Jim Fainges (b.1931) was educated in Brisbane and started work at 15 as an apprentice in ‘Habours Upholstery’. His health demanded an outdoor job, so he held various positions as a house painter and decorator, before moving onto glazing, and becoming head of a section. Jim Fainges married Marjory (b.1933 Geelong) in 1953, and had five children, Lyn, Sue, Ian, Neil and Keith. Marjory had completed her secondary education in Wangaratta and also Coburg High School in Melbourne. There she won a scholarship to continue her education as a teacher, but her father’s work in the woollen industry brought him to Brisbane Queensland at the end of 1948. Because of the difference in education, Marjory did a commercial course, which led to her being employed as a Clerk/Typist in Brisbane, Lobethal (South Aust) and back again in 1952 when she joined IOR, where she rose to be in charge of their Medical Benefits Fund in an all female office. After over 27 years as a Glazier, Jim changed occupations and moved to the Department of Main Roads in 1973 as a professional Model Maker. In this position he travelled to England in 1976 where he set up a display featuring nine dioramas he had designed and made, in the window of Queensland House in the Strand, London. In the 1970s Jim made Puppets and Marjory and the 3 boys operated them at shopping centres throughout south-east Queensland under ‘Panaroo Puppets’, utilising Glove, Rod and Marionette Puppets. Jim and Marjory also performed for the Department of Main Roads, The Queensland Butter Board, Life Be in It over the years at the Royal National Show in Brisbane, and several specials on ABC TV, and for over a year weekly short programmes on Channel 7. In the late 1980s they were most interested in collecting dolls and toys and organised a doll display at historic Newstead House for the Year of the Child, which developed into their opening ‘Panaroos Playthings: Doll and Toy Museum’ in Windsor an inner suburb of Brisbane in 1980, and by the time it closed at the end of 1989, it had become the largest collection in Australia, specialising in Australian produced toys. Marjory and Jim have always worked as a team, whether it be building their own home, making puppets, displaying dolls, building and decorating dolls houses and in their business of Doll Restoration and Repairs, which they closed in 2002. For quite a number of years, Jim also held many positions in the Scout Movement, and Marjory had her own Girl Guide (Scout) Group. They now enjoy their retirement, following up their various hobbies. Both have written articles for magazines. Marjory has written 16 books on dolls and toys to date, and Jim enjoys drawing plans for many different hobby pursuits. Marjory is a researcher/historian on the subject of the Australian Toy Industry over the last 100 years, and particularly the commercial manufacture of dolls in Australia, and has presented slide shows, seminars, workshops etc around the world. Jim retired in 1989 due to ill health. In 1991, 1992 and 1993 he was invited to teach 1/12 scale dollhouse workshops, 60 miles outside Chicago, USA. He now fills his busy days with his trains, clubs, and most of all designing card models – particularly aircraft under the heading of ‘Ladndad’.
Ref: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~fainges/about_us.htm - complied by Trish Barnard, Senior Curator Cultures and Histories, 6 July 2012.