Lead soldier and cartwheels from the wreck of the Fiji

These toys were recovered from the wreck of the Fiji. Metal toys became very popular by the mid-nineteenth century, and German toy-makers also produced toy soldiers, cannons, boats and trains. Nuremberg was the centre of the metal toy industry in Germany.
Toys soldiers like this one were called ‘flats’. He may originally have had a base attached to him to enable him to stand up. Toys soldiers were very popular in Australia during the late C19th.
These lead wheels may have come from a toy set that included vehicles, such as carts or trains, or may have come from a military set, that contained toy cannons.