Entertainment edges out education role of Adelaide Zoo, trying to raise funds, in the first half of 20th Century
A miniature train giving rides, with elephant rides in the background, added to Adelaide Zoo's fairground feel in the 1930s.
Image courtesy State Library of South Australia
Adelaide Zoo officials were alert to its scientific educational role from the start, especially when it was central to the case for an annual grant from the South Australian government. But, especially when those grants become leaner, the zoo had to resort to show business.
In 1939, it added a circus to its attractions, with chimpanzees trained to hold tea parties. This was stopped in 1942 after being criticised by some visitors as possibly cruel. The circus was replaced by a bicycle-riding act by Mias the orangoutang.
From the zoo’s opening in 1883, the animal exhibits arranged classified in prevailing scientific classifications. Exhibit labels, with global maps, were added.
But the visitor appeal of more exotic animals swayed the drive to add to animal stocks well into the 20th Century.
Entertainment value was behind the 1935 decision to introduce Sunday public feeding times. The eating habits of the carnivora were featured “for the amusement of the
A monkey yard, donated by director Alfred Minchin, with 50 rhesus monkeys and “gymnastic appliances” provided “amusement value”. The agile acrobatics of gibbons, introduced to the zoo in 1943, became one of the most popular attractions.
After the circus experiment 1939-42 was abandoned, it was replaced by a bicycle-riding act by Mias the orangutang. The zoo director said there was no suggestion of cruelty and Mias appeared to enjoy his performance
From the late 1930s, many enclosures were fitted with ornamental fixtures (such as rock pools) to improve their appearance and the zoo society developed a view “that the manner of exhibition is as important as the exhibit itself”.
Adelaide’s two daily newspapers fastened upon the zoo’s entertainment potential and helped fashion an evolving definition of the zoo as an amusement park. Many front pages from the 1930s featured “important additions” to stock, including Michael and Mary Chimp in 1935.
