Did you know Geelong had its own Zoo? WhatWasGeelong

There’s not too much information out there on our home towns zoo… It’s life was short lived but it was much loved by the locals.

Basically from what we can work out the zoo was opened in 1903 and had around 20 animal species, and closed sometime during The Second World War the exact year is not known.

Kardinia Zoo was described as a ‘magnificent reserve of some 40 acres’… The zoo was built 1903 to enclose the largest pond in the Kardinia Park Precinct for wild fowl and quickly grew to have monkeys, a range native Australian Animals and even a elephant which people could ride.

*information from – Jones George, 1984 ‘Growing Together A Gardening History of Geelong – extending to Colac and Camperdown’ page 134