Bullen's Circus [picture] : Australia's largest circus and zoo
- Bib ID:
- 5078946
- Format:
- Picture
- Online Version:
- National Library of Australia digitised item. POSTER 2023-2154 copy
- Description:
-
- Perth : Shenton Printing Co., [between 1935 and 1955]
- 1 poster : col. ill. ; 102 x 37 cm.
- Summary:
-
Poster advertising circus and wild animal wrangling performances. A woman in a green costume stands on two white horses, holding a whip in her right hand, against a background of a trapeze artist and a tight rope walker. A clown blows a trumpet, lower right, and a group of elephants hold a globe with their trucks, lower centre. Each poster has a panel at the head which gives the location and the performers: Flying Gregorys, Miss Angela, Katina Ttroupe, Upside Down Revell, Fraspa Europe Rnato, Bullen Bros, the Mendez Troupe, Captain Ghenda, Miss Olga and an elephant act. "Blocks by McShane & Pead, Perth" appears lower right.
- Biography/History:
-
Alfred Percival Bullen (1896-1974) and his wife Lilian EtheI (1894-1965), began travelling around country shows with a pony and a few pairs of roller-skates. By 1922 the Bullens had organized their own circus. It travelled in Queensland with its own brass band and a menagerie. In the mid-1930s the show moved to Western Australia. By 1955 the two-ringed circus had twenty-six acts of international class, its own mobile power plant, three diesel lighting plants, a schoolteacher, fifty-six vehicles and caravans, and eighty permanent staff who called Bullen "Pop". Their white Rolls-Royce led the procession of long, brightly-decorated caravans from town to town. Bullen's Circus gave its last performance on 25 May 1969. Stafford Bullen (1925-2001) the son of circus founder Alfred Percival Bullen, became increasingly conscious of the threat television posed and diversified by establishing Sydney's African Lion Safari in the early 1960s. In 1968, he opened the African Lion Safari near Warragamba Dam. The Safari Park closed in 1991.
- Notes:
-
- Caption title.
- National Library of Australia has posters for performances at Wangaratta [POSTER 2023-2154], Richmond [POSTER 2023-5718] and Seymour [POSTER 2023-5719]. Minor edge tears.
- Vivian James Carter Collection.
- POSTER 2023-2154 copy Also available online https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138066712
- Subject:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Mcshane & Pead (Perth, W.A.)
- Also Titled:
- Australia's largest circus and zoo
- Terms of Use:
- Copyright restrictions may apply.
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
You may copy under some circumstances, for example you may copy a portion for research or study. Order a copy through Copies Direct to the extent allowed under fair dealing. Contact us for further information about copying.
- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2025 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Artistic
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 1955
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
Request this item
Request this item to view in the Library’s reading room.