The Story of Our Cuddliest Collectables.

Beautifully detailed, adorable, and each with a unique story, the family of uniformed Great War Bears, originally released for the Anzac Centenary continue to capture the hearts of Australians of all ages.  

The Great War Bears have been lovingly crafted with incredibly detailed and distinct uniforms worn by a wide range of Australians during World War I. The choice of a teddy bear to wear these uniforms and tell these stories was a purposeful one, calling to the connection of teddy bears with the Great War. The English style teddy bears would have been seen by Australian servicemen while overseas and remained a symbol of hope for many. 

The intricate detail of these bears doesn’t stop at the uniform either, with painstaking research and detail put into the selection of names to reflect both the era and avoiding using any diggers names who served during this time. The historical perfectionism can also be seen in the meticulous research put into securing actual vacant A.I.F. service numbers for the bears’ identity tags. These service numbers were allocated during the Great War but were not used for a wide variety of reasons.  

Each Great War Bear comes with a numbered certificate of authenticity and a bear tag

This collection includes bears taking up a range of important roles across the services. The collection began in 2014 with Private Murray, the Diggers’ Bear, to mark the beginning of the Anzac Centenary. Successive Great War Bears have been met with great affection, especially amongst descendants of Anzacs who served in the particular battalions or specialisations represented by each bear. 

The Great War Bears are perfectly sized to wear our miniature medals

From Corporal David Cohen to Captain John Murray, every Great War Bear tells the remarkable story of those who served and is a beautiful way to share the story and commemorate for every age.

Meet every bear in  the collection and experience the unique stories of all our Great War Bears.