On 6-10 January 2025, puppetry enthusiasts from across Australia gathered at Into-Arts Studio in West Ryde, Sydney, for an unforgettable 4.5-Day Puppet Building Masterclass led by the incredible Katherine Hannaford (@misskhannaford). This sold-out event brought together participants from Melbourne (VIC), Sydney (NSW), Central Coast (NSW), Bathurst (NSW), Adelaide (SA), and Sunshine Coast (QLD) to create their very own foam and faux fur bunny puppets.

Watch this 10 minute video showing highlights from each day:

With Katherine’s expert guidance and the support of UNIMA Oz committee members, the workshop was a perfect blend of creativity, craftsmanship, and community. Here’s a recap of each day:

Day 1: Designing Characters and Starting Patterns

Katherine kicked off the workshop by sharing her puppetry journey and explaining the process behind her bunny puppet design. Participants chose faux fur through a fun lucky dip and some “trading time” to swap colours. They sketched their characters, explored a nearby charity shop for inspiration, and began cutting the patterns for their puppets.

Day 2: Sewing the Fur Pieces

Sewing day was a deep dive into hand-stitching techniques, as participants tackled the task of assembling their fur pieces. Katherine and “fairy godmother” Kay Yasugi (@kay_yasugi) provided expert tips and much-needed assistance. Though time-consuming, this step was essential in bringing the puppets to life.

Day 3: Foam Cutting and Puppet Arm Rods

On foam day, Katherine introduced participants to different types of foam used in puppet construction. She taught bevel (angled) cutting techniques and demonstrated how to assemble foam pieces. Participants also crafted their own professional puppet arm rods.

Day 4: Armature Hands, Details, and Creative Accessories

As the puppets neared completion, the group worked on assembling armature hands, attaching wire to bunny ears, and gluing foam pieces together with contact adhesive. Katherine performed “nose surgery” to bolt on bunny noses, while Kay opened a “puppet salon” for decorating eyes with long lashes and zombie features. Each puppet’s personality began to shine, from a Taylor Swift-inspired bunny to a punk rabbit with safety pin earrings.

Day 5: Finishing Touches and the Bunny Birthday Party

The final day was a whirlwind of activity as participants raced to complete their puppets. They inserted suede-lined mouth plates, arms, and legs, added polyfill stuffing, and attached finishing details. Katherine ensured everything came together beautifully, while Kay worked magic in the “puppet salon.”

Two participants, Hugh and Matt, completed their bunny’s head and ears before leaving for their flight, taking cupcakes for the journey. After lunch, the group pushed through to finish their puppets and celebrated with a bunny birthday party. Snacks, carrot-themed treats, and heartfelt thank-you cards made the finale truly special.

Acknowledgments

This workshop would not have been possible without the incredible efforts of Katherine Hannaford (@misskhannaford), Kay Yasugi (@kay_yasugi), and our UNIMA Oz committee members Alex (@oneorangesockproductions), Tahlia (@brain_eating_cosplayer), and Susie. Huge thanks to Christopher Ragg for the initial idea and support, and to Into-Arts Studio (@intoartsstudio) for providing such a wonderful creative space.

We also acknowledge the Wallumettagal people, the traditional custodians and first storytellers of the land where this workshop was held. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

Join UNIMA Australia

This workshop was proudly supported by UNIMA Australia, an organisation dedicated to connecting and supporting puppetry practitioners and enthusiasts in Australia and worldwide.

As a UNIMA member, you’ll enjoy:

• Access to a vibrant puppetry network
• Invitations to events and workshops
• Discounts on workshops and programs
• Access to the Members Only digital archive of recordings
• Puppetry job opportunities and eligibility for scholarships and grants

👉 Become a member today! https://www.unima.org.au/membership/

Follow Us Online

This journey was documented on our social media platforms, where we’ve had over 22K views in the last 30 days! Follow us to see more puppetry magic:
📸 Instagram: @unimaoz
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We hope to see you at the next UNIMA Oz event!

