Zoos of Australia

Has Cairns Koalas and Creatures been mentioned here? Opened April 30 2024, at The Pier, Cairns, QLD.
 
Steve Robinson said:
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Kangy Angy Zoo deserves a chapter in the book but my Australian Reptile Park experiences could fill a book on their own.
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Was just off (original part of) the Pacific Highwy too like the old Australian Reptile Park was too hey; at either Ourimbah or at the Kangy Angy locality itself (named after the creek right), next to the Kangy Angy Roadhouse. Closed in late 1960s or in 1970s right.

 
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steveroberts said:
Was just off (original part of) the Pacific Highwy too like the old Australian Reptile Park was too hey; at either Ourimbah or at the Kangy Angy locality itself (named after the creek right), next to the Kangy Angy Roadhouse. Closed in late 1960s or in 1970s right.

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You are a genius @steveroberts! How did you find this?

Back in the day I used to volunteer at the ARP before I even got my driver's licence.

Once licensed I paid 50 quid for an old Austin A30 and then the world was mine. I would volunteer one weekend day at Eric's and the other at Kangy Angy Zoo.

The zoo was an add-on to the Kangy Angy roadhouse which was located right on the Pacific Highway, in those times, and its northern and western boundaries were the Kangy Creek.

It was owned by Albert and Mrs Mackey. In those days spotty faced teenagers did not refer to middle aged ladies by their Christian names, and I still don't know what hers' was. Mrs Mackey ran the roadhouse and was a fantastic cook. She always shouted me roast dinner in return for my volunteering.

Albert ran the service station side of things in the days when a fill up of fuel also got you your oil checked, your windscreen cleaned and your tyre pressures checked and adjusted if required.

The Pacific Highway was a busy two lane road back then and by mid-afternoon Albert was usually in need of refreshment so I was pressed into service as the servo attendant - a job which sometimes lasted well into the evening. Kids are bomb proof so that didn't worry me at all - in fact I enjoyed seeing my animal charges after dark before I went home.

The standard of the zoo can pretty well by judged from this video. It was pretty much home made - in fact the admission price sign was the most professional part of it.

Mrs Mackey is the grey haired lady in the apron seen a couple of times in the video - most notably releasing one of their hand raised Wombats into our "free range" paddock - complete with zoological rarities such as poultry and a white rabbit. Albert is the bloke in the white hat.

The rest of the collection included Rhesus Macaques, Crab-eating Macaqes and, inevitably Rhesus/Crabbies, as well as quite a number of Common Wombats [very common in the wild in that area then], Foxes, Grey Kangaroos, Fallow Deer, Possums, a Dingo, a Wedge-tail Eagle, some Wallabies, quite a variety of native Parrots [my love affair with Rosellas started here] and, of course domestic poultry etc. It was a typical roadside zoo of it's time. There was not a lot of attention paid to the collection during the week. They were fed OK but I'm sure that the cleaning was left in the knowledge that "young Steve will be here at the weekend".

In 1963 or 4 the zoo jumped sky high in my reckoning of it - Albert imported 6 young Gibbons from Singapore. They were only young'uns and they arrived in banana boxes - one per crate. No IATA back in those days. They were beautiful and I spent far too much time with them.

Time moves on and by 1972 I departed to live in NZ with my first wife. Albert tearfully promised me that, when he retired, all of the animals would be mine. That will have to be another chapter if @steveroberts can find some footage of the Egyptian Park Zoo at Kincumber.
 
Steve Robinson said:
You are a genius @steveroberts! How did you find this?

Back in the day I used to volunteer at the ARP before I even got my driver's licence.

Once licensed I paid 50 quid for an old Austin A30 and then the world was mine. I would volunteer one weekend day at Eric's and the other at Kangy Angy Zoo.

The zoo was an add-on to the Kangy Angy roadhouse which was located right on the Pacific Highway, in those times, and its northern and western boundaries were the Kangy Creek.

It was owned by Albert and Mrs Mackey. In those days spotty faced teenagers did not refer to middle aged ladies by their Christian names, and I still don't know what hers' was. Mrs Mackey ran the roadhouse and was a fantastic cook. She always shouted me roast dinner in return for my volunteering.

