Signed Pre-Release Edition for the Australian Market

Sir Robert Menzies

Issued in 1977

This model was created to commemorate the Australian Premiere and Statesman, and was issued as a Signed Pre-Release Edition for members of the “Peggy Nisbet Doll Collectors’ Club of Australia”.

This doll is from the "Portrait" Series

Sir Robert is shown here wearing the robes of the Order of the Thistle.   This is a chivalric order representing the highest honour in Scotland, and is second only in precedence to the Order of the Garter.

Sir Robert was extremely proud of his Scottish Ancestry, and this was recognised when he was admitted to the Order of the Thistle in 1963

At the time this doll was made, in 1977, Sir Robert was the twelfth and longest serving Prime Minister of Australia, an office he filled for a total of eighteen and a half years, over two terms.

Menzies was born in Jeparit, a small town in western Victoria, the son of a storekeeper of Scottish descent, who was also a state Member of Parliament. Menzies's uncle and father-in-law were also politicians.   Robert was inordinately proud of his Highland ancestry.

He was renowned as a brilliant speaker, and his imperious manner led to him being nicknamed  “Ming”.   This nickname came from "Mingus, or Mingies" the Scots pronunciation of "Menzies," although it was also a reference to the evil emperor “Ming The Merciless” in the “Flash Gordon” serials!

Sir Robert died in Melbourne in 1978, and was accorded a State Funeral.

News

21st September 2023

 

Important Announcement

 

My dear wife, Christine, passed away on the 8th December, 2021after 8 weeks in hospital. I was by her side, when she slipped away from me peacefully, with no pain or suffering.

 

Chris had been struggling with a slow decline in health, associated with a progressive, untreatable, and ultimately terminal lung disease, and finally succumbed to her old adversary, Pneumonia.

 

We had been friends for 55 years, together as a couple for 50 years, and married just a month short of 48 years, when she died.   

 

This website was Chris's idea, and I did all the technical stuff, to make it work.   After news of Chris's passing reached her close friends in the doll collecting world, I was deeply touched and gratified to hear their tributes to my dear wife, and I must thank them all for their kindness and support.   Ultimately, it was her doll friends that gave me the courage to continue with the website.

 

In the months before her eventual hospitalisation, Chris had outlined a number of additions and changes she wanted to make to the website, and it is my intention to honour those wishes, and to implement the changes we had considered, over the coming weeks and months.

 

I must apologise to all those who have written to us via the website, only to have your emails go unanswered.   Unfortunately, the email system had been hacked aroung the time Chris was going into hospital, and many emails must have been lost, as a result.

 

As you might imagine, I felt completely broken by Chris's loss, and it is only now, almost 22 months after her passing, that I have felt strong enough to even look at the website again.   

 

My aim is to continue with the website, and to implement Chris's aims for her many new ideas as soon as I can.   In the meantime, I have hopefully got the email system sorted out, and I will attempt to answer any enquiries as soon as I can, and to send replies with the same high degree of accuracy that a reply from Chris would have had.

 

From now on, I will be flying solo, whilst my co-pilot and guide will be soaring much higher, (though she is always in my heart, and in my thoughts).

 

My thanks to all our website visitors for your continued support

 

Dave (also known as Arthur), and Chris, (my lost love, Guinevere)

 

Christine Poulten

25th December 1949 - 8th December 2021