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BEARS OVER THERE™ |
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Wench Bear Now 1/2 price - $20.00 each
Bears Over There™ would like to introduce the last in the Convict Bears collection - our Wench Bear that we call Maryanne. Now I hear you say I look just like Charlotte, the female Convict Bear. Well you're right, we are twins, but Charlotte was sent to Australia as a Convict, and I came by myself so I could be near her. I wear a different ear tag to Charlotte, with the wording on my ear tag relevant the other women in those early years of the Colony. I am a must have for collectors who do not have a female Convict in their past. Maryanne sits 25cm tall and is 33cm overall. She is made from soft beige fur, with luxurious suedette to all pads. She has black hand sewn stitching for her nose and mouth, and is dressed in a frock and pinafore with matching scullery cap, as per the period from "wench" she came. BOXES ARE NOW BACK IN STOCK
Overseas customers please email, fax or post us the completed order form, this will ensure appropriate postage is paid The Wench The early women in the Colony were sometimes wives or daughters of soldiers or free settlers, sometimes they were women looking for their husbands or boyfriends who had been transported, some came by themselves, many had been convicts. In those early days, men in the Colony were starved of affection and female company, due to a critical shortage of women. Many women had suffered great hardships in their previous life. Some women were prostitutes in their native country, and some continued their 'old ways' here, finding it easier to make a living by pleasing the lonely men of the Colony for a few shillings. They were known as Wench's or Strumpets - and many feature in the book "Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls", which details many convict women in Van Diemans Land in those early days. Many of the wenches formed relationships with the lonely men, married and raised large families. Regardless of their background, they, like the convicts, formed the backbone of the new Colony. They braved the extremes of the elements, worked long and hard with little gain - they helped make Australia what it is today. To those people, and to all the settlers that came at that time, and those who arrived on our shores after them - we say thank you for such a wonderful way of life and freedom and democracy many countries can only dream of. |
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