Albert ran the service station side of things in the days when a fill up of fuel also got you your oil checked, your windscreen cleaned and your tyre pressures checked and adjusted if required.

The Pacific Highway was a busy two lane road back then and by mid-afternoon Albert was usually in need of refreshment so I was pressed into service as the servo attendant - a job which sometimes lasted well into the evening. Kids are bomb proof so that didn't worry me at all - in fact I enjoyed seeing my animal charges after dark before I went home.

The standard of the zoo can pretty well by judged from this video. It was pretty much home made - in fact the admission price sign was the most professional part of it.

Mrs Mackey is the grey haired lady in the apron seen a couple of times in the video - most notably releasing one of their hand raised Wombats into our "free range" paddock - complete with zoological rarities such as poultry and a white rabbit. Albert is the bloke in the white hat.

The rest of the collection included Rhesus Macaques, Crab-eating Macaqes and, inevitably Rhesus/Crabbies, as well as quite a number of Common Wombats [very common in the wild in that area then], Foxes, Grey Kangaroos, Fallow Deer, Possums, a Dingo, a Wedge-tail Eagle, some Wallabies, quite a variety of native Parrots [my love affair with Rosellas started here] and, of course domestic poultry etc. It was a typical roadside zoo of it's time. There was not a lot of attention paid to the collection during the week. They were fed OK but I'm sure that the cleaning was left in the knowledge that "young Steve will be here at the weekend".

In 1963 or 4 the zoo jumped sky high in my reckoning of it - Albert imported 6 young Gibbons from Singapore. They were only young'uns and they arrived in banana boxes - one per crate. No IATA back in those days. They were beautiful and I spent far too much time with them.

Time moves on and by 1972 I departed to live in NZ with my first wife. Albert tearfully promised me that, when he retired, all of the animals would be mine. That will have to be another chapter if @steveroberts can find some footage of the Egyptian Park Zoo at Kincumber.
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Thanks for sharing your memories @Steve Robinson (and thank you to @steveroberts for finding the video in the first place).

I’d be interested to know more about the six gibbons. The gibbon in the video appears to be a Lar gibbon, which at one point was the most common gibbon species in Australasia. Do you recall if any infants were born to these imports? Or if any transferred out to other zoos?
 
Steve Robinson said:
You are a genius @steveroberts! How did you find this?

Back in the day I used to volunteer at the ARP before I even got my driver's licence.

Once licensed I paid 50 quid for an old Austin A30 and then the world was mine. I would volunteer one weekend day at Eric's and the other at Kangy Angy Zoo.

The zoo was an add-on to the Kangy Angy roadhouse which was located right on the Pacific Highway, in those times, and its northern and western boundaries were the Kangy Creek.

It was owned by Albert and Mrs Mackey. In those days spotty faced teenagers did not refer to middle aged ladies by their Christian names, and I still don't know what hers' was. Mrs Mackey ran the roadhouse and was a fantastic cook. She always shouted me roast dinner in return for my volunteering.

Albert ran the service station side of things in the days when a fill up of fuel also got you your oil checked, your windscreen cleaned and your tyre pressures checked and adjusted if required.

The Pacific Highway was a busy two lane road back then and by mid-afternoon Albert was usually in need of refreshment so I was pressed into service as the servo attendant - a job which sometimes lasted well into the evening. Kids are bomb proof so that didn't worry me at all - in fact I enjoyed seeing my animal charges after dark before I went home.

The standard of the zoo can pretty well by judged from this video. It was pretty much home made - in fact the admission price sign was the most professional part of it.

Mrs Mackey is the grey haired lady in the apron seen a couple of times in the video - most notably releasing one of their hand raised Wombats into our "free range" paddock - complete with zoological rarities such as poultry and a white rabbit. Albert is the bloke in the white hat.

