Hi Sarah,
Thank you very much for putting our request into Snippets two weeks ago.
One never knows what can be discovered about our town, especially if a request for information is able to be circulated. I had a response from six people via email, two phone calls and several people “in the street” – so to speak. This is an excellent result and even better because they all told the same story. I just have to follow up on the name of one man – Alby Dean.
Indeed there was a “Zoo“ on the western side of the tennis courts and viewable to the public from the oval side. The stone wall still
standing is the remains of the emu house. People remember a high fence enclosing animals such as kangaroos, emus, goats and birds of various kinds peacocks, ducks, guinea fowls and parrots.
I believe it was started by Mr Lorne Langford who worked for Boree Council and was also the caretaker for Morris Park. It operated from the late 1940’s to the early 1960’s. All these exact dates etc. have yet to be substantiated but this is the outline that seems to have general agreement. Dawn Langford has access to a photo and she will also write down her memories as Mr Langford was her father-in law.
I am in the process of compiling the information for our Historical Society Archives which, together with Dawn’s information will be a valuable asset to our local history records. Our grateful thanks must go to those people who supplied answers to the query. Thank you especially to the Phoenix for publishing our request. It proved a most effective way to obtain this information and at least three replies were from folk who lived far from Canowindra but had grown up here and remembered ‘’the Zoo’’as children.
Best wishes
Jan Harrison
Canowindra Historical Society & Museum