Identity Parade

It's hard to believe that five years have passed since I shared a couple of posts about the amazing Kwalic Kingdom invented by Jack and his sister Anne when they were kids in the early 70s. You can refresh your memory about the story here and here. I thought it was high time to gather together the remaining Kwala population and properly identify them. This morning I sat Jack down with the hand-drawn Kwalic Family Tree (details below) and asked if he recognised the various Kwala from his childhood games. He succeeded in naming 22 of them, which is a great effort. I'll need to consult the extensive Kwalic archive of drawings to see if I can pick out any of the remaining fifteen members of the clan.

Just to be perfectly clear, although Kwalas physically resemble Koalas, those cute eucalyptus munching Australian marsupials, they are not the same thing. Kwalas are members of the 'Inanimal' kingdom, with their own set of laws, customs and traditions. Let me introduce you to some of them:

Allogee, Tabatha and their daughter Nutsie are perhaps the most important and best loved members of the Kwalic Kingdom. Allogee's misdeeds and adventures are extensively chronicled in the archive.

Blinky Bill belonged to Jack and Anne's big brother Ken. His fur has just about been hugged right off and he's lost an eye, but his little knitted pants keep him cosy.

Poor Bluey has even less fur. He belonged to their eldest brother Jim. You'll be pleased to know that he has a special knitted suit that is soaking in warm soapy water at the moment and will be returned to Bluey very soon, all clean and fluffy.

When I was little, I adored Mother and Baby toys, so this very early pair of white Kwala made by Anne are among my favourites. Nyalika carries her baby daughter Hindred in a little woollen pouch with a harness made from a piece of hat elastic.

Otek Hoag is a very sweet little chap sitting on a rustic wooden chair. According to the Family Tree, he was the product of a union between a koala and a rat. Shocking!

Jack tells me that this furry trio are known as 'The Three Fools' because of their foolish expressions. Their actual names are Cuddly, Koogie and Theophilus and they were gifts from the kids' Mum when she returned home after a trip to Australia.

Hothair is a small woolly specimen and this is where the inter-breeding among species gets rather complicated. According to the Genealogy, a sheep and a rat mated and their offspring were called Shrats. This is recorded in the archive as the 'Great Shrat Incident'. A Shrat then mated with a Kwala, and dear little Hothair is the result.

The tiniest Kwala in the group is Ilya Ilyitch Malenkov. She was adopted, along with little button-eyed Max (below).

Aren't they just about the cutest things you've ever seen! I plan to make the Kwala clan a proper display case at some point, so that they can see the light of day and enjoy the admiration of their human companions.