Child’s play launches new career

Inventor Edward Zammit with some of his creations.

By Tate Papworth

Edward Zammit is a big kid at heart – the Hillside man has been inventing toys and games for the past 25 years.

Among his inventions is a Play-Doh game and the spiralight, which is on sale through Disney.

After a number of successful creations,
Mr Zammit is diversifying. Four years ago he came up with a concept for The Luna Moonies – magical characters who live on the moon.

Mr Zammit said the idea quickly evolved.

“There’s a lot of books on fairies and bush characters, so I wanted something a bit more creative,” he said.

“I wanted to initially come up with my own characters for a toy line.

“But once I’d done that, I wrote books, formed a band, wrote some music and it went from there.”

The Luna Moonies are now getting used to performing.

“We’ve spoken to a lot of shopping centres and we’ve also performed at Luna Park a number of times,” Mr Zammit said.

“We actually got to perform at their [Luna Park’s] 103rd birthday which was a great experience. We’ve also done concerts and Scienceworks and the Good Friday Appeal.”

While he’s happy with the growing popularity of the Moonies, Mr Zammit is hoping to expand the renown of his creations.

“We’ve just released the book so we’re hoping that goes well and we’re also hoping to develop a TV pilot,” he said.

With a quarter of a century of experience, Mr Zammit has one piece of advice for any budding inventors.

“You have to form relationships with the companies, but you can’t just have one idea,” he said. “I’ve invented and submitted hundreds of ideas over the years. You have to be flexible, but you also need to keep an eye on the market and pay attention to what’s in fashion at the
time.”

Mr Zammitt will be signing copies of the Luna Moonies CDs and books at Dymocks Watergardens this Saturday from noon-2pm.