Annie the Circus Elephant who died at Koo Wee Rup

Goldwyn Brothers' Circus came to Koo Wee Rup on Wednesday, October 27, 1948; they were scheduled to perform that night, but were prevented by heavy rains and the show took place the next night. 

Advertisement for Goldwyn Brothers' Circus in Koo Wee Rup

Koo Wee Rup Sun, October 20, 1948, p. 1

However, one of their performing elephants died at Koo Wee Rup on Friday, October 29 and the Koo Wee Rup Sun  reported on this sad event - 

Death of the elephant.

Koo Wee Rup Sun November 3, 1948, p. 1

Valuable Elephant Alleged to be Killed by Noxious Weeds

While visiting Kooweerup last week Goldwyn Bros' circus had the misfortune to lose one of their two performing elephants, valued at £1000, alleged to be due to eating a noxious weed, viz., carrot fern, on a vacant allotment in the township fronting St John's Parish Hall. Billed to appear on Wednesday night, the show was postponed till the following evening owing to heavy rains. After helping to load equipment on Friday morning, the elephants were released and wandered on to the vacant allotment and were seen to be grazing most heartily on a prolific crop of the noxious weed. They, however, were soon stricken down and were in a serious condition. Drenches were immediately given, but in the afternoon one of the animals died and it was not until Saturday morning that the other elephant was able to regain its feet, when it quickly recovered. Although the circus had to forgo showing at Hastings on Friday night, the management was able to fulfil its engagement at Frankston on Monday.

What happened to the Elephant? I have been told by some locals that the elephant was buried at Koo Wee Rup, however the Dandenong Journal reported that -
Problem of Disposal of Dead Elephant
[Cranbourne Shire Health] Inspector J. Robertson  reported that while at Kooweerup Goldwyn Bros. Circus had the misfortune to lose one of two elephants, both of which were affected by fodder poisoning. Considerable delay was caused before the circus moved on, and arrangements had to be made to remove the carcase to a metropolitan boiling down works.

Disposal of the dead elephant

Dandenong Journal November 10 1948 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214584143

I must admit that when I heard an elephant had died and was buried at Koo Wee Rup, I was very sceptical; so I was happy and surprised to read a reference to the elephant in Gavan Donoghue's book The Stratford Elephant Mystery & more!  Gavan's book looks at the story of a circus elephant which was said to have been killed when it struck its head on the railway bridge on the Princes Highway at Stratford, in Gippsland. To track down which elephant this may have been, he made a list of all the circus elephants (and their fate) in Australia from post 1945. One of  the elephants was Annie, who belonged to the Goldwyn Brothers' Circus. Gavan notes that Dick Bills, a former lion-tamer and Goldwyns' Circus owner, suggests Annie died from eating poison weeds at Koo Wee Rup in the 1940s. 

Armed with this information, I found the Dandenong Journal entry, which gave me a date, and then I could go to the Koo Wee Rup Sun and I found the advertisement and the short article about the elephant.

Gavan also supplied the following information about Annie - she was an Asian elephant and she was a war refugee. Annie was evacuated from England because zoos etc were being bombed and she travelled all the way to Australia. She initially belonged to Soles' Circus until she was sold to Goldwyn Brothers' Circus and then sadly met her death in Koo Wee Rup having eaten carrot fern, another name for hemlock. 

Since I wrote this post, on June 14 2023 I received this message from Gavan - I rang Dick Bills today. He was briefly the owner of Goldwyns and also a  ‘Lion Tamer’.... He said he turns 101 this year. He is an amazing old guy. Still really sharp. I told him about the documentary find by you which confirms his recall. He said Annie was a lovely natured little elephant.

The Stratford Elephant Mystery & more!  by Gavan Donoghue (published by the author in 2019, and now in its 3rd edition) Follow Gavan on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/stratfordelephantmystery