Does anyone have any info on the old zoo at Coolangatta? -period it was open? (im assuming from the 1960's - 1980's) -animals it exhibited? i know they had lions, giraffe and chimps - any other large exotics? the giraffe came from taronga, anyone know where the lions are from? any info will be great - thanks
It was actually located at Kirra - just inside the NSW border. Prior to it opening there used to be a zoo in the grounds of the Coolangatta pub - before my time. The chimps at Rockhampton came from Natureland Zoo at Kirra. I still have some macaques that also came from there when it closed. At one stage they even had Cape Hunting Dogs, Leopards, Entellus Langur and heaps of Macaws - including hybrids. The Macaws went to Broome and subsequently some returned to the East. I could tell you many stories about the place but they might upset the forum nanny. Might have to wait until I write the book!
I remember they had a large Brown Bear, Spider Monkeys, a mandrill, and a tiger cub at one stage. Cages were, for the most part, concrete and wire. Hix
thanks Hix - i found a couple of cool old pics of their lions from the 1960's - sparked some interest as to where they were from.
They even had a polar bear. In Australia in those days, a zoo couldn't really call itself a zoo if it didn't have at least one polar bear. (My, how things have changed!)
Yes, lots of concrete and wire adjoining cages - particularly the primates. One of my old Rhesus came from there with several missing digits as a result of fighting through the mesh - even as a baby. I recall several tigers - hence the cub I guess. Pumas were bred there as well. In response to jones' question about the origin of the lions, I remember seeing an old trailer cage from Ashton's Circus there on one occasion so I guess that Doug could have supplied some. Natureland did have some magnificent looking lions. There are some wonderful [but controversial] stories to tell about this place. Upon closing, many of the animals were purchased by Stafford Bullen who had a contract to stock a zoo in Kuwait[?] I think. Others were snapped up by Margolin. The Pumas went to Bullen's park at Wallacia where their descendant still lives. We got a few species ourselves.
Yes, lots of concrete and wire adjoining cages - particularly the primates. One of my old Rhesus came from there with several missing digits as a result of fighting through the mesh - even as a baby. I recall several tigers - hence the cub I guess. Pumas were bred there as well. In response to jones' question about the origin of the lions, I remember seeing an old trailer cage from Ashton's Circus there on one occasion so I guess that Doug could have supplied some. Natureland did have some magnificent looking lions. There are some wonderful [but controversial] stories to tell about this place. Upon closing, many of the animals were purchased by Stafford Bullen who had a contract to stock a zoo in Kuwait[?] I think. Others were snapped up by Margolin. The Pumas went to Bullen's park at Wallacia where their descendant still lives. We got a few species ourselves. The chimps had, at least, two "owners" before eventually going to Rocky. The death of the female at the time was another very low spot in Australian zoo history.
I remember a baby chimp being handreared too. And a cage full of Bonnet Macaques, pulling fruit through the wire roof. And a lone Pigtailed Macaque. Hix
Do you remeber the Langurs? I had never seen Entellus Langurs in Australia before, and I've never seen them here since. I wonder where they came from?
I remember one, at least. I leant over the railing to take a photo and he bared his canines, bounced up at the wire near me and then ricocheted over the exhibit before going inside. And no, I'd never seen an entellus before (although I think thery were labelled with their pseudonym Hanuman Langur). Have you seen the photos uploaded from GW Animal Park? Very similar style of caging for the carnivores (except Natureland had their cages fully enclosed). Hix
Sorry, hadn't checked out the pics. A 4am start and a day's driving that has ended in your neck of the woods [more or less] meant that I squibbed on the gallery tonight. Alright - I've seen them now and, yes you are right, they do look a lot like Natureland sans roofs. BTW - I thought that Chlidonias' pics of the taiko were more interesting. I've seen plenty of cat cages but I'll never see a taiko! PS: I still don't know what GW stands for in the Animal Park title!
Natureland Zoo Coolangatta Queensland On 6th January 2015, I started a Facebook group page called "Remembering Natureland Zoo, Coolangatta". Below is the pinned post and currently there are over 300 photos of the zoo on the group page. The majority of the photos are from the period 1954-1964, with photos posted by members from later years. In 1961 the zoo had a very successful lion breeding program with their 9yr old Lioness Flora and an 11yr old Lion Rex, which drew a lot of media attention at the time. There was ABC newsreel footage of my 2 month old brother, with the twin week old Cubs. In 1954, Bill Maughan, a Victorian Zoo owner, received financing and approval to build a Zoological Garden in Binya Street Coolangatta. Bill asked a friend, who had a business in amusement rides, to join the venture as a partner. The friend was our Grandfather, George Ritchie Stephen. The project took 3.5 years to complete. George was the Director of the zoo from its initial development until the zoo was sold in 1964. These are our family photos and memories from that era. Please feel free to share your photos and memories of Natureland Zoo. We hope you enjoy Remembering Natureland Zoo.
from the online version of The Victorian Naturalist, May 1942 https://archive.org/stream/VictorianNatura59Fiel/VictorianNatura59Fiel_djvu.txt Obviously the text has approximations for words that couldn't be distinguished properly. I'm assuming "North Halwyn" might mean North Balwyn (in Melbourne)? But I can't offer a correction for the "llie Wild Life Sanctuary".
It is just "the wildlife sanctuary". Located in North Balwyn from 1938 to 1954. There are some photos on the web. The property was sudivided and the animals sent to Queensland. Interesting.
Also found a 1954 newspaper article which mentions that the owner complained the fisheries & wildlife department would not let him keep koalas or certain protected birds. Claimed this was loosing him 20000 pounds a year and the reason given for moving to Queensland.
