A Salute to all Service

The final limited edition collector bear in the Australia in the Great War commemorative series, to be released for the 100th Anniversary of Armistice, will reflect all who served.

Head of the Australia in the Great War design team, Lindsey Davie, says selecting a character for the final bear was a big challenge for the history and design teams, who usually produce the bears to reflect different aspects of service, or specific campaigns or theatres of war.

“We want this beautiful bear to reflect all who served and, in a sense, to celebrate that wonderful moment when the fighting ended,” she said. “He is our Armistice bear.”

Unlike other uniformed bears in the series, Armistice Bear has not been named and he will not wear a divisional patch or webbing to denote his service or role. Instead he will simply wear the standard 1912 pattern uniform and 1903 pattern slouch hat. He will also have detailed reproduction metal Rising Sun 3rd pattern hat and collar badges as designed in 1904. This was the base uniform worn by all diggers in the Great War. He will also wear the complete replica WW1 trio of medals; a fabric poppy to reflect the tradition of remembrance, and a special embroidered Australia in the Great War Armistice arm band.

Lindsey said the team decided to include the medal trio, which is usually an addition to the bears’ uniforms, as the three medals reflect the full war.

“The 1914-1915 star was awarded only to those who served between 5 August 1914 and 31 December 1915, and thus was awarded to all Gallipoli veterans, which is an important part of the Australian war narrative.”

“The 1914-18 War Medal and 1914-19 Victory Medal complete the story and share our passage from Gallipoli into the other theatres in Europe and in the Middle East.”

For the first time in the Australia in the Great War collection, the Armistice Bear will also be postured in a salute.  Again this is designed to pay respect to the service of all.

Ms Davie says she hopes families, schools and collectors will adopt Armistice Bear and will give him a name that remembers family or community.

Armistice bear will be available in early October 2018 but you can pre-order the bear now.