The History of the Circus in New Zealand

Elephants,  International Act, Credit, Andrew Levy

    

    The modern circus began in England in the mid-eighteenth century. At first, open air horsemanship was presented in the fields on the outskirts of south London.

    Australian circuses were among the first to tour New Zealand. In the mid-nineteenth century, when the gold rushes began, they often visited the mining areas where there was new-found wealth.  Gold dust, or a nugget, was enough to allow the “diggers” to enter a circus performance.  In those days a circus troupe travelled with animals and apparatus in covered, horse-drawn wagons.  It was a hard life, but these people had also travelled in Australia, appearing in cities, towns and out in the bush.

Fitzgerald Brother Circus and Menagerie, Dunedin, c.1894.
Credit: Te PaPa Tongarewa Image number TEPGO2O89 dd caption

    If a particular circus venue had been well attended, they often gave a last night “benefit” performance, to help with a worthwhile community cause.

    In the late decades of the nineteenth century, many acts were drawn from the music hall.  Some of these were trapeze artists, jugglers and tight wire walkers.

Photo Trapeze artists. Courtesy Wikapidia 

    Children also performed in the circus.  In 1893 Fillis’ Circus had Master Taylor, an eight-year-old boy who walked the tight wire and in 1918 Bartons Circus had Little Mona, performing as a trapeze artist.

Little Mona is advertized on the left of the poster below.

    

     At the same time as Master Taylor was performing, Fillis Circus also had four Nubian lions that had been captured in an African forest as cubs. Their diet had become butchers’ beef and as a treat mutton or bullock’s blood. They also had a four-year-old tigress that was born in captivity and was bought by Mr Fillis when he visited India. She was easy to train and was the only tigress anywhere that appeared in the open ring. This caused considerable excitement in its audiences.

     

     By the early twentieth century, the pictures were a newly-popular entertainment, as were vaudeville and variety shows.  However, this did not affect the viability of the circus.

     In 1905 Wirths Wild West Circus saw Chifalo, the “Demon”, performing an incredible feat of skill.  He would ride a cycle from the high tent top and sped down an almost perpendicular incline on to a short plank.  He then shot into the air and across 42 feet of open space before landing on a two-foot wide plank.  This was billed as one of the best acts that had ever toured the “Colonies”.

    
    At the 1906 Christchurch International Exhibition, Barton’s circus was joined by McNeill and Jones, a show that began in the Taranaki. They had a horse called “Maori Jack”, an outstanding buck-jumper that had not been successfully ridden.  Mr Barton believed his friend “Queensland Harry” of aboriginal descent could ride the horse and placed a side bet of £200, winner take all.  McNeill and Jones accepted the challenge enthusiastically.  When Barton took Harry to the circus ring he found “Maori Jack” standing with an English hunting saddle onboard.  A cattle dog was also waiting to bite the horse’s heels to keep him bucking.  Harry rode the horse until he would buck no more and he became famous throughout the country as an outstanding buckjumping rider.

Queensland Harry sitting on a grey horse.

               

Wirth's Circus train. Courtesy Palmerston North City Library

                                 
    With rail becoming more accessible, circuses were able to travel further more quickly and were not limited to moving as little as 20 miles per night.  By 1925 three trains transported Wirths Circus.  When circus trains passed through towns, families rushed to rail crossings or platforms where they saw cattle trucks full of domesticated, wild and exotic animals as they sped past; some peering out, while the Indian/African elephant trunks swung over the top of crates.  At the station sidings, the elephants hauled huge animal cages from the railway to the circus ground.  Sometimes a dozen animals helped position cages and some helped to erect the tall tent tops

A photo of a Circus Tent Palmerston North, New Zealand 2015

    In small towns most of the population would turn out to see the circus. They could fill as many as 2,500 seats for an evening performances.

          
    By 1939 most staff and performers had volunteered to contribute to the Second World War effort, which caused most shows to close.  However, to boost the morale of the people the authorities allowed Wirths Circus to operate on a smaller scale.

Two circus lions. Evening Post newspaper.
Ref : EP 1955/2083-F. Alexander Turnbull Library,
Wellington New Zealand.

                  

     With the introduction of television in the 1960s, circuses declined to an extent but some innovative circus entrepreneurs were able to keep viable enterprises touring.

     

                       Japanese circus

    Over the decades, Russian, Chinese and Japanese circuses toured New Zealand. There were large successful New Zealand ensembles like the Ridgeway and Whirling Brother circuses as well as the small Rowan Brothers Circus, a humble entertainment troupe that toured New Zealand with carnival rides.  They appeared at agricultural and show days. When some of the performers became older they managed carnival activities.  George Carian no longer rode his “trick horse”, Chief, while he reared and walked on his back legs, but operated carnival activities such as the merry-go-round.

His wife, Ruby, eventually stopped walking the tightrope and went on to supervise the Laughing Clowns caravan.  The Leonardo’s and Robinson’s family circuses were successful small New Zealand circuses that mainly presented at schools.

                                

                            
                                             

Myself  who performed circus clown and mime acts at schools,
Libraries and Palmerston North Esplanarde. Date: Late1990s. 

    Sometimes the circus/fairground folk were treated as gypsies and outcasts. When they settled in a particular place, the children were sent to school where they were often bullied.

A child at the Circus            Poem published in Heritage Matters Magazine  Issue  27 

 

It does't seem long since the circus  
came to town, when I was a child, a  
mischievous little hound.

There were big red trucks, parked in a circle 
and a circus tarpaulin rigged in the middle.

And over to the side, ponies were tethered 
to the ground, where children stood and
jumped waiting for a ride.

The elephant swung his trunk high in
the air. Standing with its leg chained to
the ground, where people listened to its               
trumpeting sound.

The lion moved in a straw-laden cage,
roaring out loud in a kitty catty rage.

Yes, I was a child, who stood among
the crowd, looking all agape as monkeys 
chatted out loud, holding their babes, 
with faces in a daze. Some climbed around, 
looking out their cage.

Then came the time to file into the tent, to
sit on planks which were tiered above the ring. 
Watching the ringmaster cracking his whips,
then swinging them around down by his hips.

The clowns each juggled hoops in the air, 
and then skipped around the ring, 
doing tricks and high jinks.

The tiger tamer showed his skill, directing 
cats as they jumped through rings. They glided 
along like cats on wings.

That was the circus when I was a lad. 
Now I go there as a granddad, watching trapeze 
artists, who swing from their knees. 
These men catch lady acrobats, high above a net  
that sags below.

James Fagan 

Palmerston North
New Zealand