Wally Muggs? I went to Natureland back in the seventies too. I thought it was rather crappy - most of the enclosures were concrete and wire. Still, I met my first baby tiger and my first baby chimp there. Hix
No! Wally [Walpamur] Muggs was owned by Benny Cells from the family that ran the animal circus at Taronga for many years. When the family retired from the zoo Wally had his own brick bungalow in the grounds of their Oyster Bay property from whence he would sally forth for his TV appearances etc. Both Wally and Benny have been dead for some years now.
It was crappy - sort of like a 1950s zoo in the 70s and 80s. Horribly overcrowded cages of primates with the inevitable resultant missing bits etc. I still have an old Crab-eating Macaque that I acquired from Natureland when it closed down and he has been a wonderful breeder over the years. Obviously not all bits were missing! However, this zoo also kept Giraffe at one stage, Hunting Dogs, Leopards, Entellus Langurs and bred Lions, generic Tigers, Chimps and a wide variety of primates. Mostly in the little wire cages that you recall. When the zoo closed the majority of the animals went to Stafford Bullen, who was supplying a new zoo in the Middle East, and Emmanuel Margolin. Also involved at the time were the Hare Krishnas who were convinced that they could convert the cats to a vegetarian diet and take them to live on their proposed zoo at Murwillumbah. Their consultant was a prominent Taronga figure from that era who relieved them of the consultancy fee and then advised the regulators against them!! He is still active in the animal/political world so shall remain nameless.
I visited Natureland in 1971. As Steve said, lions, tigers, lots of macaques, a giraffe, a solitary male chacma baboon that was probably surplus to requirements somewhere else, an American black bear and a polar bear with a pool about as big as a bath-tub. The most interesting exhibit, to me anyway, was a razor-billed curassow. I wonder if it's one of the two still in Australia? (Adelaide and Taronga still each have an ancient hen.)
I've got some photos somewhere I can post, if Sim creates a gallery for it. Might bring back some memories for some of you. Hix