In October 2024 I travelled to Yogyakarta on the island of Java to undertake a residency with Papermoon Puppet Theatre with Jesse Hamilton from Pico’s Puppet Palace. In total the residency went for 3 weeks instead of 4 as originally planned as this is what worked with the logistics of everything involved and my budget. I was headed there to work on a creative development of a new show using a new style of puppetry that I didn’t normally make and work with in my company Pico’s Puppet Palace. We were also booked to perform our show ‘Pico and the Golden Lagoon’ at the biennale international puppet festival ‘Pesta Boneka – Seeds of Hope’ that took place at the end of the residency. I had chosen Papermoon for a variety of reasons but mainly because I was interested in their neutral palette they used in making the puppets, their use of natural materials and fibres and their non-verbal shows.

During the residency I worked on making masks and two smaller rod puppets. I started the foundation with terracotta. I then covered these moulds with cling wrap and papier-mâché. After the papier-mâché was dry I dug out the terracotta. I also started to make details on the faces with paper clay. It was a very time consuming project (of course) and in hindsight I think I was a little too ambitious it what I could achieve in the time I had. Even though I was at the studio 6 days a week for most of the day, time just flew.

Inside the Papermoon studio there were collections of all their different styles of puppets made over the years. You were welcome to pull them out and study them and play around with them. During the residency Papermoon were also rehearsing themselves and making new puppets and sculptures and so it was great to also take time out from my own project and just sit back and observe their process.

There were two other artists at the residency house and studio at the same time as us from the U.S.A and from New Zealand. This was also a great sharing opportunity, because although we were all working on individual projects we lived together and worked together at the studio and so were able to share ideas and experiences and also learn from each other. This relationship also ended up in a performance collaboration at the festival as part of one of their performance installation pieces.

As part of the residency there was a condition to do some kind of exchange, workshop or presentation to the public. We were invited to a local village to perform with Pico’s Puppet Palace at the Ngaran Kite Festival called ‘Humans on Planet Earth’. This was a great experience and the local community loved Pico. We also got to see some amazing traditional kites flying in the air, watch a Gamelan performance and play a Javanese traditional bamboo instrument with Government Officials for the opening of the festival, on a stage that was set up in the middle of the rice fields.

We also did a field trip to a local Wayang Puppet Masters Studio and House. Here we were introduced to the Gamelan and shadow puppets and history of his family and artistic experiences balancing both modern and traditional approaches. Later in the week we traveled to the Yogyakarta Museum to see a 2 hour performance of the Gamelan and shadow puppets, normally an overnight experience.

I think one of the highlights of the residency was the festival Pesta Boneka. Originally we were just going to be spectators at the festival but after applying we were later invited to perform ‘Pico and the Golden Lagoon’. This festival was amazing. 25 countries were represented at the festival and over 100 artists from all over the globe came together to perform, part take in workshops and live and breath all things puppets. Our performance went great, but I also found it invaluable the experience of seeing so many different styles and approaches to puppetry that my head is so full of ideas and inspirations. It was also a great opportunity for networking and I do believe future things will come out of this experience, as there are conversations in the pipeline.

The residency supported me to reach some of my goals I had towards the creation of my new puppetry piece. I was able to try out some new making techniques as well as trialling new manipulation techniques too. However, I didn’t get as much done as I had anticipated as I mentioned before. Before embarking on this residency I had so many ambitions and goals I wanted to achieve, but practically when in the studio and in the making process I was humbly reminded that these discoveries take time and to be patient and have a longer vision. After seeing so many shows at the festival I did gather a bunch of ideas I want to include in the new performance. This new show still has many more creative developments ahead but this experience in Indonesia definitely boosted the depth and experience of creation for me as an artist. It was great to be out of my own personal studio at home and be surrounded by other creators and artists in a multicultural context. The Yogyakarta culture reminded me to be patient but also at the same time willing to jump into spontaneity and make anything work in any situation despite the obstacles. That community and group work are the strength. To not stress too much but keep working until the dream is created. This is something valuable I was reminded of during the residency that definitely helped me with my new show.

