This Sydney Hospital Has Been Mending Dolls And Other Old Toys For 101 Years

“The thing I like least is eyes. It’s a very difficult balancing act to get them right, so it does take a while. Sometimes I have to do them three times before I’m happy with them.” - Kerry Stuart, an employee of the Sydney Doll Hospital for 25 years now.
Use and re-use isn’t exactly the motto of the current generation but for the many before them, more tangible childhood memories of personal favourite dolls, teddies and other such ‘cuddle-inanimates’ have never left them. But what of the favourites who have been worn and torn by time? Enter Sydney’s Doll Hospital, one of the last few of its kind in the world, that has ‘saved’ millions of toys around Australia and New Zealand since 1913.
Surprisingly, it isn’t hard to draw plenty of parallels between the work this hospital’s employees do and that of real surgeons. Some of their major job requests include ‘fixing plastic parts and hair transplants.’
We’ll admit these pictures make the 101-year-old ‘hospital’ seem more reminiscent of the perfect destination for the next Chucky sequel rather than a child-friendly, neighbourhood shop but it makes for interesting viewing either way. Don’t blame us if you wake up with the sweats tonight.