A team of researchers in the Research School of Management, College of Business and Economic at the Australian National University led by Dr. Toni Eagar are looking at the odd but well recognised act of Tourist Marginalia which basically covers the co-creation and co-destruction of value in the stuff that tourists leave behind.
Of interest to the South East is that they want to explore the practices of tourists leaving stuff behind, of what they refer to as tourism marginalia, where tourists like to mark their presence in certain places such as nailing thongs to trees, leaving bras along fence lines, placing locks on bridges and then throwing away the keys and at a local level leaving trash or treasure at Pooh Bear’s Corner in the Clyde Mountain.
Dr. Eagar and her team are looking for travellers who have experience with tourist marginalia, either seeing it or creating it, and are prepared to undertake an interview that will be conducted in person with the discussion to be recorded and stored for research purposes. In general it is hoped the interviews should take no more than 30 minutes. As a thank you for your time they are offering a $30 voucher.
So do you have a story of leaving something at Pooh Bear corner or even stopping by to see what is left there.
If you would like to participate or have any questions contact 02 6125 8579 or email: Toni.Eagar@anu.edu.au Pooh Bear's Corner was the brainchild of Barbara Carter and her husband around 1972. In 2017 Ms Carter told ABC Radio Canberra's Dan Bourchier. "About 45 years ago, when our eldest children were three and four, our trips down the Clyde Mountain were pretty boring ... [then] we discovered this hole in the rocks," "We loved reading Pooh Bear stories, so when we came to the large hole in the rocks on the turn on the mountain we just knew that Pooh Bear lived there." Ms Carter began by placing stuffed teddy bears outside the hole in the rocks.
Above: Barbara Carter and her husband came up with the idea to create Pooh Bear's Corner 45 years ago. Barbara took this photo of her American friend at the site some time ago. (Supplied to ABC by Barbara Carter )