Overall it was a very enriching experience and the first official puppet residency I had done overseas with a company. Thanks so much for believing in me and supporting this with the scholarship.

Thank you Thank you Thank you.

BUDGET

Residency cost $1800

Flight $1250

Materials $50

Visa $50

Travel Insurance $120

Food $100

Incidentals $100

Total = $3370

INCOME

UNIMA scholarship $2500

Own contribution $870

TOTAL = $3370

*notes

The budget altered slight compared to the original draft. The visa ended up being cheaper as I needed a different visa than I first thought. Materials and incidentals were way cheaper than I had budgeted. Most of the materials were supplied by Papermoon and the few extra things I bought were in expensive.

On 18th August 2024 at our UNIMA Australia Annual General Meeting, we were pleased to award Life Memberships to Richard Hart and Julia Davis from Dream Puppets. They recently relocated from Melbourne to South Australia and zoomed in, with a special appearance from their camel puppet, Kassius Kamel.

Richard and Julia have made significant contributions to the puppetry community and UNIMA Australia.

Richard Hart joined UNIMA Australia in 1994/1995, quickly assuming the role of Treasurer from 1995-1997 and Secretary from 1997-1999, then again in 2002-2008. He was President from 2014-2020, which means he has served on the Committee for 17 years! 

He played a crucial role in maintaining Australian puppetry media, contributing to the production of the Manipulation magazine before transforming the UNIMA Australia newsletter into a magazine. His efforts helped increase membership and sustain regular puppetry publications, including the first email newsletter, UNIMA OZ. He was the Artistic Director of Tarrengower Puppet Festival 2012 and Maldon Puppet Carnival 2014 (VIC). Richard continues his role as the UNIMA Australia Representative for the UNIMA Asia-Pacific Commission, further supporting our regional connections. 

Julia Davis worked on the Australian Puppeteer Magazine from 2002-2009 and was a major contributor for her editing and proof-reading. Alongside Richard, she was instrumental in establishing the independent O.P.E.N (Oz Puppetry Email Newsletter), which operated outside of UNIMA and gained notable success. 

Both Richard and Julia’s dedication to supporting puppetry and navigating the challenges of arts organization politics has been invaluable.

Their contributions, including their work with Dream Puppets, have significantly enriched the puppetry landscape in Australia. Their life memberships are a testament to their longstanding commitment and impact on the field.

Dennis Murphy was our special guest speaker for UNIMA Australia’s World Puppetry Day on 21st March, 2024.
At the end of his Artist talk, we awarded Dennis with a Life Membership to UNIMA
Australia, in appreciation of his contribution to Australian Puppetry.
Congratulations Dennis!

His gift to us was an incredibly extensive bibliography of Puppet Character Comedy, which you can download here below. Thank you so much Dennis!

Download Bibliography of Puppet Character Comedy compiled by Dennis Murphy

Peggy Hetherington once amusingly characterised her role in puppetry as “self-effacing back-up”, and while there is no denying the major part played by her brilliant husband in the TV series Mr Squiggle and Friends, as the script-writer she was invaluable. Peggy died peacefully in September, at the grand age of 99, having spent the last year in a retirement home, but until there she had managed to cope with the 39 steps that led up to the Hetherington family home in Mosman, not far from where her daughter Rebecca now lives. 

Margaret Purnell was born in Sydney in 1923, and as an art student in 1943 she accompanied a friend to drop off some paints at the New Theatre League during a rehearsal of Oriel Gray’s play Lawson, and ended up playing a part in the play.  She then became involved in other productions as stage-manager, costume-maker or actor.   [Someone she remembered from the New Theatre in her time there was a U.S. soldier then stationed in Sydney, Corporal Will Lee Lubovsky.  Some of us will remember him as the Will Lee who played the grocer, Mr Hooper, in Sesame Street from its beginning in 1969 until his death in 1982.]  One of Peggy’s surprising achievements was travelling from England to Sydney in 1952 on a small sailing ship as one of a crew of three!

