Barossa Elephant Walk

Barossa Elephant Walk

1933, world travelling Wirth Brothers Circus had just finished shows in Adelaide and Gawler, and July 7th scheduled shows for Angaston in the Barossa Valley.

During the Gawler show of the circus, spectators commented on how the elephants didn’t seem to wander far from the circus troop, and how, if they did, they could cause significant damage to a small town. These statements may have foretold future events!

The following week, while Wirth’s Circus was in Angaston, one of the elephants decided he would go for a walk through the town. The lone elephant found himself in the garden of Mr Hentschke. It knocked over Mr Hentschke’s fences, then pulled up some of his roses. The elephant, not content with his destruction, then pulled a much-prized plum tree from the ground.
The elephant stomped its way through Hentschke’s prized garden, and once it had finished its rampage, took one of Hentschke’s wicker chairs from the front veranda and obliterated it, throwing it, in tiny pieces, across the front yard.
After its outing, the elephant returned to the circus.

One has to wonder if the same elephant was the cause of destruction in nearby Tanunda, where a number of grapevines were pulled from the ground. This elephant was shooed away by workers and returned to its circus!

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2019

References:

1933 'ELEPHANT WANDERS OFF', Leader (Angaston, SA: 1918 - 1954), 20 July, p. 2. , viewed 25 Mar 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165695371

1933 'Wirth Bros. Ltd. Circus', Leader (Angaston, SA: 1918 - 1954), 13 July, p. 1. , viewed 25 Mar 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165695979

1933 '1-ELEPHANT POWER.', Bunyip (Gawler, SA: 1863 - 1954), 28 July, p. 4. , viewed 25 Mar 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96651993

Grisly Gawler - Part IV - Circus Strikers brawl

Grisly Gawler - Part IV

Circus Strikers Brawl

  In 1931 after a successful string of shows in Angaston, Wirths Circus was on its way to Gawler via train to set up the Circus at the Gawler Racecourse. Following close behind in a rented truck from Tanunda were a group of men who had gone on strike during the Angaston leg of shows, wanting more money and better conditions.

  The Tanunda Police had phoned ahead and warned the Gawler Police of the approaching truck and the state of anger and excitement of the men on board.

The truck rolled into Gawler and the men drove up and down the main street calling out obscenities about the circus and its owners. Constable Philips of the Gawler Police intercepted the truck at Tramways bridge (Mill Bridge) and ordered the men out.

 The men verbally abused the officer as they unloaded.

  Police Sergeant Hansberry and Mounted Constable Hodgson were called to assist. Violence soon broke out with some of the angry men striking at the Police Officers. The men did not account for the officers being more than willing reciprocate, striking back with their batons, knocking at least four men to the ground unconscious and causing extensive injuries with their batons. Blood was spilled and bones were cracking under the extreme willingness of the police officers to end the violence these men had started.

 The Police eventually rounded up four of the most violent and abusive men and took them to the local station to charge them with Drunkenness, Indecent Language and Resisting Arrest. 

  Later in the day, several of the striking men from Angaston, turned up to the new Circus site at Gawler Racecourse, ready to cause a ruckus. They meant to protest and expose the circus owners with why their strike conditions were not being met. Mrs Wirth refused to discuss the terms with the men and told them to leave the site.

Police continued patrols well into the night to stop any further trouble.

 Unemployed men from Adelaide, who were on the Government listings, were brought down to fill the void the strikers had left and to work for the Circus. 

The men arrested were found guilty and duly fined. The other men did not return to cause any more problems that evening, due to the sudden rise in police visibility...

Perhaps a riot was stopped short on that particular occasion!