Summary

Plastic 'wattle baby' doll, in the style of a May Gibbs character, probably made in the 1930s. It may have been given to Ada Henrietta Gibson by a relative when she was expecting her daughter Hazel.

Ada married William Blakeley's son William Gillott (1905-1995) in 1937 at the Congregational Church in Windsor, Melbourne. Ada was the organist there at the time and her father, John Conway Gibson, a lay preacher. Ada was a budding concert pianist, William a saw and knife manufacturer like his father. After Ada and William married they moved to a purpose-built house in Marriage Road, Brighton (plans for the house have been donated to the State Library of Victoria). After World War II they moved to William's family farm at Red Hill.

'Gumnut babies' and 'wattle babies' were figures created by Cecelia May Gibbs (1877-1969), an England-born Australian artist who used the name May Gibbs to publish her work. The first gumnut baby appeared in 1913, and she was soon drawing gumnut babies in uniform in support of World War I. Her first book, centred around gumnut babies, was published in Sydney in 1916. The most famous of the gumnut babies were Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, introduced in her well-known 1918 fairytale book of the same name. Her other works included Flower Babies and Wattle Babies. She wrote a 'Bib and Bub' cartoon that ran for several years in Sydney newspapers. May Gibbs married Bertram James Ossoli Kelly on April 17, 1919 and subsequently moved to Sydney. The couple had no children, and on her death May willed her house and possessions to be auctioned for the benefit of UNICEF. The copright to her stories and characters was left to the Northcott Disability Services and Cerebral Palsy Alliance.

The doll is a rare three-dimensional depiction of one of May Gibbs' figures. Although it resembles a gumnut baby in style, gumnut babies typically had green or brown hats, so this is probably a wattle baby.

Part of a collection of and other material relating to the life of William Henry Blakeley and the Blakeley family donated to Museum Victoria. William Blakeley was the first saw manufacturer in Australia. He was born in England in 1839 and was indentured as a saw maker. In 1867 he set up his own saw shop in Little Bourke Street - soon to become a successful manufacturing business, W.H. Blakeley and Co (which became W.H. and Company Proprietary Limited in 1922), with several locations in inner Melbourne. The Blakeley business has continued into the 21st century. The donor and her sisters are the daughters of William and Annie's son William Gillott Blakeley and his wife Ada Henrietta.

Physical Description

A small plastic doll made in the likeness of a May Gibbs 'wattle baby' wearing a yellow hat and shown peering over the top of a gumleaf from the shoulders up. The rest of the doll can be seen attached to the back of the gumleaf. Aside from the cap, the doll is naked. It is slightly compressed on the back.

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