Farmhouse and yard, likely Elastolin brand

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Type: Toy farms
Place: Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia
Materials: Metal - non specific, Paint - non specific, Plaster, Wood
Collection: Susan and Andrew Gibson collection
Accession number: 2013.0038.0269.001

Description

A toy farm set consisting of a two storey farmhouse and a rectangular farm yard made of moulded composite of plaster, wood and metal. The Tudor style farmhouse is decorated with dark wooden beams, exposed bricks, a painted climber plant, and brown painted wooden panels. It also has white painted walls, wooden beams, stone effects on the base of the building, with a small arched window on the left and a hatch door on the right wall. The green painted farm yard is enclosed in a wall with a wooden gate in the middle and the wall is moulded to show the stone work. The building is designed to sit on the back left corner of the yard. A white paper with black printed text is adhered to the underside of the farm yard and the text that reads '15132 ½ Made [?] in Germany'. Some parts of the white paper are worn and torn. The paint surface of all toys is worn, cracked and flaking.

About the collection

The Susan and Andrew Gibson collection comprises over 60 dolls; about 25 soft toys; dolls' clothes and accessories; a dolls' house; a toy piano; a miniature (once functioning) sewing machine; a Noah's Ark set; a tin fort; many sets of miniature figures and accessories including zoo, garden, farm, soldiers, huntsmen, Zulus, and cowboys & Indians; metal and wooden boats and planes; several sets of alphabet blocks; dress-up costumes; dominoes, marbles, Meccano and magnets; wheeled toys; a large rocking horse; a dolls' pram; toys for outdoor play; a toy box, and a rug to play on. Most of the toys show evidence of extensive use but some, including some of the dolls, are in fine condition. Most of the collection relates to a decade of use from the mid-1920s to the mid-1930s, well into the era of the industrial mass production and globalisation of toys and toy brands which had begun in the late nineteenth century, but before the postwar merchandising of toys based on film and television productions. Many of the toys may have been locally produced but British and European brands are also strongly represented. The toys were played with by a single generation of children, Susan and Andrew Gibson, of 'Burrungurroolong', near Goulburn in NSW. The collection has been preserved largely intact by the family, and therefore offers a rich insight into childhood and the nature of play in that era. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by the Gibson family in memory of Andrew and Susan Gibson.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 5:18:11 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2025-02-19. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.