Toltoys Kid

PLEASE NOTE: This store closed down 20 years ago! There are currently no official Lego Stores in Australia.

Since Australia began its love affair with LEGO in 1962 we have been collectively obsessed with the stuff. It should come as no surprise then that the world’s first dedicated LEGO store was opened not in Denmark, but in Sydney. Opening around 1984 and closing in the early 90’s (Please drop me a line if you know the exact dates), the Birkenhead Point LEGO Centre was for its short life the first and only LEGO dedicated store experience in the world.

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.

One of the most viewed posts here on Toltoys Kid is the entry featuring Willy Water Bug. I receive regular requests asking where they can be found today, unfortunatey I’m not much help, suggesting they start a ongoing search on ebay. It seems the kids of the 70’s want their kids today to enjoy the same summer fun we had, running on the lawn with water splashing everywhere and not a care in the world.

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!

This is actually the third time I have blogged about this particular promotion, the first time I was speculating as to whether it had ever actually gone ahead, the second time I was delighted to confirm it had by producing a cut back and side panel from the box, and now finaly I have a complete box to present. Now the search is on to find some (presumably)  bagged figures from this promotion. Someday!

In the wake of Star Wars came a slew of wannabe space epics, but Disney did quite a respectable job with it’s 1979 production of “The Black Hole” . The robots had jerky actions and the actors were robotic, and let’s not mention the tinny sound and special effects, but as a nine year old I still ate it all up.

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.