Graham Harris is hard at work in his shed when The Courier arrives at his Miners Rest home. His wife Val is at the door of their house, which is made up like a miniature version of the Myer Store Christmas windows. As the front door opens, the rich smell of cakes baking steams out.
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A sign at their front gate says Walk In And See Our Windows, alongside what appears to be a vintage tractor hauling a sleigh full of presents, being driven by a jolly white-haired man in a red suit, boot and cap.
Each window of their home has a distinct Christmas display. One is full of vintage toys: a Meccano set, tiny Lambretta motor scooter, a sailboat. Another is full of stuffed toys having a merry time watching a train circle.. On their verandah a table stands, covered in hand-crafted wooden toys. They’re all made by Graham in his workshop, an Aladdin’s cave of vintage toys and old-time farming implements.
And they are free to any child who wants one, say Graham and Val.
Val and Graham Harris moved into Miners Rest three years ago, coming into town from their property in Millbrook after 40 years. Graham has the huge weathered hands of a man who’s spent his life on the land. He wears a battered tweed cap, and doesn’t like to make a great song and dance about making free toys.
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He says he and Valerie used to make a great effort to decorate their previous home for Christmas, and coming into Miners Rest, Valerie felt she’d like to do it again.
We had come here last year, he was a young bloke because he had his hat on backwards, and he said, ‘you made our daughter’s Christmas
- Graham Harris
“Being out at Millbrook, we didn’t get too many people coming past much,” Graham says.
“When we came in here, we did it the first year, and I said to Valerie, ‘maybe we could do it a little bit better, we could make a few toys or something to give away to the kids.’ A lot of people give the kids lollies, and I though we could do something better than lollies.”
Graham makes his toy trucks and boats, yo-yos, wooden puzzles and games from offcuts and scrap timber sourced from all over Ballarat. He says the people coming to the house to look at the windows and maybe pick up a toy have come from all over Ballarat.
“Oh lots of people come to look at the windows, and they all have a chat, says Graham.
“We had come here last year, he was a young bloke because he had his hat on backwards, and he said, ‘you made our daughter’s Christmas,; it was her first Christmas and she got a little truck and she’s never stopped playing with it. And he brought us a box of chocolates.
“One lady came in with her son, and her husband was waiting with their baby in the car, and she came back dangling with a $5 or $10 note to pay for the toy, I suppose, and I said, ‘no no no, that isn’t how it works. you just take them. And I gave them another toy for when the baby grew up.”
The Harris’s display is in Douglas Crescent, Miners Rest.
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