1900-1910

Description

A 'one pole', 'Big Top' tent in suburban area- people, wagons and bicycles outside. This photograph of Holden Brothers Circus was taken in St Kilda, no later than 1910. This was when Adolphus Holden was running the circus. His granddaughter Melba Ryan remembers: 'The circuses like Perry's, Worth's, Ashton's, etc. would visit St Kilda regularly. 'Everyone had a fixed time table for touring. Any time of the year you would know the circus was in a particular area. To travel 10 miles was a big deal. To travel to another part of the state was an enormous challenge. Holden's Circus might make it as far as Werribee from Kensington with trucks in one day. Everything was so heavily laden that progress was slow. With wagons, progress would have been even slower.'