Tambo Teddies iconic Stockmen bears dressed in their original Oz gear have been around as nearly as long as Tambo Teddies itself.
Not long after the bears had hit the market it was suggested that the teddy bears needed dressing, and so Mr & Mrs Stockman and their mate Little Aussie Ringer were born. The brainchild of talented local, Susie Barr, the outfits were all designed and sewn independently of Tambo Teddies in the early days. Susie approached the Teddies team and it was decided the outfits would be a separate entity and Susie’s business, ‘Teddies Original Oz Gear’ was born.
Susie designed and drafted the patterns for the Tambo Teddy swags, bear-as-a bone coats, teddy bear moleskins, shirts and skirts. Susie’s business, ‘Teddies Original Oz Gear’ , operated for several years and she employed a couple of sewers to help out. When Susie left the district the patterns were taken over by Tambo Teddies so the clothes could continue to be made.
The teddies team sourced the whips and ‘akubra’ hats to complete the Outback teddy bear look. The whips are handcrafted by a great friend of Teddies, Bob Hay, who lives at Bribie Island. Bob always has a batch of his beautiful whips ready to post as soon as we order. The hats are made in Victoria by a company called Aussie Bush Leather and are cutely called ‘Bush Baby’ hats.
In the early days the Bear-As-A Bone coats were sewn from genuine oilskin material, but this fabric eventually proved hard to source, is hard on sewing machines and is a bit of a dust collector. Similarly, Susie and her team made the pants and skirts from real cream moleskin. Moleskin is a heavy cotton fabric, woven and then sheared to create a short, soft pile on one side. These days the coats are made from a much lighter dark brown drill fabric and the moleskin has been replaced by a stone coloured cotton drill material.
As we have grown the business the demand for our dressed bears continues to grow. Mr & Mrs Stockman along with Little Aussie are Outback icons and the perfect gift to represent Australia. The Queensland Government agree, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has stated, ‘there is nothing more Queensland than a Tambo Teddy!’. The Government purchased a Mr Stockman, Baneda Bob, to give the royals when they visited in 2014.
There really isn’t a better representative of the Outback than a Tambo Teddy dressed in his original Oz gear.