Discount lion safari

Yes, that lion park - the shoddy-looking Rockbank one. I have driven past this place so many times over the years. As a child I was always annoyed by the fact that they left an enticing advertisement (the words "LION PARK" painted on a toilet block) within viewing distance of the highway, even well after the park's closure - reminds me of how I felt when, after years of pestering my parents to take me to Wobbies World, we drove all the way out east only to find it had shut

Some background: A short article in the Sydney Morning Herald (22 Feb 1970) said a 'Mr Stafford Bullen' owned a range of these parks along the eastern seaboard - he was a 'circus chief' who got lucky playing the sharemarket for twenty or so years, and then branched out into public investments and mining leases in New Zealand. Apparently the Melbourne lion park was to open in May of 1970, costing $500,000, and a lot of people were mauled there in the following decade because they opened doors or windows while driving through the exhibits

Bizarrely enough there was another lion park further down the highway past Bacchus Marsh, owned by the Ashton family who were also in the circus business (see: backstory of a stuffed lion). Both parks shut down in the mid 80s once people realised how wrong it is to import animals for this purpose

I could write something more comprehensive but I only wanted to provide a brief preamble and not a fully-fledged piece of research, which could actually be possible given the wealth of information on this particular brand of car-dependent zoo. So, on that note, I am sorry to say I forgot the date the following advertisement was published. I know it was The Age though. And since when do people use miles instead of kilometres. It doesn't even matter. Just enjoy the cute animal drawing