In 1958 she married cartoonist/puppeteer Norman Hetherington and Norman’s puppet of Mr Squiggle, destined for fame, began appearing on ABC TV in 1959, with scripts written by Peggy.  Edith Murray, secretary of the Puppetry Guild, was delighted by the marriage because Peggy was a distant cousin!  And at one time Peggy herself was secretary of the Guild.

In 1974 she assisted Norman when he compiled Puppets in Australia, a booklet richly illustrated with photos, funded by the Australian Council for the Arts [now known as the Australia Council] and issued free, ahead of a puppet festival in Melbourne in January 1975.   She wrote Mr Squiggle and the Great Moon Robbery [1980], Mr Squiggle and the Preposterous Purple Crocodile [1992], both of which Norman illustrated, and Mr Squiggle to the Rescue [1998], an audiobook of three stories, narrated by Rebecca.  Of special interest to puppeteers is the delightful book Hand Shadows [ 1988] by Norman and Margaret Hetherington. [Until Norman had a nasty accident in the 1950s, with a chisel cutting into a tendon to a thumb, he used to do a charming shadow show using his hands and “add-ons”.]

I have many happy personal memories, but especially of 1968-9, my last years of teaching, when my grandmother was in a retirement home just around the corner from the Hetheringtons.  Several times I was able to combine a visit to Grandma in the afternoon with a meal in their home to follow…and lots of laughter.  Sadly I haven’t seen Peggy since Norman’s funeral in 2010, but Murray Raine made a point of visiting when up from Melbourne.

The attached photo was taken at the Hetherington home in Mosman one Sunday in early 1975, when the great German marionettist, Albrecht Roser, was in Sydney to perform.  (Roser had earlier seen a performance by Norman at the puppet festival in Melbourne that January.)  Left to right are Albrecht Roser (crouching!), me, Stephen (now Prof. Stephen Hetherington), Rebecca (peeking around), Norman and, in front, Peggy. The photo was taken by Albrecht’s assistant, Ingrid Höfer.

Richard Bradshaw

Footnote:  In November, Peggy’s grandson Tom Hetherington-Welch, Rebecca’s younger son, used puppets he made in a well-received show he co-wrote for the Sydney University Drama Society [SUDS].

The large extended family and community whose lives were touched by Elka Schumann mourn the end of her rich life on August 1^st.  I count myself among that group. I met Elka in the mid-1970s, when I was fresh out of college and trying to make sense of the world. She was the person who introduced me to singing, to puppetry, and to theater. She remained a dear friend and mentor.

Elka was the backbone of Bread and Puppet Theater. While raising five children, she was also able to be chief counsel and critic to her brilliant and prolific husband Peter. She managed the theater’s finances, founded and ran the Bread and Puppet Press – disseminating posters, calendars, books and recordings throughout the world. She was the primary caretaker and curator of the theater’s huge barn museum. And, when I first connected with her, she was designer, writer and director of Dancing Bear Children’s Theater, performing hand puppet shows in public schools throughout northern Vermont. She was an accomplished singer and flautist, and was responsible for introducing me, as well as Bread and Puppet, to the a cappella hymn tradition known as shape-note singing, which became a mainstay in the theater’s productions.

Elka was born Elka Leigh Scott in Magnitogorsk, Siberia. Her father, John Scott, was an American Communist, interested in the radical re-imagining of economic structures and the creation of a new social order in the Soviet Union. Her mother, Masha Dikareva, was Russian; she had one sister, Elena. When the Nazis invaded Russia, the family fled. Her father’s politics took a sharp turn toward conservatism, and they spent time in Germany, New York State, and New York City, finally settling in Ridgefield, CT.  She attended Bryn Mawr College, and met Peter Schumann during a junior year abroad in Munich, Germany, when she was enlisted to join his non-dancer dance company.

Elka’s grandfather was Scott Nearing, whose back-to-the-land democratic socialism had a powerful influence on her as well.

Through this heritage, and through her partnership with Peter, Elka developed an acute sense of justice, and a belief in the possibility of building new structures, and imagining new worlds. Bread and Puppet’s deep ethical foundations – anti-war, pro-democracy, frugality, living in harmony with the earth – were well-lived in Elka herself.  There was always room at the table for one more roaming puppeteer. There was always a song, a slice of bread, and an encouraging word.

