Our History

The Bendigo Community Toy Library was first opened on 5 November 1988 at McDonald House School for Deaf Children, before a short stint at the Spring Gully Hall. We moved to our current Spring Gully location in 1991.

A lot has changed since we first moved in to our Spring Gully site. Our shaded sandpit was put up in 1997. Spruce ups occurred along the way – fresh carpet was laid in 2005 and a kitchenette and benches installed in 2017. The space was repainted in 2018.

Fun fact! Our famous Humpty Dumpty first sat upon our wall in 2006. He did, in fact, have a great fall when he was stolen from our premises sometime later, but all the King’s horses and all the King’s men returned him safely to his wall.

You may remember the BCTL Baby and Kids Market, which began in 2005. These Market days were multi purpose – old toys were cleared out, money was raised for new toys, and attendees learned about the toy library.

Family Favourites: Party Packs were first introduced in 2006. Our first Messy Play Day was hosted in 2016.

We did away with pen and paper borrowing when our catalogue was uploaded to Mibase in 2008.

Our most exciting change occurred In 2018. As we celebrated our 30th birthday, we took over the Long Gully based Out-of-the-Box Toy Library.

Two branches, thousands of toys, and thirty years of our volunteers proudly serving the Bendigo Community.

BCTL participates in the Bendigo Easter Parade.
An article in the Bendigo Advertiser promoting the “Strath Toy Library” in 1995.