Once Upon a Zoo

“It was pouring with rain as we toured the abandoned zoo – as if tears were falling from every animal ever confined there”

Now a year later, it’s the centenary of Beaumaris Zoo’s relocation to this sloping hill overlooking Hobart’s River Derwent, where the zoo moved from its original site at Battery Point. Rather than focusing on native animals, the Hobart City Council, which took over the zoo, displayed exotic creatures more likely to draw crowds. It was intended to be a modern zoo of the kind seen in other capital cities.

My article written with Brendan Lennard, former Heritage Officer with the Hobart City Council, is now available at Forty South Tasmania online. To come with us on a tour of the old zoo site click here

The zoo on the Domain: gates by Patrick Hall, 2000