Trunk Road

Wide load in Forest Road, Hurstville, no overtaking!  Past the White Horse Hotel towards Hurstville Railway Station amble the elephants of Wirth’s Circus.  Wirth’s Circus visited our area on irregular occasions from about 1915 onwards.  It was recognised as Australia’s largest and best circus over the next half-century.  This undated photo by Max Dupain may well have been taken in 1935, when the circus pitched up on a site in Durham Street, Hurstville, opposite the brickworks.  Adult admission was from two to four shillings, children half-price – unless they could slip in under the canvas!  There were lions, bears, elephants, monkeys and performing horses.

One of the earliest occasions Wirth’s circus appeared at Kogarah was in May 1915.  It put up its Big Top on ground opposite Moorefield Hotel, for one night only, adults 1/-, children 6d.  Visits do not appear to have been annual, since advertising is sporadic.

Over the years, the selected site varied.  In 1935, when it appeared at Moorefield Racecourse, attractions included a human cannonball – who doesn’t love a human cannonball? – a contortionist, and ‘The Four Lasalles in the Loop of Death’.  By this time touring every two years, in 1937 the circus appeared at ground near Kogarah Railway Station.  In 1941, the circus performed at Hurstville at Allawah reservoir site and in Kogarah at ground opposite Prince Edward Park; while on 30 September 1946 the circus appeared at Penshurst Park. A later visit was on 28 May 1957, with the usual attractions including performing lions and elephants, but as time went by, it became more difficult for the circus to find a convenient two-acre site in the heart of the municipalities.  Wirth’s ceased operations in 1963, but left behind indelible memories.