I spent my first months as a Bread and Puppet company member after they had already escaped the streets of NYC for a more pastoral existence on Cate Farm in Plainfield, VT. The company was on tour in Europe and I was alone with Elka and her kids. I joined adventures of her design on picnics, hikes, and cultural trips. I loved those escapades, complemented by visits to many remote elementary schools to perform puppet shows. Later, I had opportunities to tour with Elka, often to distant lands, and I was struck by how open her eyes always were, how eager to see and learn new things, how willing to extend herself to new situations.

In Glover, the theater took up residence on a farm purchased by Elka’s parents. Elka was a consistent strong protector of the land – pine forest, apple orchard, hay fields, sugar bush, house, barn and outbuildings – especially as they were transformed into amphitheatre, workshop, puppet storage, museum and venue for tens of thousands of annual spectators. Creating a balance between private home and public space, between the needs of her family and the needs of the theater, and between the grandeur of Peter’s vision and the simplicity of the life-style they chose, was an ongoing struggle. But her expansive generosity was its own art form. She was the definition of hospitality for me and countless other puppeteers. Her guiding light continues to shine.

Trudi Cohen (August 16, 2021)

Rose Hill of Mildura, a devotee of puppetry and the mother of the brilliant puppeteer, Ross Hill, died in Melbourne aged 99.  As she says in this link to a short ACMI video from 2017, she became involved with puppetry as an aid to helping Ross overcome a speech defect resulting from a bout of encephalitis.  Those of us who knew Ross would never have suspected that he had ever had such a problem, but the puppetry not only helped him to overcome it, it launched what would become his career.

https://www.acmi.net.au/works/117301

or

Rose and her husband Arthur, had a poultry farm in Mildura.  They built the house themselves despite the constraints of wartime Australia, and there they raised a family of four boys, John, Keith, Ross and David.  John has a strong boyhood memory of the day that Ross was born, 7 November 1954. Rose had been bedridden with encephalitis for some time before being transferred to the hospital and late that afternoon a tornado had swept across the district doing extensive damage.  

With Rose’s help and encouragement Ross was presenting a regular marionette segment on local TV in Mildura when he was 14 and still at school. He had been particularly inspired by Peter Scriven’s Tintookies, and in Rose’s video you will see some of his marionettes from that time, many (such as the goat and the chook), clearly showing that influence.  Especially interesting were the figures he had made which did not have the basic humanoid construction, and in later life Ross had an amazing skill in turning a free-hand sketch into a working puppet.

Rose made contact with the puppetry community, and puppeteers passing through Mildura often paid a visit.  In 1973 Ross was invited by L. Peter Wilson to join the Tasmanian Puppet Theatre in Hobart and while there was responsible for a 13-part TV series. From 1977-1984 he was with Richard Bradshaw at the Marionette Theatre of Australia in Sydney where he was invaluable as a brilliant puppet-maker although he was also a gifted performer.  

Rose, Arthur and Ross attended the UNIMA Festival in Moscow in 1976 and Rose also went to the 1979 festival organised by PUK in Tokyo celebrating 50 years of UNIMA.  At that festival Ross worked as a puppeteer in the M.T.A.’s The Mysterious Potamus, for which he had made the puppets (to Norman Hetherington’s designs).  Ross’s manipulation of Paul the Peacock and Calvin the Crocodile was outstanding. His cruel death in1991 at the age of 36 was a tragic loss to Australian puppetry, and a devastating blow for Rose and the Hill family.

Two political figures Ross made to designs by cartoonist Patrick Cook were installed in the Museum of Democracy in Old Parliament House, Canberra, near puppets by Peter Nicholson for the ABC’s Rubbery Figures which Ross had originally had a hand in making while at the M.T.A.  After he left the M.T.A. Ross freelanced, and even worked for Jim Henson in London on the movie Labyrinth.

