Do you have a favourite toy that you treasured into adulthood?

For a lot of people it was a teddy bear, for others a toy car, Lego, or even a Buck Rogers disintegrator.

Sydney Living Museums, a collection of 12 museums, has put together an exhibition called Toys Through Time reflecting centuries of play in Australia.

The exhibition explores the heyday of Sydney toy manufacturing, which peaked in the post-war period when Australia's baby boom collided with a shortage of toys.

Bob White with a collection of 1960s Barbies. ( 702 ABC Sydney: John Donegan )

Ferris, a car radio manufacturer, turned to making toy trains in the 1950s to meet market need.

Moldex in Victoria produced toy guns, while Cyclops was famous for tricycles and pedal cars produced in Leichhardt.

The exhibition at the Museum of Sydney aims to reveal the stories of Sydney's toy manufacturers and famous toy sellers while rekindling memories for older generations.

The exhibition offers more than 200 original toys and treasures from colonial times through to the 1970s.

Bob White from the museum says most people's favourite toys are the ones we didn't get as children.

"My favourites growing up were probably all the toys I didn't get," she told Robbie Buck on 702 ABC Sydney.

Barry Divola's extensive collection of toys from Kellogg's cereal boxes circa 1970 was driven by a desire to find the favourite piece he wasn't able to attain when he was a child.

Mr Divola now has the missing piece, and the entire collection, which forms an integral part of the exhibition as it reflects a period when even small plastic disposable give-away toys were manufactured in Australia.

"We've put a time frame around our exhibition...from early colonial days through to the 1970s."

Rare colonial toys on display

Sydney Living Museums is custodian of some of Sydney's historic homes including Elizabeth Farm, but Ms White has found there are not many colonial toys left from those places.

"We care for 12 historic sites, and it's very important for us to share the stories of those sites," Ms White said.

"We looked at the childhoods that were lived in the various homes we look after and we're sharing those stories as well."

The exhibition showcases one of the oldest dolls in Australia dating back to 1805 and a pull-along wooden deer that was made in India and belonged to one of the Macarthur children at Elizabeth Farm in the early 1800s.

The first stuffed Paddington Bears were created in 1972 and, while not Australian, Paddington is a crowd favourite.

"Everyone who sees him has a very emotive response; he just looks like he needs a hug, or that he wants to hug you," Ms White said.

The exhibition features Barbies from the 1950s and pristine boxed sets of Lego from the 1960s which predate the ubiquitous mini-figures so popular today.

The exhibition runs at the Museum of Sydney until August 9, 2015.