Back on board again. Sepia Saturday this week is all about the end of the alphabetic series
Next come numbers which will be a change and one I hope to be able to use some of my old family photos for. Meanwhile I think I will go for a topic on zoos and see what I can dredge up. We didn't have a camera when I was a small child, so my photos may be few and far between.
I remember frequent visits to the Adelaide Zoo with my parents and also to the Koala Farm which was situated close by. In those days the zoo was very old-fashioned with small barred cages and unattractive areas for the animals. It is very different now. In fact I was unable to find any old photos of the zoo and its inhabitants on the internet. Strange!
This photo of me, taken when I was about 10 was taken at the old Koala Farm - a favourite place for birthday parties as there was a giant slippery dip, camel rides, koala cuddles, a snake pit, diving seals and a lot more.
This is the camel wagon taking visitors for a ride around the park
Other favourites were George the Orangutan, Percy the Chimpanzee and the beautiful Greater the Flamingo.
Quite amazing to see how the ladies dressed up to go to the zoo in those days.
Liz Needle - linking with Sepia Saturday.
It is quite amazing how black-and-white photographs immediately convey the sense of former times, even without looking at the clothing and other clues to the period. Nice retrospective here.
ReplyDeleteCute koalas - I'm not sure I'd appreciate having one on my head, though ;)
ReplyDeleteWe have a zoo where I live (Borås, Sweden), it started out with one lion brought home by someone from Africa (a motherless cub), I remember going to see that lion in my childhood. (I have no photo of that, though.) It grew from there to a zoo with quite a lot of space for various animals. They focus on endangered species, mostly African ones, but also some of the wild animals we have in Sweden, like bears and wolves.
Koala Kuddles and a slippery dip sound delightful for a party - the snake pit, not so much.
ReplyDeleteCute pix of young-you and your kidlets enjoying a day at the zoo. Yes, once upon a time women dressed up to go places - even the zoo. Now everything is so much more casual and comfortable. Sometimes a little too casual and comfortable. I remember a few years ago going to see "Phantom of the Opera" in San Francisco and being almost flabbergasted to see two youngish couples seated in front of us in the front balcony wearing cut-off jeans and tee-shirts. I mean . . . REALLY??!!
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking what Wendy said. You look like you enjoyed the Koala cuddle. My husband swears he remembers being put on the back of an elephant at the San Antonio Zoo. He was two years old and terrified.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos! Particularly love the one of you at the Koala Farm. These zoos and game farms seem to have had international appeal at that time. My parents took me and my brothers to the Catskill Game Farm in upstate New York when we were kids, where we could get up close to feed free roaming donkeys, deer and sheep. Great memories similar to yours depicted here.
ReplyDeleteOur zoo in Adelaide has a children's section where kids can pet and cuddle a whole range of animals. All kids love it, but it must be a real thrill for city kids who don't normally get the chance for close contact with anything except maybe a cat or dog.
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