The Puppet Shop at The Rocks is owned by Phillip De Meautis. Having run the shop for 11 years Phillip is an expert on the manufacturing and selling puppets. He has over one thousand puppets in his small basement shop, some of which are over 150 years old.
While some puppet are imported from around the world, others are made in his workshop which is attached the actual shop. He devotes much of his time to making extraordinary and unusual puppets, and taking a browse through his shop is akin to walking through a magical wonderland.
The Rocks Puppet Cottage runs all year round on weekends and school holidays. It offers a great range of fun, interactive & educational puppet shows by resident artists, The Sydney Puppet Theatre and by guest puppeteers. And the best thing is it’s for free!
Puppet shows are held in this small theatre space and run for 30 minutes long 3 times a day. Puppet fans are advised to arrive fifteen minutes early to be seated, particularly in school holidays as it’s quite a popular among the kiddies.
Two baskets of puppets are handed out to keep the kids amused before the performance. And there are all sorts of fabulous hand puppets for them to play with, including dogs, warhogs, snakes and galahs.
Today puppeteer Richard Hart will be performing a show about a dream-like journey a character goes through. There are several puppets in the half an hour show, but he works them all.
The Rocks Toy Museum A visit to the Toy Museum will give parents an opportunity to re-live being a child, they can show and tell their children the kinds of toys and games they played when they were little.
The Rocks Toy Museum is the first permanent toy exhibition in Australia with over 3000 exhibits spanning two centuries. You will find anything from Japanese toys to Dinkys, Hornby & other brands jostling for space with playthings spanning the 19th and 20th centuries.
The toys are spread across two levels, with two rooms each level. Downstairs you have the trains, cars, doll, dinky, robots and baby toys cabinet and upstairs you have the stars wars, star trek, trains, circus stuff, war toys and more doll sets.
Museum, which is in a lovely old sandstone cottage, offers great insight in the changing face of toys throughout the generation. It can be a nostalgic experience for the mums and dads, and an educational experience for the kiddies.
