Skip to main content

The Lego Man - He's got all that!

Who would have thought that owning one of the worlds largest, private Lego collections could take you so far. Tom Lucieer of Angaston, South Australia, not only has met the Queen (of England) but is a frequent guest of her majesty and family when they are in Australia. He's also met Prince Charles, Lady Diana and Camila Parker-Bowles. Not only that, he grew up with TV Vet, Dr Harry, and is a friend of the Irwin family (yes, that's Steve Irwin's family).

Tom will happily tell you all this as part of the guided tour of his collection, which, aside from Lego, includes much railway memorabilia and colourful anecdotes about days gone by, his achievements and more. Frequently he will finish each particular monologue with the phrase, "Have you got that?", just to check that he hasn't confused you because, as he points out, his display and the stories behind it are a lot to take in at once.

In the photo you can see Tom holding a special award, which I think is for being the toy retailer of the year for 2004 (I'm not entirely sure, too much to take in). He explains he owns the Toyworld store in Nuriootpa - adding it's a great place to buy Lego. Obviously he is very proud of this award as it was by his prompting that I took this particular photo.

Tom's Lego collection is vast going right back to the days when Lego sold wooden toys (before they invented the plastic bricks). If you have followed my site for a number of years you will know that I'm something of a collector of Lego. I still have the very first sets I was bought from as early as 1974. Based on what Tom told us about the value of some sets, from periods later than this, I reckon I could be sitting on a collectors gold mine.

For example, Tom has a complete set of 'Fabuland' characters. These came out in the early to mid nineteen eighties and are no longer available. Tom's set is valued at around $4000 dollars. I've got a few Fabuland sets, still in very good condition.

One of the first sets I was ever bought was Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's 'Spirit of Saint Lewis' aeroplane which is in Tom's collection. I think it was released in 1974 but I'm not quite sure.

Aside from early Lego sets, Tom has all the latest sets too. He gets them even before they are released in the stores including all the latest Star Wars, Harry Potter and Batman sets. There is also has a good collection of working Lego trains, based on actual trains, which he demonstrates for you.

If you're a Lego collector of any level, Tom's display will be of great interest. Be sure to look him up. His details can be easily tracked down through local tourist guides or from one of the regions visitor information centres. It's probably a good idea to call him first, just to let him know you're coming. Set aside about an hour for the complete tour.

Comments

  1. This tour I would recommend to anyone, it's the best $2 I have ever spent in my life and Tom makes it what it is, probably more entertaining for adults

    ReplyDelete
  2. We were amazed at Tom's stories also, not only a rail worker he was "commisioner", and we were amazed to learn that the mayor came to open his display in one of "those German blimps" apparently Tom has a stretch limousine that is used to pick people up from Adelaide airpot too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tom certainly does have a lot of interesting stories. The only trouble is remembering them all. You almost need two trips.. though I reckon he has enough stories not to repeat himself too much.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Did you also know that Tom has been visited by Di twice and Elvis too? Regardless of his great tales, the lego collection is phenomenal. I saw all these sets i could only dream about when I was younger (and now!). Well worth the visit, the only downer is not really being allowed to explore all the shelves, as he kept us moving and focussed on what he wanted us to see.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A few people I've spoken to suggest that maybe Tom's stories aren't entirely true. I think they all probably have some element of truth and maybe Tom embellishes more and more as time goes on. One thing is for sure, his tour of his Lego collection is made all the more interesting for his stories.

    ReplyDelete
  6. we visited Tom many years ago- he told us he drove the Queen ,friends and his pet cat down to the local for a nice pub meal. The cat wore a seatbelt and sat in the seat next to him at the front of the bus. Our kids were quite impressed and openmouthed at all his wonderful tales.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I used to take my grandson there years ago the lego man had a small gold coloured carriage which had been given to him by the queen and was picked up by an armed guard every night and taken to the bank vault. I remembered one year he might have had had beans for lunch as our tour was accompanied by
    passing wind every few minutes. hilarious. does any one know if he is still there and how to get in touch. I know he used to get angry if you rang or knocked on the door when he was busy it was always a bit hit and miss if you could have a look or not

    ReplyDelete
  8. I do wonder if he is still there i went in 2006 on a visit with my niece and family it certainly was a colourful visit after a lecture on security and not touching exhibits which were wired to police station before we went in we all had to stand in the dark in the garage and be quiet before he switched the alarms off i whispered sweeney todd to my niece just before the lights cane on.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated by an actual human (me, TET) and may not publish right away. I do read all comments and only reject those not directly related to the post or are spam/scams (I'm looking at you Illuminati recruiters... I mean scammers. Stop commenting on my Illuminati post!).

Buy Gifts and Apparel featuring art by TET.

Popular posts from this blog

Movie Review: Superman (2025) *No Spoilers*

T he one thing I like about James Gunn as a comic book movie director is that he leans into the comic book nature of the world and the characters.  He's not trying to do a realistic take on any of the characters. He's simply bringing the comics to life. It's still his take on the characters, but he doesn't shy away from their comic book origins. James Gunn's  Superman  is very much a comic book movie in every sense. Nothing is off the table because it's too 'comic-booky' and might look silly in a live action film.  To me that's incredibly liberating. It lets James actually tell a proper Superman story that isn't hamstrung by reality, or tip toeing into the fantastical just enough to allow Superman to exist in the real world. Superman begins in the middle of a battle. Metropolis is under attack by a super powered being known as 'Hammer of Boravia', however everything is not as it seems, and Superman (David Corenswet) must work with other s...

