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Many years ago, like most people from Gippsland, I heard about the Circus elephant that was said to have been killed at the notorious Stratford railway bridge. This incident was thought to have occurred some time in the 1950s. The unfortunate elephant apparently hit its head as it was being transported by Circus truck under the viaduct. The truth or otherwise of the story has been debated by many over the years and was questioned in the Melbourne Herald Sun in 2012. To me the report in the Herald Sun left many questions unanswered, so since then I have undertaken an on again off again investigation into the story. My motivation was to prove the story and find out the name of the elephant. I found most locals who were said to know what happened, in fact only knew the general story that they had heard from others and did not know for certain any key details, such as; when did it happen?, what circus was involved?, what was the elephant’s name?, and where was the elephant buried? The unanswered question of who buried the elephant and where, is just one example of the conflicting theories and confusion that has surrounded this story. I was told of at least 6 sites where the elephant was buried, and of three or four different people who buried the elephant, while someone suggested the elephant was cremated. After investigating those claims I’m confident none of the people nominated did in fact bury the elephant. I must note that most of the theories put forward were based on assumptions, or from what I have found, were just unrelated incidents elsewhere that have attached themselves to the Stratford incident. Other theories offered, such as the elephant was actually a Giraffe, were just outlier theories and best ignored. In any case, if we accept an elephant was killed and buried, all but one of those nominated burial sites and stories must be wrong. Therefore it is fair to ask what else about the story does not add up or is unrelated? This prompted me to come at the mystery from a different angle by asking people in the Circus world what they knew of the story. From my investigations, a Circus Elephant in the 1950s was valued at about 3000 pounds.
STRATFORD TOWN CRIER INC
A sum like that would, in the early 1950s, buy a house in Stratford; a dead elephant was not a trivial matter for a Circus, so surely if it happened, someone would have known something. At first most Circus people I spoke to either did not know of the story, or if they had heard of it, dismissed it as fiction. The most common response I got was ‘we would have heard about it’. One Circus person, Michael Robertson, said he had heard the story but the elephant was not killed and another said two elephants were killed. I knew the story of two elephants being killed actually related to a road accident in NSW in the 1980s, so I quickly dismissed that one. The Circus people I spoke to were very helpful and they gave me names and contact details of other Circus people who may know something. Some proved very hard to track down, but then after over a year of trying to get onto Mr Tony Ratcliffe, a one time big Circus Owner in New Zealand, I was able to I reach him. In short and after a bit of confusion he told me an amazing story about a Sole Bros elephant that hit her head at a railway overpass and he concluded after some discussion, that it would have happened at Stratford in Australia. Partially as a result of speaking to Tony Ratcliffe and others, I spoke to two more Circus people who confirmed Tony Ratcliffe’s explanation of the Stratford elephant mystery. Those two people are Tony Maynard of Eroni’s Circus and Mr Charlie Ridgway, son of the former owner of a New Zealand Circus called ‘Ridgways’. Tony Maynard recalls his grandfather, Mr Jimmy Perry telling him about a Soles Circus elephant that hit its head on a railway overpass. Jim Perry’s cousin, Joe Perry, ran Soles Circus at that time. Charlie Ridgway advised me that ‘it was no secret’ that his dad, Charlie Ridgway Snr, when working for Sole Bros in Australia around 1950/51, drove an elephant truck under a viaduct and one of the elephants was knocked off the truck. The amazing detail however, all three stated, was that the elephant, although knocked off the truck and stunned or unconscious, was not killed! The point was made that the old trucks of the 1940s travelled far slower than today. I have two photos; one dated 1949 and one dated 1951, of a Sole Bros Circus truck, a Chev Blitz. One photo shows 2 elephants beside the truck and the other shows them on it. The elephants in the newspaper photo of 1951 are identified as Betty and Topsy on tour in South Australia a few months before they visited Gippsland.
Charlie Ridgway says the elephant that was knocked off the truck was Betty. The story goes that as Betty lay on the ground Mr Ridgway unloaded the other elephant, Topsy, and led her over to Betty. This apparently stimulated Betty and she got up and both elephants were loaded back on the truck and continued their journey. Newspaper advertisements indicate that in December 1951 Soles Circus did tour through Gippsland going from Maffra to Sale and then on to Bairnsdale, through Stratford! I note this route would seem to negate one of the other theories that the ‘Stratford elephant’ hit one of the Maffra Stratford Road viaducts, if we accept that Betty is our elephant as the evidence indicates. However the story does not stop there. Opinion from the Circus world and other documentation indicates that Betty did not escape unscathed from the head injury she suffered. Photos of her after that date show a distinct lump on her head and she started to gain a reputation as a difficult elephant. In 1953 she toured New Zealand and apparently attacked a group of people, one of whom is said to have died later from injuries sustained. Then in February 1962 a newspaper reporter called Billy Walker, who was related to the Soles Circus owner, visited the Circus to write a story on Circus life. What exactly happened is a little unclear but Betty killed him. As a result of this Sole Bros Circus indicated that Betty was to be put down, but then sold Betty on to Bullens Circus, at a discounted price. It is accepted that Bullens prided themselves as having the biggest and best Circus with lots of elephants.