Rose Hill created the Mildura Puppetry Centre in a large room added on to the house.  There she displayed Ross’s early marionettes and many other figures she had gathered or made.  Some of Edith Murray’s figures from the Clovelly Puppet Theatre in Sydney were there.  The Centre was visited by schoolchildren and other local groups and puppeteers who visited when they were passing through Mildura were surprised by the extent of the collection.  The following link will give you some idea: 

https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/country-living/93yearold-rose-hill-is-milduras-puppet-master/news-story/2081ba7e1da081788d15ffac6fb8a0c3

Rose Hill had been in hospital in Mildura where her mind was fading before being transferred to a hospital in Melbourne, to be close to her son, John and his wife, Kerry, and also to have the company of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  She died three days after catching COVID-19 in hospital.   A great character, with enormous energy, a good sense of humour and, to the very end, devoted to puppetry, especially as an educational tool.  

There remains the problem of the future of the Mildura Puppetry Centre with Rose’s large collection of puppets.  Rose would have liked to extend the facility to set up a museum as a tourist attraction but unfortunately it remained a dream.  Rose’s sons hope there might be an enterprising puppeteer willing to purchase the property and restore the facility to its former glory.  Perhaps they may even build that museum that Rose and Ross would have loved.

There are some excellent museums of puppetry in other countries and it would solve a growing problem if somehow, somewhere in Australia, a home for “retired puppets” could be established.  If it can’t be in Mildura then hopefully another solution can be found to keep the collection together.

John, Keith & David would welcome any enquiries: 0408 688 122

by Richard Bradshaw and John Hill

We are very sad to inform the greater puppetry community of the recent passing of Lyndon Peter Wilson, who died peacefully at his home in New Zealand on 22nd March, 2021.  Among his many achievements, he was the co-founder of Spare Parts Puppet Theatre (WA), which is marking its 40th anniversary this year. Here is the piece that Spare Parts wrote about Peter:  REMEMBERING AND CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF LYNDON PETER WILSON “Puppetry people from around Australia, New Zealand and the world both remember and celebrate the life of Lyndon Peter Wilson, known as Peter Wilson, who sadly passed away earlier this week. Spare Parts Puppet Theatre was formed in 1981 by Peter, together with writer Cathryn Robinson and designer Beverly Campbell Jackson, to share the magic of puppetry in Western Australia. From the outset, Peter brought an international flavour to Spare Parts. He had earlier established the Tasmanian Puppet Theatre in 1970 and studied theatre and puppetry with Puk Theatre in Tokyo, the Bunraku Theatre, National Theatre of Japan, the Central Puppet Theatres of Prague and Moscow, and Cannon Hill Puppet Theatre in the UK. The company’s first production Faust was presented as part of the 1981 Festival of Perth (now Perth Festival) and was billed as a “total visual experience”. The work was directed by Peter and developed with Japanese artists Noriko Nishimoto and Takeshi Hoshino. We celebrate the enormous legacy Peter built for puppetry and for his vision in igniting the art form in Australia and later in enriching the lives of artists and audiences in New Zealand. He is fondly remembered by all of us at Spare Parts and by the many artists who received their start under his leadership.”  Peter won many awards in his career, including the National Drama Critics Award (1979), Sidney Meyer Performing Arts Award (1988) and the UNIMA Australia Lifetime Achievement award (2006) at the 2nd National Puppetry Summit in Hobart, Tasmania (you can read about it in this issue of Australian Puppeteer Magazine, p10-11).   In 2018, UNIMA Australia nominated him to be a Member of Honour for UNIMA International, which was to be decided at the UNIMA Congress in Bali in 2020. The congress was unfortunately postponed until April 2021 due to Covid. Peter’s global interaction with puppetry, the establishment of training programs in Australia, (which have been the main driver of the development of puppetry in this nation) and his cultural exchange programs that have also supported innovation in the puppetry arts, were principal factors in his nomination for Member of Honour. Our hearts go out to Peter’s family, friends and the wider puppetry community as we grieve his loss. Here are some more photos of Peter below, courtesy of Spare Parts Puppet Theatre: