Every collection has a beginning. And for My Doll Cottage, it started with a single Kader doll — 25 inches tall, wrapped in plastic, and wearing nothing but a cloth nappy.
It was Christmas, 1964. Mum was 10 years old and living in Collie, where department stores just didn’t exist. But her Nanna had made a trip into Bunbury to visit the Woolworths Variety store, and while she was there buying a doll for her youngest daughter Kerry (only two years older than Mum, and more like a sister than an aunt), she rang her eldest daughter — my Grandma — and asked,
“Shall I pick one up for Sharon and Dianne too?”
That’s how three little girls, all part of the same tight-knit family, ended up with matching 25" Kader dolls under the Christmas tree that year — the largest size Kader made, and a true treasure at the time.
These dolls weren’t fancy by any means. They were considered budget dolls, sold in plastic bags with no shoes, no clothes apart from a simple nappy, and no special packaging. But to Mum, her Kader doll was something special. She didn’t play with her like a typical toy — she displayed her. Admired her. Protected her. Even then, Mum saw her dolls more like ornaments than playthings, carefully arranging them just so, making sure they stayed neat and perfect.
Her Kader wasn’t alone for long. As a child, Mum also had two other dolls, including a Tammy doll, a soft mohair teddy, and a sweet collection of paper dolls — all lovingly cared for (and yes, the paper dolls are still part of the museum’s collection today!).
But like many childhood treasures, not all of them survived.
As she got older and had kids of her own, her precious dolls and teddy were lost or broken by her beautiful children. Like most parents, she made the sad mistake of letting her kids play with her childhood toys. It hadn’t occurred to Mum that we’d treat her things... differently. She assumed we’d look after them the way she always had. But children are children, and time has a way of taking its toll.
That’s why this Kader doll — the one her Nanna picked up all those years ago in 1964 — means so much.
She’s not just a doll.
She’s the doll that survived, not only Mum’s childhood but her children’s as well.
She’s the first step in a lifelong passion for preservation, beauty, and honouring childhood. She’s the reason My Doll Cottage exists — because one little girl loved her doll so much, she couldn’t bear to let her story fade away.
So when you visit Mum’s museum, take a moment to find that Kader doll sitting proudly among the collection. She’s the heart of it all — a reminder that sometimes, the simplest gifts leave the deepest imprint.
Sitting right beside her is Aunty Dianne’s Kader doll, lovingly gifted to Mum for the museum. And from Kerry— her larger one sadly broken by grandchildren, but this little survivor now stands between her cousins in the museum display.
With love,
Shyloh
The youngest daughter of a doll-collecting addict — raised on Milo, Vegemite, and more vintage lace than a country op shop.
Source: Photo of Woolworths from 1970 sourced from State Library of Western Australia
