WITH more than 2000 dolls, Nyah West’s Lucy Dacey has the largest collection of antique and modern dolls in the Swan Hill district.
The ardent doll collector started collecting dolls approximately 25 years ago when her two-month-old granddaughter Sammy Jo came to live with her after her mother passed away.
“It started back 25 years ago, I had a little granddaughter and I had her from a couple of months old until she was seven — after her mother passed away,” she said.
“We used to play dolls a lot, all my family had grown up by then. I just had so much time with her.
“When her father remarried he decided (as he was then able to manage working fulltime and looking after his daughter full time) he would have her back…they went to live in Port Macquarie which was out of my reach to see her.
“She left quite a few of her dolls with me and the more I missed her the more dolls I bought. That’s how it all started.”
Lucy’s doll collection is neatly arranged in her own life-size doll house, “Dolltown Abbey”, and is open to the public for viewing for a $3.50 entry fee.
For more on this story, grab a copy of Wednesday’s Guardian (July 13).
