8 Comments
User's avatar
Jennifer Jones's avatar

They certainly were different times Jane. I remember the elephant rides at Melbourne Zoo when I was a child. The elephants certainly must have been a sight strolling through the CBD

Expand full comment
Jane Hutcheon's avatar

I would have love to have seen that Jennifer!

Expand full comment
Ashley Kingston's avatar

I’m glad society is reassessing its relationship with animals

Half a century of work and captivity , Jessie is devalued to 50 pounds , something so sad about that.

For some reason this reminds me of the “Christian the lion” story , when one could buy a lion at Harrods, London up until about 1974.

Expand full comment
Mark St Leon's avatar

From The Propeller (Hurstville), 29 October 1936,, p.7

"St Leon’s Circus and Skuthorp’s Wild West Show will be at Bexley tonight, Friday, and Saturday. Miss Violet Skuthorp, who doubled for Helen Twelvetrees in the Australian picture 'Thoroughbred', will give exhibitions of horsemanship ..."

Expand full comment
Jane Hutcheon's avatar

Thanks Mark, I love all the threads that come from a story! I'm sure you've written widely about Miss Violet Skuthorp, so I'm going to look her up now. Sadly, the American actress Helen Twelvetrees did not live happily ever after.

Expand full comment
Mark St Leon's avatar

Hi Jane, I have a nice portrait of Violet. I will send to your email address.

Expand full comment
Matt's avatar

My wife’s gran and great aunt (now 104) used to have elephant rides at Taronga Zoo when they were little girls in the 1920s.

Expand full comment
Michelle Baumgartner's avatar

Thanks for this interesting step back into time. Having spent very little time in Sydney over my lifetime, I had no idea about the original zoo and had not heard the story of Jessie. I look forward to reading the next installment.

Expand full comment