Check out this awesomely low-tech 1981 Aussie TV spot for Corgi’s Batmobile, Bond and Buck Rogers range. This voice-over guy must have made a fortune in the early 80’s, he seemed to read almost every ad.
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.
If you’re a fan of the classic Universal Monsters (and who isn’t?) you’ll enjoy seeing this licensed tie-in with Nabisco Australia’s Weeties brand of cereal from 1982.
The “Doublies” refers to the fact that instead of printing one sticker with a plain backing piece, doublies use the backing piece as a swap card featuring the same image as the sticker. The set is very tough to assemble, I’ve chased them the few times they’ve appeared on ebay without much success, if you have a full set of 12 I’d love to add the images here. The box is featured below.
Classic Franky on the back!
The cards feature comedy along the lines of the Creature from the Black Lagoon examples above; “Teacher from the Black Lagoon” and ‘I got this way from Swimming”. Haw!
Below: Lon Chaney as the Phantom of the Opera, AKA The Babysitter…
Boris Karloff’s monster at school…
In 2007 I showcased the take-home box for Paul’s Buck Rogers ice creams, featuring the Star Stick competition for MEGO Buck Rogers action figures. Since then I’ve been lucky enough to track down both the Milk Bar store dislay and an example of the wrapper, so I’m going to call that a complete set and move on!
Here is the box, the display, and the wrapper…
Continuing the theme of Toltoys stickered MEGO figures, here are three examples of Australian issued figures from the 1970’s Happy Days line, based on a the hugely successful US sitcom, we have Potsy, Richie and the Fonz.
Here’s a ripping piece that escaped my clutches on Aussie Ebay a few years ago, an early 80’s Milk Bar Store Display for Pauls Donkey Kong Icey Poles (Orange and Pineapple Treats). It features a competition for Futuretronics (The Australian Nintendo distributor) Game and Watch electronic hand helds. Did they come in take home packs I wonder. Anyone remember them?
The iconic Speederbike was one of the most loved toys from the Kenner USA Star Wars range, and they were also sold here in Australia in Kenner boxes during the ROTJ era. Recently though the keen eyes of Aussie super-collector Pat O’Brien noticed that some local versions were issued in a slightly larger box than the US version, and backed up the claim to a local variation with the famous “PO Box 72 Alexandria NSW” Toltoys mailing address being present on the included instructions.
The Toltoys box overlapping the Kenner example.
The Alexandria address.
Small differences but significant to Toltoys variation hunters! Is your a Toltoys version? Let me know below…
Thanks again to Pat O’Brien for the find and photos.
Will
