An obsession which began when Helen Meyers was five years old, the now 73-year-old Wagga resident believes close to 5000 dolls swarm her home.

Packed into three rooms and scattered throughout the home’s entrance and hallways, anything from collections of Barbie and Ken, to Shirley Temple and Marilyn Monroe, to Pedigree and Australian dolls, to 100-year-old dolls and umbrella dolls, there are no boundaries. 

Mrs Meyers has purchased her dolls “anywhere and everywhere”, from garage sales and doll auctions, second hand shops and department stores like Target and Toys R Us. 

A passion she’s had since she was a young girl, Mrs Meyers said growing up in the “bush with brothers”, the dolls became her “companions”. 

“People ask a lot: ‘what do you do with your dolls?’, I pick them up and cuddle them; they don’t whinge about clothes and they don’t whinge about food,” she said. 

“I can spend hours just looking at them, because they’ve all got different little faces.

“I can’t help myself. Some people rescue puppies and cats, I collect dolls.” 

Mrs Meyers said she “rescues” dolls which have been neglected and bought from children who have out-grown their dolls. 

“I never grew up and I don’t like them wrecked,” she said.  

“We’ve found dolls which have been left behind by children, covered in mud and their hair has grass in it or they might have a broken hand.

“I know a lady that fixes dolls, there is a doll doctor, and she would re-make another hand, and I’ll wash their dress and clean their hair; bringing them back to life.” 

While her husband, Colin Meyers, isn’t a “doll person”, he builds doll houses for his wife and said they don’t get in the way. 

“We’ve been married for 52 years and when I met Helen she was a nurse at the Calvary Hospital and only had one doll,” Mr Meyers said. 

An ever expanding doll collection, meant the house could no longer accommodate the doll population. 

Mr Meyers said they’ve had about five renovations since when they first bought the house of only four rooms, extending the living room and adding a garage. 

“We expanded the house because it wasn’t big enough and at Christmas there would be 20 of us crammed in the living room,” he said. 

“We put the garage in, because my intention was to put the restored cars in the garage, however I was too slow and Helen moved in with her dolls.” 

Mr Meyers said his wife’s doll infatuation became a “serious” hobby around 10-20 years ago. 

“We keep saying we have around 5000 dolls, but I think there’s more than that.” 

With so many dolls, it’s no wonder Mrs Meyers can’t name them all. 

“Majority of the dolls are registered and they all have names, but don’t ask me because I don’t know some of them.” 

Over the years, Mrs Meyers has bought dolls from fifty cents up to five hundred dollars however, the overall worth is yet to be determined.