The world of dolls is as diverse as the people on which they are modelled. They can be made from any media such as wood, porcelain, cloth, plastic, vinyl, celluloid, composition, wax, etc.

Dolls have been used for time immemorial. Doll like items have been found in the  tombs of the ancient Egyptians. Dolls were given to young girls as a lesson in motherhood while they played. Today, dolls are still given to young children and are part of most cultures of the world.

Australia has produced many wonderful dolls. These include those of Laurie  Cohen's Hush-a-bye dolls of the 1930's, the Maretta's of the 1940's, the Cherub's and Patsy's of the 1950's, not to mention the doll artists of the present, such as Lorraine McCarthy and Maree Massey. These are just a sample of the vast variety of Australian Dolls.

Did you know that dolls can be "diseased"? The hard plastic dolls produced during the late 1940's can suffer from a breakdown of the plastic called "Hard Plastic Disease", or "Pedigree Disease", as the condition was first noticed in Pedigree dolls. Once a doll has this problem there is nothing that can be done to eradicate it and the doll must be destroyed.

If you wish to learn more about the world of dolls, the Internet is a mine of information. The following links are just a drop in the Internet ocean and are not exhaustive. If you have a link that you feel would be of interest to other doll lovers, please e-mail the information for inclusion on this site.  Look on the Links page for other Doll Clubs and Doll traders.

ALICE’S DOLL HOUSE PAGE – http://kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu/~nyssa/dollhouse.html
This site describes Alice’s doll house and how she built it. It has lots of photos of each stage of construction, as well as lots of handy hints for those who would also like to build their own doll house.

DENISE VAN PATTEN’S DOLL PAGE – www.dollymaker.com
Denise is an avid doll collector and dollmaker and has an excellent site with heaps of links to other sites. She is also interested in buttons and Victorian ribbon work.

DOLL COLLECTING AT ABOUT.COM – http://collectdolls.about.com
This site has links to all sorts of information about doll collecting. There is also a 24 hour chat line, with 2 chats at scheduled times each week. The guide for this site is Denise Van Patten.

MINIATURES AT ABOUT.COM – http://miniatures.about.com
This site is run by about.com as above. There are plenty of links to other sites specialising in miniatures.