The Little Zoo , Lyncombe Hill , Bath , Somerset ... This was an Australian Animal and Bird Zoo in Bath ... The proprietors were English Animal dealers Walter Payne and Jack Wallace (known as the Bushmen)... From information I have gathered is that Jack Wallace used to travel backwards and forwards to Australia to hunt and capture Emus , Parrakeets , Parrots , Cockatoos , Budgies , Wallabies and Kangaroos ... The animals would normally be brought into Southampton docks where Jack Wallace had private aviaries ..The Zoo ran from approximately 1904 to some reports say 1911 ... (the advert shown is from 1908 and was listed in the Avicultural Magazine for that year ... The Zoo kind of "disappeared " as one report states that Johnny Harrington ( a Freemantle resident) who as a young lad had assisted Jack on one of his journeys from Australia to Southampton says that the year after the Liner had docked he had gone to visit The Little Zoo in Bath and both the Zoo and Jack Wallace were gone (deceased maybe ?) What happened to their 2 Australian premises I do not know Once I have ascertained the ship that they would have travelled on I can update this thread
I remember a reference in the Avicultural Magazine to 'Messrs Payne and Wallace and their faultless collections'. The inference was that they brought over Australian Finches in perfect condition, that stayed that way.
