Grey nomads traversing the highways and byways of Australia have learned to expect the unexpected as they stumble across everything from thong trees and to bra trees to scrap metal sculptures and ‘fully clothed’ termite mounds.
And, along the way, sometimes the origins of these bizarre but memorable landmarks get lost. And is it is with the teddy bear army which has appeared along the Kings Highway between Queanbeyan and Bungendore near Canberra.
The ABC reports that dozens of the stuffed toys sit still and silent, perched on limbs or hanging from branches watching the grey nomads and other traffic roll past. While some still look fresh and new, others, it says, are faded and tattered from years of wind, dust, rain, hail and snow.
Most Bungendore residents say the numbers fluctuate, but the bears have come and gone for close to three decades.
So, how did it all start? Apparently the theories encompass everything from a jealous jilted lover sending a message to her former partner to coded nudist camp markers. More plausible though are claims that it started with environmentalists placing the bears in the trees to symbolise the threat to the koala habitat posed by road widening plans to a memorial to young road accident victims.
A local historian has discovered that the death of a 17-year-old on July 21, 1987, might well have been the spark.
However, the ABC reports that whatever the cause behind the initial spread of the bears, the stuffed animals are still continuing to appear in trees to this day. These days, it says, the bears are self-perpetuating, multiplying simply because others are already there.
And so another legend of the road continues to grow.
+ Have you seen the Kings Highway teddy bears? What’s the ‘strangest’ roadside collection you have come across on your travels? Comment below.
