FOR Sharon Goodman, a relatively small purchase last year at Centro Gympie Shopping Centre, has paid extremely good dividends with the Southside resident now the proud owner of Gympie’s Town Hall in miniature.

The detailed small-scale version of the real thing took dollhouse architect James Dowdall six months to construct and is valued at around $7500.

The competition began with the selection, by public vote, to determine which of Gympie’s heritage buildings should be replicated for posterity.

The winning buildings were Neilson Stanton & Parkinson Solicitors and the Muster Office on Mary Street, plus Town Hall and Daze Gone By.

The buildings were unveiled at Centro shopping centre in November and placed on display.

A competition to win one of three “miniature mansions” saw more than 4000 entries received, Centro Gympie marketing manager, Matthew Owen said.

Sharon said her first reaction to being told she’d won was: “you are joking!”

“I was quite shocked,” she said.

“I only entered once and I really didn’t expect to win.”

Sharon said it was a very nice early Christmas present.

“I’ve got two grandsons and they are real boys, so I’m hoping the next one is a girl!”

“I nominated the Town Hall as my favourite…

"I thought it was lovely, it had so much more detail than the others.

“The builder did a really good job.”

The other two winners are Nicola Edwards, who won the Neilson, Stanton and Parkinson building, and Michelle Dunkley who won the Daze Gone By replica.

Miniature architect, James Dowdall, has a workshop in Gordon, ACT where he builds and assembles one-twelfth scale dollhouses and period houses.

When he visited Gympie last year, he told The Gympie Times what started off as a hobby, has now become an addiction.

The detail he puts into his dollhouses makes them highly sought after. See more at victoriandollhouses.com.au