Lennon's Circus (established circa 1893) was a

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

that tours in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Its touring schedule covered

from the remotest towns to the largest cities. It would tour for 11 months, completing each season in late November.

History

Lennon's Circus was started by Mary Lennon in 1893. The Lennon family were the only circus family in Australia to make their own circus big tops and marquees. They also made SuperTents for rock concerts such as

Homebake Homebake was an annual Australian rock festival, featuring an all-Australian lineup (with the occasional artist from New Zealand). The festival was first held on 3 January 1996 at Belongil Fields in Byron Bay, on the far north coast of New Sou ...

and The

Big Day Out The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typi ...

. It was one of only three circuses left in Australia with

big cat The term "big cat" is typically used to refer to any of the five living members of the genus ''Panthera'', namely the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard. All cats descend from the ''Felidae'' family, sharing similar musculature, c ...

s in their programme. The three lions from different litters, Kovu, Masie and Kiara, were retired t
Zambi Wildlife Retreat
in 2018. The circus's last performance was in Loganholme,

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

on 23 April 2023. The official circus website has been closed, although th
Lennon Bros Circus Facebook page
is still functioning. Descendents of Mary Lennon are still involved in circuses in Australia. Jan and Lindsay Lennon own Stardust Circus and Shane Lennon own
Hudsons Circus

Performance

The Lennon Bros Circus showcased a wide variety of circus arts such as tumblers, flying trapeze, hula hoops, acrobats, double wheel of death, aerialists and clowns. Animals previously included Liberty

horses The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 milli ...

, liberty

donkeys The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...

monkeys Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

, camels, llamas,

goats The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the famil ...

geese A goose (: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egyp ...

, lions and

dogs The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers ...

. The circus employed a staff of 35 people, ranging in age from 3 years to 65 years. The circus was moved on 14 trucks, 2 semi trailers and 14 caravans.

References

External links

Hudsons CircusLennon Bros Circus (Facebook)Zambi Wildlife Retreat
Australian circuses 1890 establishments in Australia Entertainment companies established in 1890 Performing groups established in the 1880s {{Australia-company-stub

History

Performance

See also

References

External links