Best’s career spanned four decades from the mid–1930s, a period of transition from the department store decorators and art furnishers of the 1920s, to the independent professional designers of today.

Her interiors vibrated with bold colours and patterns and a signature of her commissioned interiors was her vibrant glazed painted finishes on walls and ceilings.

Best introduced the latest of international modernism in design to Australians through her shops in Rowe Street Sydney and Queen Street Woollahra, which were an inspiration to the local design profession.

Marion Hall Best: Interiors Exhibition
5 August – 12 November 2017
Museum of Sydney, Sydney
www.sydneylivingmuseums.com.au

Ginger Meggs first appeared in the Us fellers comic strip in Sydney’s Sunday Sun newspaper in 1921, and he and his gang – including girlfriend, Minnie Peters, and arch nemesis, Tiger Kelly – have kept us company ever since.

This mischievous Australian icon was created by James ‘Jimmy’ Bancks. With his instantly recognisable red hair, shorts and shoes, his larrikin charms and endless ability to get himself into and out of trouble, ‘Ginge’, as he was affectionately known, reflected the everyday lives of his readers and became part of our popular culture.

Featuring original strips by Bancks and his successors, and a diverse collection of Ginger Meggs memorabilia, this exhibition invites you to rediscover the little red-headed feller.

Ginger Meggs: Australia’s Favourite Boy
25 July 2015 – 8 November 2015, Museum of Sydney, Sydney
www.sydneylivingmuseums.com.au

From peg dolls to Barbie, tin soldiers to spacemen, toys reflect society, offering a window to the past and an insight into our ever-changing culture.

Showcasing the beloved toys of Sydneysiders, Sydney toy manufacturers and Sydney toy stores, this exhibition offers a mix of the familiar and the forgotten and a fascinating trip down memory lane.

Let your imagination fly as you follow the kids’ trail through the exhibition to the play space, where you can play traditional games and make your own toy to take home.

You’ve never seen such an amazing collection in all your life! Toys of every kind to thrill and delight you – quaint old toys, brilliant new ones, strange toys, familiar toys, wonderful toys… an attraction for young and old!

Toys Through Time Exhibition
Museum of Sydney
28 March 2015 – 9 August 2015
www.sydneylivingmuseums.com.au

Constructed by Ryan McNaught, one of only 12 LEGO® certified professionals worldwide, this exhibition celebrates tall and extraordinary buildings from Australia and Asia. Some are engineering head-turners while others are technical marvels.

Some of these eye-popping giants, like the Shanghai Tower, pioneer new ways of living, while others like Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands are instant global landmarks. Some are green, others lean. Some are strange and other-worldly, others are breathtakingly beautiful.

With several models standing over 3 metres high, with stunning architectural detail and playful use of colours and textures, each of these LEGO® structures is guaranteed to amaze. They’ll also inspire the young and the young-at-heart to create their own ‘towers of tomorrow’.

With over 200,000 loose LEGO® bricks on hand, you’ll have more than enough to build your own towering creation and add it to the colourful futuristic metropolis rising steadily in the heart of the exhibition.

“Like the real things, super-tall LEGO® buildings are truly inspirational,” says Mark Goggin, director of Sydney Living Museums, “Not only do Ryan’s models prove what’s possible with everyday LEGO® bricks, but experiencing so many of them together in a world first line-up, perched together side by side, is nothing short of mind-blowing, even at 1:200 scale.”

Ryan McNaught agrees, “it’s by far the biggest building job I’ve ever faced and certainly the most fun. My head’s still spinning.”

Towers of Tomorrow with LEGO® Bricks Exhibition
13 December 2014 – 19 April 2015
Museum of Sydney – Cnr Phillip and Bridge Streets, Sydney
www.sydneylivingmuseums.com.au