In colonial and early 20th century Australia, the show that travelled was the practical solution to the economic problem of providing a widely distributed population with access to popular entertainment.

 

For more than a century and in increasing numbers, from the 1850s until the introduction of television in the 1950s, travelling shows brought to Australian people an extraordinary diversity of popular culture.

 

Among entertainment genres  purveyed at various times were opera, variety acts, minstrels, moving pictures, magicians, magic lanterns, waxworks, bellringers, negro gospel singers, bands of musicians, marionettes, boxing, merry-go-rounds, menageries and carnivals.

 

However, the earliest example of an Australian travelling show was the circus. Universal in its appeal, it combined many of the elements that other travelling entertainments had to offer, together with the additional attraction of displays of fine horses and horsemanship. The colonial popularity of horses and horsemanship produced 'perhaps the most critical and appreciative circus audiences in the world'.

 

For many years showman Tasman Bradley played an integral part in Australian circus life... This is his story...