James Gunn's Social Media Monkeys Joke Was a Highlight of His Superman Movie For Me

B efore James Gunn's Superman Movie was released there was a whole rumor going around that the movie would feature monkeys on computers trolling Superman's social media, sparking much outrage. #supersh*t. I didn't know this was even a thing until just prior to writing this article. I did a search to see if anyone had posted a clip of the monkeys scene from the movie and got pages of discourse featuring videos and articles prior to the film. Most of it from Gunn detractors (let's say) seeing it as some kind of childish swipe at them... well not them specifically but, you know, those other people who have every right to hate on anything sight unseen. Anyway, I'm not going to give even one such example a link or air because it's kind of sad watching someone devote so much commentary to a throw away gag that is absolutely a nod to James Gunn's Superman trolls.  The whole reason this post exists, is to say I loved the joke, because fourteen years ago, and I...

I'm Confused About Why People Prefer to Say Discombobulated?

D iscombobulated. Is a word that I think someone rediscovered about three or four years ago (maybe more because the pandemic years have thrown out my sense of time) and now I hear it a lot. It's not a new word by any means, but when I started hearing multiple celebrities using it in everyday sentences, I actively had to look up what it meant. Define it with as many synonyms as you like but essentially it's just another word meaning 'confused'. Seinfeld Quotes: Quotes.net The words are pretty much interchangeable. He was discombobulated by too many choices. He was confused by too many choices.  My confusion is the length of the word. It's unnecessarily long with too many syllables. There are many other words that mean confused, and therefore also mean discombobulated. Most of them are shorter and easier to say. So why not just say 'confused'? Perhaps discombobulated sounds more intelligent, maybe?  Hawaii Five-0 Quotes: Quotes.net I've noticed it gets us...

Movie Review: A Complete Unknown (2024) *No Spoilers*

Y ou would think the Bob Dylan story would be 'wind-swept and interesting,' to quote Billy Connelly, however, despite  A Complete Unknown  being quite an engaging film, it feels like it missed the years that really shaped him as a song writer/performer. The film starts in 1961, with a then unknown, 19-year-old Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) arriving in New York City with his guitar.  From there he forges relationships with musical icons on his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking performance that reverberates around the world. The problem being, according to this film, Dylan arrived in New York, for the most part, fully formed as a folk singer/song writer. In virtually no time he makes a very important connection that puts him on the trajectory of doing the work and becoming a name, before making his world changing performance. While there is some drama behind the scenes with his various relationships, none of it is particularly unique to any number of up and com...

I'm Joining the Illuminati Brotherhood By Personal Invitation of Hiltom Rothschild... Wait, What?

How special am I to have finally come of age (53 years young) and am now eligible to participate in building the world alongside other members of the Illuminati Brotherhood... Yes I've received the call by way of an email, which I'm sure is real because I had to translate it from the Dutch language and it was personally written by Hiltom Rothschild, one of the non-existent members of the Rothschild family (or perhaps deep undercover because Google has never heard of them?). A Transcript of the email below: To: etourist From: Illuminati Brotherhood  Subject: Illuminati Broederschap (Illuminati Brotherhood) I am Hiltom Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild family, one of the 13 families of the Illuminati brotherhood. I'm here to let you know that you've come of age and are eligible to participate in building the 🌎 world. It is a calling and a privilege to honor him with pride and gratitude as not everyone will ever be chosen by the LIGHT, many are called but few are ch...

Australian Federal Election 2025 - World's Most Boring Government Re-elected by Landside - We're Even More Fine!

Anthony Albanese Victory by ChatGPT and TET. W hen I started writing about the 2025 Federal election the polls were suggesting the world's most boring government was crusing to a defeat . As it turns out, boring is good, and Australia wants more of it, handing the current government a landslide win with a majority vote. Anthony Albanese became the first PM since John Howard to win a consecutive term, and the first Labor PM since Bob Hawke to do so. Some of that comes down to the leadership revolving door both major parties had through the mid 2000s. Although Anthony is my preferred PM over Dutton the irony is Dutton sounds more like a leader with a fairly commanding voice and an ability to speak well, without sounding like he's waffling and dodging questions, even if he is. Anthony, on the other hand, does have the ability (and speech writer) to say a lot of inspiring things but it gets lost in the delivery. He doesn't seem to know when to emphasise a point for effect. In h...

Second Sunday Skateboard Session Episode 9, and 10 - Shuv-it Revelation and Did I Improve?

T he final two episodes of my ten part YouTube series documenting my process of learning the first seven basic skateboard tricks from Braille Skateboarding's, Skateboarding Made Simple. These are the links to  Episode One ,  Episode Two ,  Three to Five , and Six to Eight , should you feel the need to see where I started or you want a bit more background on my personal skateboarding journey that began in 1988. I won't ramble on in this final introduction to my last two sessions, other that to say, episode ten is the highlight in terms of getting a direct comparison from episode 1 with side by side footage. Episode 9 - Frontside Pop Shuv-it Revelation The only episode not filmed on the second Sunday, thankfully due to the weather raining Sunday out and not my lack of willingness to continue. Monday was also very rainy but I managed to fit my session in during a small window of no rain late in the day. It was a little bit of a difficult session in that I could only uti...