The Sydney Doll Hospital, Suzie and me Dolls awaiting collection at Sydney's Original Doll Hospital. Photo: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images Source: Getty Images My beloved Suzie doll, in her glory days! WHEN I was six, I sent my favourite toy off to the Sydney Doll Hospital. Neither of us would ever be the same again. You see, as one of the estimated 13 per cent of Caucasian people who have curly hair, I grew up with a bit of a complex. The unpopular girls on the television all had curly hair, the villains in movies had curly hair, even the annoying characters in the books I grew up reading had curly hair. As a young girl, I picked up on all these stereotypes. But the mane I was born with was bearable, thanks to a beautiful doll bought for me by my parents when I was quite young. Her name was Suzie and she had curly brown locks, just like me - and I loved her. So, years later when part of her scalp was torn away after getting caught in my bicycle wheel, there was no way I was trading her in for a new one - instead, we sent her off to the Doll Hospital. Because I lived in the country, I had to wait an agonizing and lonely three weeks for her return. So you can imagine my excitement when the day finally came, and my Suzie doll was returned to me! My excitement, that is, until I took her out of the box to find she had straight hair. I was alone again in the world. Back then, my doll couldn't be fitted out with a new curly wig so I could never look at her in the same way again. But my love-hate affair with my own hair continued. But thankfully, things have progressed over in Doll HQ. The Sydney Doll Hospital is celebrating 100 years of faithful operation this year, and has saved the lives of over two and a half million dolls, teddys, rocking horses and wheeled toys from all over Australia and New Zealand. Established in 1913 by Harold Chapman Snr, the hospital has remained in the family all this time, and is currently run by Geoff Chapman, Harold Chapman Snr's grandson. I'm sure you'll all be relieved to know that curly haired wigs are now readily available. There is also now a Doll Shop, which boasts floor to ceiling antique and new dolls, bears, toys, prams, ragdolls and dolls houses, and a dressmaker who specialises in period gowns and matching bonnets and pants. And consider this - in a world that is becoming increasingly disposable, isn't it lovely to think that your treasured toys can be fixed up and passed on for generations to come? I - and my Suzie doll, who is still alive and well - sure think so. The centenary in pictures: Check out the evolution of the Doll Hospital here