Original Works

If you would like to explore the history of circus in Australia, the original works of Mark St Leon, PhD may be helpful.

Original Works

By Mark St Leon

This is a compilation of some useful resources when exploring the history of Australian circus.

St Leon, Mark, ‘A long and winding road: The story of circus in Australia’, Australian Heritage, Spring, 2008, pp. 75-80.

St Leon, Mark, ‘Australia’s circus heritage’, Circus!, Sydney: Powerhouse Museum, 1996.

St Leon, Mark, ‘Circus in Australia’, Fusion: The Flying Fruit Fly Circus, Sydney: Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festival Program, Aug 2000.

St Leon, Mark (ed.), ‘Circus in Australia: A special focus issue’, Australasian Drama Studies. No 35, Oct 1999.

St Leon, Mark, Spangles & Sawdust: The Circus in Australia, Richmond: Greenhouse Publications, 1983.

St Leon, Mark, The Australian Story, Melbourne: Melbourne Books, 2011.

St Leon, Mark, Circus Dreams: Australian Themes, Saarbruecken: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co., 2008.

St Leon, Mark, ‘The circus in the context of Australia’s regional, social and cultural history’, Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, Vol. 72, Pt. 3, Dec 1986, pp. 204-25. ISSN: 0035-8762

St Leon, Mark, ‘Unearthing Australia’s Circus Heritage’, National Library of Australia News, Vol. 8, No. 3, Dec 1997. ISSN: 1035-753X

St Leon, Mark, ‘Colleano, Con [Cornelius] (1899–1973)’, in John Ritchie, (gen. ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 13: 1940–1980, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1993, pp. 467–68.

St Leon, Mark, ‘Noms d’arena: The use of pseudonyms in Australian circus’, Australian Drama Studies, No. 35, Oct 1999. ISSN: 0810-4123

St Leon, Mark,’Robert Avis Radford: The Tasmanian Astley’, Australasian Drama Studies, No. 24, Apr 1994. ISSN: 0810-4123

St Leon, Mark, The Wizard of the Wire: The Story of Con Colleano, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra,1993.

St Leon, Mark, ‘Von der Mehden, virtuoso cornetist, composer and circus musician: a short biography’, 39th Annual NSW School Band Festival Program, Jul 2000, pp. 48-51.

St Leon, Mark, ‘Wirth, May Emmeline (1894–1978)’, in John Ritchie, (gen. ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 12: 1891–1939, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1990, p. 544.

St Leon, Mark, ‘The St Leons: Australia’s first family of entertainers’, Australian Heritage, Spring, 2009, pp. 12-15. View

St Leon, Mark, The Silver Road: The Life of Mervyn King, Circus Man, Springwood, NSW: Butterfly Books Pty Limited, 1990.

St Leon, Mark, ‘An unbelievable Lady Bareback Rider: May Wirth’, Bandwagon: The Journal of the Circus Historical Society, Inc., Vol. 34, No. 3, May-Jun 1990, pp. 4ff.

St Leon, Mark [with Cummings, Lorne], ‘Juggling the books: The use of accounting information in circus in Australia’, Accounting History, Vol. 14, No. 1 & 2, Feb-May 2009, pp. 11-34. ISSN: 1032-3732

St Leon, Mark, ‘Adopted apprentices: Juvenile recruitment in Australian circus, 1847-1942’, Labour History, No. 110, May 2016, pp. 97-124. ISSN: 0023-6942

St Leon, Mark, ‘Australia’s circus children’, Inside History, Jul-Aug 2011, pp. 52-5.

St Leon, Mark [with Ramsland, John], Children of the Circus: The Australian Experience, Springwood, NSW: Butterfly Books Pty Limited, 1993.

St Leon, Mark, ‘Circus or bust’, Lowdown: Youth Performing Arts in Australia, Vol. 9, No. 4, Aug 1987, pp. 47–55.

St Leon, Mark, ‘Was your ancestor in the circus?’ Descent: The Journal of the Society of Australian Genealogists, Vol. 17, Pt. 2, Jun 1985, pp. 71-80.