The rest of the collection included Rhesus Macaques, Crab-eating Macaqes and, inevitably Rhesus/Crabbies, as well as quite a number of Common Wombats [very common in the wild in that area then], Foxes, Grey Kangaroos, Fallow Deer, Possums, a Dingo, a Wedge-tail Eagle, some Wallabies, quite a variety of native Parrots [my love affair with Rosellas started here] and, of course domestic poultry etc. It was a typical roadside zoo of it's time. There was not a lot of attention paid to the collection during the week. They were fed OK but I'm sure that the cleaning was left in the knowledge that "young Steve will be here at the weekend".

In 1963 or 4 the zoo jumped sky high in my reckoning of it - Albert imported 6 young Gibbons from Singapore. They were only young'uns and they arrived in banana boxes - one per crate. No IATA back in those days. They were beautiful and I spent far too much time with them.

Time moves on and by 1972 I departed to live in NZ with my first wife. Albert tearfully promised me that, when he retired, all of the animals would be mine. That will have to be another chapter if @steveroberts can find some footage of the Egyptian Park Zoo at Kincumber.
Click to expand...
Thanks Steve (-: great to hear the memories and details too btw, great life story and experiences to say the least. Lol 'spotty faced teenagers' I remember that too, my mum also taught my siblings and myself to refer to our elders as Mr & Mrs .... unless they said otherwise. The world really does feel like it opens up a thousand-fold when one gets their drivers license finally hey (more adventurous travels, see more of the world around).

(I am) No genius, but thanks for the compliment though, just happy to help out. Was interested in knowing about Kangy Angy Zoo after first hearing about it thanks to you when discussing the origina Australian Reptile Park when still owned by the late great Eric Worrell and what the park was like in the '60s and '70s. Went looking on youtube and was lucky enough to come across the video after searching the name.


Egyptian Park Zoo, Kincumber NSW - Flickr Photos - Gostalgia

Facebook - Do you remember the Egyptian Park Zoo in Kincumber?
 
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Zoofan15 said:
Thanks for sharing your memories @Steve Robinson (and thank you to @steveroberts for finding the video in the first place).

I’d be interested to know more about the six gibbons. The gibbon in the video appears to be a Lar gibbon, which at one point was the most common gibbon species in Australasia. Do you recall if any infants were born to these imports? Or if any transferred out to other zoos?
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The Gibbons were indeed Lars. Two died not long after their arrival and the remaining ones lived to a pretty good age without any breeding and certainly no transfers out until all of the animals from Kangy went Egyptian Park Zoo.
 
Jambo said:
However only one 'Mimi' supposedly ended up at the Egyptian Park Zoo?

Egyptian Park Zoo, Kincumber NSW
Egyptian Park Kincumber advertisement late 1960s
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No. There were certainly more than 2 there on my only visit. Mimi was the most handleable as I recall - but my recall is not now as good as it used to be!

I notice in the comments that there is reference to "an" ape.

I didn't return to Australia until 1982 so lots would have happened in the intervening ten years.

Jambo said:
However only one 'Mimi' supposedly ended up at the Egyptian Park Zoo?

Egyptian Park Zoo, Kincumber NSW
Egyptian Park Kincumber advertisement late 1960s
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Jambo said:
I'm assuming the 'ape' would've likely been in reference to one of the gibbons then.
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It appears @Steve Robinson is referring to this part of the article (dated 1967), which is in the second link above:

The greatest attractions at the park – especially for children – are the animals. Housed in strong cages – once again made by their owner – are six monkeys. These include four of the Rhesus variety, one Macache and one Golden Gibbon Ape – the most popular of the group.

The “Golden Gibbon Ape” being a Lar gibbon.
 
decat said:
.. W.A
*Quindalup Fauna Park (Quindalup) (was unable to find anything recent on this park)...
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Quindalup Fauna Park closed in about 2013 (after being open for about 20 years, c.1993). The (former) owner was/is well known in the dingo breeding organisations/societies in Australia from memory; believe might still be involved with, if not then retired. But yeah the park's been closed at least 12 years now (the site where it was is now the 'Dunsborough Fun Park').
 
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List needs updating:
Birdland animal park at Batemans Bay and Flying High bird sanctuary at Apple Tree Creek have closed down

Australian wildlife sanctuary at Bargo and Central coast zoo at Wyong creek are not on this list.

I wonder if there are any new parks opening soon? Any update on Zoo of Queensland opening ?
 
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