Sideshow Alley at the 144th Wagga Wagga Show, 2008 (Bidgee, CC 3.0)
The people who travel from show to show, in city and country, are a distinctive Australian folk group. Known as ‘showies’ or ‘showmen’ (never as ‘carnies’, an Americanism), they have been driving, training and shipping their enetrtainments across and around the country for generations. Sideshow Alley has been an institution since at least the 1920s, though the origins of these much-loved entertainments are with the earliest colonial agricultural shows. Based originally on entertainments at British fairs, the Australian version evolved to include travelling tent shows of boxing, music, dodgems and increasingly hairy rides.
Here are a few links to sources that provide an insight into the life and work of showies:
Read The Showies by Bob Morgan, based on interviews with show folk in the 1990s. Great photographs, too. https://www.rasv.com.au/media/3773/the-showies.pdf
Listen to Bob speaking with Rob Willis at https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2537974
Read a recent account of showie life today https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-15/life-on-the-road-showman-tell-all/100295574
Showmens Guild of Australasia https://www.showmensguild.com.au (also guilds in most states)
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/HistoryOfShowmanSideshowAlleyCircusFamily/
Penny Gaff is a site on the Australian circus, but has a lot of material relevant to travelling shows of different kinds, including minstrels, magic lantern and Charles Thatcher gigs, among others. We can only imagine what delights were to be seen at the Star Theatre in Beechworth on 19 February 1864 when Professor Hall, ventriloquist and magician, appeared. https://www.pennygaff.com.au
