The first successful circus in Australia actually originated from Hobart by an Englishman Robert Avis Radford in 1847. He used acts such as equestrianism, acrobats, and clowning, which mimicked the Astley circus in England. It was from this circus that James Henry Ashton, of the Ashton dynasty later established his own circus. The Ashton circus is the oldest continuing circus in Australian history.
References
Trove newspapers – https://trove.nla.gov.au
Newspaper Article
https://www.smh.com.au/national/circuss-backbone-thrilled-with-his-feats-20111106-1n1wp.html
Fulford Family
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~jray/gordon/fullford/frederick.htm
Ashton’s Wikipedia
PDF - HORSEMAN OR NO HORSEMAN: CIRCUS IN VAN DIEMEN’S LAND, 1847 TO 1851 by Mark St Leon
https://www.pennygaff.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/ielapa.545898401156495.pdf
Music
Lone Harvest, Waltz of the Carnies, Super Circus by Kevin McLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Circus Music – Classic (no copyright)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pctluEhAqBQ
Facebook Group - Morpeth Moments
email: marleneduncan@bigpond.com