St Leon, Mark, ‘What’s in a name? A family excavation’, Descent, Vol. 49, No. 3, Sep 2019. ISSN: 0084-9731

St Leon, Mark, ‘Celebrated at first, then implied and finally denied: the erosion of Aboriginal identity in circus, 1851–1960’, Aboriginal History, No. 32, 2008, pp. 63-81. ISSN: 0314-8769

St Leon, Mark, ‘Australian circus language: A report on the nature, origin and circumstances of Aussie argot under the big top’, English Today, Jan 1994.

St Leon, Mark, ‘Long voyages and muscular vigour: Maritime themes in Australia’s circus history’, The Great Circle: Journal of the Australian Association of Maritime History, Vol. 31, No. 1, 2009, pp. 30-58. ISSN: 0156-8698

St Leon, Mark, ‘Novel routes: Circus in the Pacific, 1841-1911’, Popular Entertainment Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2014, pp. 24-47.

St Leon, Mark, ‘Dying to save the colours: Military themes in Australia’s circus history’, Sabretache: The Journal and Proceedings of The Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol. LI, No. 1, Mar 2010. ISSN: 0048-8933

St Leon, Mark, Australian Circus Reminiscences, Sydney: The Author, 1984.

St Leon, Mark, Australian Circus Sources, Sydney: The Author, Sydney, 1985.

St Leon, Mark, The Circus in Australia, 1842–1921, Sydney: The Author, 1981.

St Leon, Mark, ‘Talent in the tent: Circus in South Australia, 1850-1977’, Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia, No. 36, Nov 2008, pp. 24-43. ISSN: 0312-9640

St Leon, Mark, ‘Circus in the Far North, 1877-1987’, Journal of Northern Territory History, No. 22, 2011. ISSN: 1034-7488

St Leon, Mark, ‘Horseman or no horseman: Circus activity in Van Diemen’s Land, 1847-51’, Paper & Proceedings: Tasmanian Historical Research Association, Vol. 55, No. 2, Jul 2008, pp. 86-107. ISSN: 0039-9809

St Leon, Mark, ‘Circus at the Eureka Stockade’, Stage Whispers, Vol. 17, No.3, May-Jun, 2008, pp. 22-23.

St Leon, Mark, ‘Innocent Amusement for All Classes: Early Circus Activity in Queensland, 1847-1942’, Queensland History Journal, Vol. 21, No. 1, Apr 2010.
ISSN: 1836-5477

St Leon, Mark, ‘No little sensation: Pioneer circus activity in Port Phillip, 1849-54’, Victorian Historical Journal, Vol. 79, No. 1, Jun 2008. ISSN: 1030-7710

St Leon, Mark, ‘To the golden west’, Early days: Journal of the Royal Western Australian Historical Society, Vol. 13 No. 4, Jan 2010. ISSN: 0312-6145

St Leon, Mark, ‘The Legend of “The Golden Horseshoes of Beechworth”: The Evidence Considered’,
Victorian Historical Journal, Issue 296, Vol. 96, No. 2, Dec 2021, pp. 295-330.

St Leon, Mark, ‘Presence, Prestige and Patronage: Circus Proprietors and Country Pastors in Australia, 1847–1942’, Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review, Vol. 12, No. 1, Dec 2021, pp. 39-73.

St Leon, Mark, ‘Olympians of the Antipodes: Sport and Australian circus, 1833-2000’, Sporting Traditions, Vol. 25, No. 2, Nov 2008, pp. 21-40. ISSN: 0813-2577

St Leon, Mark, ‘Circus’, in Sydney Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1, Dec 2010. View.

St Leon, Mark, ‘Circus in Sydney: Some forgotten sites’, History: Magazine of the Royal Australian Historical Society, No. 113, Sep 2012, pp. 22-5.

St Leon, Mark, ‘Theatre, amphitheatre and circus in Sydney, 1833-1860’, Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, Vol. 97, No. 2, Dec 2011. ISSN: 0035-8762