes Treehouse.

For all things MEGO be sure to visit the MEGO MUSEUM

MEGO Toltoys Action Jackson Accessories Flyer is a post from: Toltoys Kid

A small set of five that were issued in these boxes, and very tough to find. A bit of a strange mix of characters and ships, but kids weren’t complaining when V.I.N.CENT, Maximillian, Charles Pizer, The Cygnus or Palomino fell into their bowls! Well maybe a few complaints about Charles.

Disney’s 1979 “The Black Hole” Weeties Shrinkies is a post from: Toltoys Kid

Featuring iconic Australian models such as the FJ Holden above, and offering keyrings and minifigures such as these, the Birkenhead Point LEGO Centre looked to be a magical place. Many of you obvioulsy agree, there is even a Bring Back the Birkenhead Point Lego Centre page on facebook!

Check out this 1987 TV Spot for the centre that some kind soul loaded on to YouTube:

LEGO Centre Birkenhead Point TV Spot

Special thanks to Paul Naylor for the scans of the brochure and sticker for this post.

The First LEGO Store: Birkenhead Point Sydney LEGO Centre is a post from: Toltoys Kid

I feel I may be in for more requests with today’s post featuring a cousin of Willy, the Wham-O “Fun Fountain” clown sprinkler. The example below is again the Toltoys Australia branded version, I was lucky enough to find this guy in mint unused condition. When the hose is attached to the base and the water turned on, the hat rises above the head on a stream of water. Unlike Willy Water Bug I do remember this toy, in particular hitting the hat by swinging a cricket bat at it. Really loved the 70′s I did.

Enjoy!

1979 Toltoys Fun Fountain is a post from: Toltoys Kid

1977 Kenbrite / Playmobil Pocket People Kellogg’s Corn Flakes Promotion is a post from: Toltoys Kid

I was able to eat it up at the breakfast table too thanks to the Weeties Black Hole promotional tie-in. Each pack featured a “shrinking badge”, which I suppose was a type of shrinky – You remember those little plastic pictures your Mum put in the oven until the whole house smelt like burnt drinking straws? Yep those.

I’m sure I had the Vincent one but can’t find a pic, if any Aussies out there can contribute pics of the shrinkies I’ll add them here. I’m sorry about the quality of the images, the box appeared on ebay Australia in 2010 and as often happens these days I was the under-bidder. Didn’t get the box, but I did get the pics! Er, hooray.

Disney’s 1979 The Black Hole Weeties Cereal Promotion is a post from: Toltoys Kid