Bacchus Marsh Lion Park Bacchus Marsh Lion Park

Ashton's Lion Safari opened its gates in 1970 and closed in the late 80's.

Decades before Tiger King became a Netflix hit, Australia had its own offerings of open safari parks where lions would literally latch their paws onto cars.

Run by the Ashton family, of Ashton's Circus fame, Bacchus Marsh Lion Safari saw several incidents including the death of a 12-year-old boy led to the park's demise.

Stringent animal regulations and costly upgrades caught up with the park in 1985 and it closed for good.

Source: heraldsun.com.au

Ashton's Lion Safari Park Bacchus Marsh

Owned by the Ashton family, of Ashton's Circus fame. It closed its doors in the late 80's. It is believed this was due to legislative changes enacted in 1985 that made it harder for the park to turn profit. Also surrounding the park are rumours of escape, a number of incidents with the people being attacked by animals and animal welfare concerns, all coming together to close the doors.

The park itself was a drive through Safari, wherein the public drove their cars through to see a number of African animals roaming free.

As mentioned earlier, there were a number of incidents involving the animals. A 12 year old boy was mauled by a lion at the park in 1978 and an 18 year old in 1979. Also in 1979, a tiger smashed through a partly opened window and pulled a women from the car, killing her.

In a rather sad end, a number of the animals were left to fend for themselves after its closure. The two hippos that reside at Adelaide Zoo (Susie and Brutus) are actually refugees from this ill fated theme park. A number of lions and tigers were not so lucky.

Source: weekendnotes.com

BOY KILLED AT LION PARK - Bacchus Marsh

A youth told a coroner in 1979, that a lion had "barged" through a fence and attacked his brother. His brother had tried to escape by climbing over a small gate at the rear of the enclosure. The Coroner, Mr Brown, was holding the inquest on Neville Craig Vance, 12, of Bacchus Marsh, who died on May 12. He found that Neville died from injuries suffered when he was attacked by the lion and that his death was due to misadventure. Mr Gordon William Vance, 18, of Mordialloc, said in a statement read to Bacchus Marsh Coroner's Court that he had been in a breeding den at the lion park when the lion "barged" in at 11.10am. It had passed him and attacked Neville. Senior Constable Peter Ratcliffe, of Bacchus Marsh police, said the chain mesh surrounding the enclosure was 2.5 metres high and was held up by a few poles. "In my opinion the fence was not strong enough and if bumped it would fall apart easily", he said. Mr Brown said the circumstances surrounding the death showed "a lack of care and responsibility".

Source: twistedhistory.net.au

ASHTON'S BACCHUS MARSH LION SAFARI.

It may be hard to picture now, but weekends were once spent driving through an open safari where lions would literally latch their paws onto cars.

Lions roamed free at the Bacchus Marsh Lion Safari. Picture: Darcy Prendergast Bacchus Marsh Lion Safari opened in 1970 and several incidents including the death of a 12-year-old boy led to the park's demise.

It was run by the Ashton family, of Ashton's Circus fame.

Filmmaker Darcy Prendergast, whose father Ron 'Prenda' Prendergast, worked at the park, was inspired to make a documentary called WILD LIFE, which looks at the park's rise and fall.

Ron 'Prenda' Prendergast at Bacchus Marsh Lion Safari. Former lion tamer Vern Ellis with Sheba the tiger in 1975. Prendergast, who grew up in Bacchus Marsh, said very few people of his generation did not know of the park's existence.

"My dad was 17 when he first started and the narrative leans on his memories and tales as the structural backbone, but also looks at the wider reach of the park.," he said."He was attacked and mauled on more than one occasion."

Stringent animal regulations and costly upgrades caught up with the park in 1985 and it closed for good.

Source: Roderick Smith

tomelbourne.com.au says..

Ashton's Lion Safari Park at Bacchus Marsh

Memories of Melbourne

Few decades back, the country town of Bacchus Marsh, situated 55km north west of Melbourne CBD was home to Ashton's Lion Safari Park. The park was the brainchild of Doug Ashton, then owner of world's longest family-run circus, Ashton's Circus. Lion Safari Park at Bacchus Marsh was opened in September 1970 and was closed in 1985. The park spanned 110 acres and in its 15 years of existence, remained a popular tourist spot where visitors could drive through enclosures to watch those wild animals.

The Ashton's Circus is one of Australia's oldest circuses. James Henry Ashton worked as an equestrian at Thomas Mollar's circus which was established in 1847. Ashton acquired it in 1850, after Mollard's death and named it as Ashton's Circus. The ownership passed through generations and by the 1960's when the circus was its peak, it had an enormous entourage of elephants, lions, monkeys, bears and giraffes. The grandson of James Henry Ashton; Douglas Ashton established the Lion park at Bacchus Marsh. Doug Ashton established his first safari park in Brisbane named Ashton's Animal Kingdom in 1969. In 1970, Doug established ''Bacchus Marsh Lion Safari Park" and, in 1974, the "Raymond Terrace Lion Safari Park" in NSW. Doug for many years bred and supplied tigers and lions to many parts of the world.

Today Ashton's Circus is run by the 6th generation of Ashtons, Michelle and Joseph and their sons, Jordan and Merrik. Joseph had founded 'Circus Joseph Ashton' in 1998 and the name "Ashton's Circus" was retired.

The lion park at Bacchus Marsh had a chequered history behind it. In 1972, a lioness at the park gave birth to four cubs and that was the first time a litter of lion cub quads were born in Australia. In 1973, the park exported three lions to Africa in return for Giraffes and zebras.

In 1975, 22-year Bela Franko was clawed by a tiger after he walked straight up to a tiger and trapped it against a fence. In 1979, 30-year-old Bridget Dick was mauled by a tiger after she opened the car window. The same year 12-year-old Neville Craig Vance entered a lion breeding den and died from injuries suffered after being attacked by a lion. The boy's father was building a brick breeding den at the park when the misadventure happened. The Shire of Bacchus Marsh refused to investigate the safety of the park maintaining that the safety of the park was an internal matter for the park's management.

It is to be assumed that safety arrangements at the park were below satisfactory levels and in 1982, there was an incident of an industrial dispute involving a number of keepers who locked themselves inside a lion enclosure to protest about their safety and conditions.

American actress and animal rights activist, Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren visited Australia in 1981 for the promotion of her film 'Roar'. She was critical about Ashton's Bacchus Marsh Lion Park, saying the Park had allowed some lions and two leopards to be killed and stuffed by a taxidermist.

By 1985, it had fallen into horrific disuse, and was closed after animal cruelty charges were filed against the owners at the time. Some of the animals at the park were adopted by zoos across Australia but some were euthanised.

Attributed Source: tomelbourne.com.au

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