Cole Bros. Circus. Australian Wallabies

Cole Bros. Circus. Australian Wallabies , 1943

Colour lithograph in two panels, 75.1 x 71.3cm. Missing portions, repaired tears and creases, paper loss, some soiling.

Linen-backed.

Text continues "Greatest troupe of women acrobats ever seen. Bay City [Michigan], Thursday, June 24. Buy war bonds and stamps."

The Wallabies were a six-person trampoline troupe established by English-born John Wallace Llewelyn (Wally) Pugh. They toured the Tivoli circuit in Australia and then travelled overland through Asia performing in Singapore, Japan, Shanghai, and Sri Lanka, reaching Europe by late 1935. The troupe repeated the tour in 1938. This was the beginning of a very successful circus business in Europe and the USA for Pugh and his family, using the gimmick of staging conventional circus acts with Australian nomenclature and costuming. Ref: Circus Historical Society; NLA.