Over the years there has been a series of limited editions created at Tambo Teddies; special bears of differing styles of which there were only 100 of each made.

The limited editions were named after local pioneering families, some of the region’s earliest settlers, whose descendants still reside in Tambo today. We have one of each of the Limited Edition Bears except for the Bredhauer Bear, which was kept by the previous owner, Mary Sutherland, who is a Bredhauer descendent and the maker of all these special creations.

Each bear came with information on the family; we have five of the cards remaining for the second, fourth, fifth, sixth and eight limited editions.

The second set of limited editions were the Hamilton Bears;  Terrick Alfred Hamilton, a descendant of the English aristocrat family of Lord Hamilton, bought Tambo Station in 1877, and held the property until it was sold in 1907. Many descendants of the original family settled in Tambo as Terrick and his wife Alice produced seven children. The name Hamilton was synonymous with the town and a number of the present generation have assisted with the making of Tambo Teddies.

The fourth bear was the Bredhauer Bear; the Bredhauer family came to Australia from Germany in the mid 1800s to the Gayndah area of Queensland.
The move to Tambo came in the 1860s when the family owned and operated sawmills on the Nive River milling timber for buildings in western Queensland.
George Bredhauer was the licensee of the Carrangarra Hotel in the late 1870s, while Roy and Walter Bredhauer owned the Butcher Shop in Tambo before purchasing “Baree” in 1949. Since then the Bredhauers have owned properties in the Tambo Shire such as Harold Park, Baykool, Barwhinnock, Acton and Bayswater, also Lambert, Caranna, Black Mountain and Gifford just outside the shire.
The Bredhauer families have always been involved in many aspects of the Tambo’s community and sporting events, as horse racing and polocrosse run in their veins.

The fifth of set limited editions made was the Martin family of bears; the Martin family first took up a portion of “Toolmaree” in 1888.
Stodhart Campbell Martin died aged in his early thirties, leaving a young son and widow. The young son eventually married and reared his own family at ‘Baneda’ and ‘Ivanhoe’. The family returned to total ownership of “Toolmaree” in 1981 and it and when these specialty bears were created the property was still owned and managed by the fourth generation, Andrew Martin and his family.
With a keen sense of humour, and artistic talent running in the family, during their time in Tambo, the Martins have joined in to perform in plays and emceed for many local events. Selling up ‘Toolmaree’, the Martins purchased another well-known property, ‘MacFarlane’, and Andrew was elected as Mayor of the region in 2016.

The Russell family were the inspiration for the sixth set of bears. The Russells first acquired land in the Blackall-Tambo district in the min 1880s; Emerald Hills was the site of the old Northampton Pub which was the overnight stop for Cobb and Co coaches travelling between Tambo and Blackall, and this Pub was operated by William Lindsay for many years.
The adjoining property, Mt Macquarie, run in conjunction with Emerald Hills, was settled by William Lindsay’s son, John Lindsay in 1912; and Duck Creek was acquired in 1937, followed by Ennis Downs in 1985. On the death of John Lindsay, his son Jack Keith, together with his family took over the ownership of Mt Macquarie.
Today, Jack’s son Lindsay and his wife Gillian and children live at Mt Maquarie. Lindsay and Gillian’s children are the fifth generation of the Russell family to live permanently on the original block selected by their Great Great Grandfather.

The final bear we have information on is the eight limited edition created; the Sargood Bear. Henry Sargood was on of nine children born to James Sargood, a wheelwright from Claremont, whose father was a convict transported to Australia on the “Sarah” in 1892. Henry brought bullock drays of supplies through Tambo to New South Wales, meeting and marrying Hannah Clohesy on his travels. They raised three sons, Leonard, John and Harold (Jim).
Leonard married Freda Brace and their raised five children, Cathy, Len, Bob, Mark and Robyn. He brought the Tambo Butchery with his father-in-law, Eddie Brace and after his tragic accidental death at 39, the family started the diary and supplied milk to the town for some twenty-five years.
Harold (Jim) married Edna Lewis and raised four children, Janet, Rodney, Marilyn and Peter. Jim started off as a shearing contractor, and in partnership with his brother, John, purchased some country. John was droving, first with his father, and then on his own, later worked in the family butchery which they purchased from Len’s widow Freda. John never married.
Four generations of Sargood sons and daughters have chosen to make the Tambo district their home. The family has excelled in sport, athletics, football, rodeo, polocrosse and horse racing.
Len Juniors wife, Helen, was one of the founding members of Tambo Teddies.

We would love to have the complete set of bears and their information to display in-store, and would welcome any assistance people can provide. While we have the set of bears, we don’t know who is who. Maybe you have a limited edition Tambo Teddy in the cupboard and can help us out by sending through an image and his details?

We would love to hear from you.