Evangeline Gabriel and two of her dolls. Bare-footed and with sunhat, Evangeline has been playing in the garden with her two dolls, one undressed and the other appears to be swaddled in a blanket.

Dolls come in all sorts of forms - soft rag dolls and wooden dolls, both of which could be home made or purchased; elegant fashion dolls for displaying the latest styles of clothing; baby dolls and walking dolls; wax or porcelain headed dolls and celluloid dolls to name a few, not forgetting modern 'Barbie' and 'Bratz' dolls.

For most little girls, dolls are used to play 'families', imitating their mothers in the care of children. Girls have dressed and undressed their dolls, as they grew older perhaps even attempting to make clothes for them. They have taken their dolls for walks, entertained them with tea parties, brushed their hair or just cuddled them.

Fainges, Marjory. The encyclopedia of Australian dolls, Kenthurst, N.S.W.: Kangaroo Press, 1993

King, Constance Eileen. The collector's history of dolls, London: R. Hale; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1978, c1977

King, Constance Eileen. The encyclopedia of toys, Adelaide: Rigby, 1978

Australian dolls

Victoria and Albert Museum: Museum of Childhood: Collections. Dolls

State Library of South Australia: Mortlock Wing exhibitions. To be a child August 2004-