Making his TV debut on the ABC in 1959, the pencil-nosed marionette known as ‘Mr Squiggle, the Man from the Moon’ proved an enduring favourite with young audiences, with his program running in various formats until 1999. This homemade knitted doll – purchased on eBay by an eagle-eyed curator – would have been made closer to the end of the show’s 40-year run on ABC TV. Its creation is testament to the character's popularity with kids of all ages.

The mercurial Mr Squiggle and his friends Blackboard, Bill the Steam Shovel and Gus the Snail were the creations of cartoonist and puppeteer Norman Hetherington. The TV show was written by Norman's wife, Margaret.

Mr Squiggle’s party trick was to make sense of ‘squiggles’ sent in by viewers; using his pencil nose, Mr Squiggle would add in more lines to create a new picture. While Mr Squiggle worked his magic, the irascible Blackboard held the paper and grumpily interrupted the chit-chat between artist and co-host with complaints such as ‘Hurry up!’ and ‘Boring!’. The role of co-host was performed by five different actresses over the run of the series. One of them, Miss Pat – Patricia Lovell – went on to become a successful producer whose films included Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975) and Gallipoli (Peter Weir, 1981).