Skip to main content

Carousel celebrates 100 years in 2014 and 40 years in Canberra


The Civic Merry-Go-Round in the centre of Canberra celebrates 100 years on 13 March 2014, with the last 40 years in its present site.
Herbert Thomson of Armadale, Victoria, famous for designing and building the first Australian steam car in 1896, constructed the carousel in 1914 for German showman Anton Weniger to replace his pony-powered carousel – at a cost of 7,000 pounds. He imported the organ and the 52 hand-carved wooden horses and two elephants from Germany, and the golden twisted brass upright poles from Scotland. Each of the horses has a ram's head (or German folklore animal head) at the back of the saddle, facing backwards. Under the canopy is a series of paintings by Melbourne artist William P. Plowman (including bisons and American Indians, a ski scene, and a horse-and-hound hunt). It is 12 metres wide, 5.25 metres high, and weighs more than 15 tonnes.
Known as Weniger’s Riding Gallery, it was installed in 1914 on the esplanade at St. Kilda, Melbourne, as part of a beachside amusement park. At the time it was the largest and most modern carousel in Australia, famed for rotating on the biggest ball bearing in the country. It travelled to rural country fairs for several years, before returning to St. Kilda. Despite having lived in Australia for 10 years, in January 1916, during the First World War (1914-1918), Weniger was detained as an enemy alien until the end of the war.
In 1957 MacDonald’s Carnival Amusements purchased and operated the carousel until 1973 when the amusement park was demolished. The Department of the Capital Territory purchased it for the people of Canberra at auction on September 28, 1973, for $40,000. The Carousel Organ Restoration Group restored the 69 key pipe organ (currently the music is not working and the organ and glockenspiel are stored in a separate site). Volunteers from the Australian National University’s Research School of Physical Sciences restored the steam engine in the centre of the carousel. Restorations were also conducted by staff of the Australian War Memorial and students from the Canberra College of Advanced Education (now the University of Canberra). The steam engine is no longer in use, but remains within the carousel. It is now operated by an electric motor.
After renovations, the Civic Merry-Go-Round and its pavilion was officially opened on Canberra Day in Petrie Plaza (its current site in Canberra Mall) on 13 March 1974. This March will be its 40th year at the site.


It was operated by the Penney family from 1974 until July 2012. The 52 horses were named after famous racehorses, such as Phar Lap, Lord Fury, and Snowstream. Of the two elephants, the white one was called Queenie. It is currently temporarily operated by Live Experience Access Develop until a permanent operator is announced (submissions closed in December 2013 and an announcement is expected soon).
Over the past year it has undergone renovations. The tails, bridles, and stirrup leathers have been replaced, and the horses were cleaned. Gradually each of the figures will be restored on a rotational basis by the ACT government.
The carousel is currently the second largest surviving functioning merry-go-round in Australia.
(http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/giddy-up-iconic-canberra-merrygoraound-seeks-ringmaster-20140120-3154i.html#izxzz2uJV9qC9X  











MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

The Beggars' Strike by Aminata Sow Fall: book review

The Beggar’sStrike (1979 in French and 1981 in English) is set in an unstated country in West Africa in a city known only as The Capital. Undoubtedly, Senegalese author Sow Fall writes of her own experiences. It was also encapsulated in the 2000 film, Battu , directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali. Mour Ndiaye is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, with the opportunity of a distinguished and coveted promotion to Vice-President of the Republic. Tourism has declined and the government blames the local beggars in The Capital. Ndiaye must rid the streets of beggars, according to a decree from the Minister. Ndiaye instructs his department to carry out weekly raids. One of the raids leads to the death of lame beggar, Madiabel, who ran into an oncoming vehicle as he tried to escape, leaving two wives and eight children. Soon after, another raid resulted in the death of the old well-loved, comic beggar Papa Gorgui Diop. Enough is enou
8 comments
Read more