Community & Business
19 November, 2025
Red Cross Trauma Teddies turn 35
Trauma Teddy, a Red Cross icon of comfort and kindness, will turn 35 on November 23, 2025, which is officially National Trauma Teddy Day.
Contributed by Gilgandra Red Cross
The Red Cross Trauma Teddy is instantly recognised throughout the country, but few people realise this cuddly character was born in Campbelltown.
Trauma Teddy was born in 1990 when Richard Hamilton, then superintendent of Campbelltown Ambulance Service, saw a teddy bear given to a child being treated by the ambulance service in Camden. He was impressed by the calming effect the bear had on the child so, through his mother Vera Hamilton, a Red Cross member, he asked Red Cross to assist in providing more bears for children treated by the ambulance.
Red Cross swung into action. Norma Elder organised a suitable pattern, a team of knitters, wool and filling and production began. The rest is history.
Across Australia thousands of Trauma Teddies are given out each year to a diverse range of services, and to children and community members feeling vulnerability and affected by emergencies such as bushfires and floods.
Qantas is a proud partner of the Australian Red Cross Trauma Teddy programme and at present a special Qantas label, together with the Australian Red Cross label, is attached to the teddies knitted by our local members.
Gilgandra members have been knitting and distributing teddies for many, many years and continue to do so under the guidance of coordinator Marj Josephs.
We are very pleased to continue with this important service to support the local community with these comforting bears which are distributed to a wide range of services including ambulance, police, schools, local hospital, and the State Emergency Service.
When comfort and safety are needed Trauma Teddy is there, giving:
- comfort to a child fleeing the summer bushfires;
- a warm welcome to refugee children;
- company for children in a speeding ambulance;
- friendly security in hospital;
- a happy face in a lonely time for an aged care resident; and
- a cuddly friend at any time.
Colouring-in Competition
To celebrate the Red Cross Trauma Teddy’s Birthday, Gilgandra Red Cross is holding a colouring-in competition for children aged five to 10-years-old.
Get your Teddy sheet inserted in this week’s newspaper to enter.
