At last count, 400 bears moved in to Grafton

WATCHING her older brothers burn her beloved childhood teddy bear on a bonfire when she was nine years old was a turning point for Maureen Shearer.

Grafton collector Maureen Shearer has been collecting teddy bears for over 15 years. She has 400 (or more) and husband John has his own collection of miniature elephants. Photo Debrah Novak / The Daily Examiner. Picture: Debrah Novak

WATCHING her older brothers burn her beloved childhood teddy bear on a bonfire when she was nine years old was a turning point for Maureen Shearer, even if she didn't know it then.

Now a teddy bear collector with more than she can count, Maureen says it all started in 1997 when she fell in love with a Christmas teddy bear she came across by chance. "I was told, you're too old - teddy bears are for kids," said Maureen with a laugh.

"But I got it anyway and then it was another, and another, and another.

"My husband John has been the worst culprit. He kept buying me more."

She said many of the bears in her collection had been souvenirs of places they had travelled together.

"Everywhere we stopped we bought another bear."

She said a trip to Tasmania was a real test of their love, when she spotted a teddy dressed in burgundy in a shop window.

"The shop was closed and we were leaving Launceston the next morning," said Maureen.

"When John went back to buy the bear for me, the shop wasn't open and he had to wait around a couple of hours - but he got the bear," she said.

With more than 400 teddy bears scattered throughout her home, Maureen says she couldn't be bothered counting them anymore.

Since the couple relocated to South Grafton a few years ago, Maureen says she has stopped collecting, but is still tempted when she sees something special.

BEAR ESSENTIALS

• The teddy bear was apparently developed simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the US and Richard Steiff in Germany, and appeared in 1902/03;
• Teddy bears soon became an iconic children's toy and have been celebrated in story, song and film;
• The name teddy was derived from the nickname of President Theodore Roosevelt Jr
• Joy Toys in Melbourne (1923) and Fideston in Bunbury, WA, were the first significant producers of teddies in Australia.
• Source: teddyand bears.com

Originally published as At last count, 400 bears moved in to Grafton