Elephant locations in Australia

42 locations has kept elephants in Australia

There is presently 20 (6,14) living elephants in locations in Australia (in this database)
Region: Australia is in this database included in australiaOther regions
Location holdings:

42 locations has kept 144 elephants in Australia

(Database tables with collection of elephants further down on the page)

Elephants in locations20 (6,14) living124 (17,103) dead
Sex ratio and
Management:
 Male  6 / 20 
 30%
 Female  14 / 20 
 70%
 Free contact  8 / 20 
 40%
 Protected contact  10 / 20 
 50%
 No contact  0 / 20  0%
 Unknown contact  2 / 20 
 10%
 wild  0 / 20  0%

The first importation of elephants into Australia appears to be in late 1851 when a male and female elephant from Dacca, India were shipped from Calcutta on board the ship Golden Saxon. She came into port at Hobart. The male elephant was sold at auction, and was exhibited around various hotels in Hobart before he was shipped to Melbourne, before ending up in Adelaide where he ended up pulling a plow. The elephant was named "Tommy" It appears he died around 1860, however I still have to confirm a definite death date on this animal.
Liz Clark

Theres a large selection of photos of elephants in Australia at State Library of New South Wales

New Zealand


Twelve Asian Elephants have been kept in total in New Zealand zoos, at Auckland Zoo (8 animals between 1923 and present) and Wellington Zoo (4 animals between 1927 and 1983). The current two are Burma, imported to New Zealand in 1990 from animal dealer Frans van den Brink (originally wild-caught as a calf in Burma in 1982); and Anjalee, captive-bred in 2006 and imported to New Zealand in 2015 from the Pinnawala Elephant Orphange in Sri Lanka. (Zoochat)

Reference list

Koehl, D., Facts about elephants in Australia. Elephant Encyclopedia, (2020) available online retrieved at https://www.elephant.se/country.php?name=Australia.
(archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources, among others

Internal relevant links

  • The elephant database startpage. Statistics
  • News about elephants in Australia (From the sister site Elephant News)

    • External relevant links

    NameElephant collectionTypePlaceDistrictProvinceStateRegion
    Adelaide Zoo
    Kept totally 6 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births3 relocated3 deathszooAdelaide
    (map)    		South Australia
    Ashtons Circus
    Kept totally 5 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births1 relocated4 deathscircusSans Souci
    Australia Zoo
    Kept totally 3 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births1 relocated2 deathszooBeerwah
    (map)    		Queensland
    Bullens African Lion Safari in Beenleigh
    Kept totally 1 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births1 relocated0 deathszooBeenleighQueensland
    Bullens African Lion Safari in Rockbank
    Kept totally 1 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births1 relocated0 deathszooRockbank VictoriaRockbank Victoria
    Bullens Animal World
    Kept totally 8 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births4 relocated4 deathszooWallaciaNew South Wales
    Bullens Circus
    Kept totally 21 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births11 relocated10 deathscircus
    Bullens Lion Safari Park
    Kept totally 0 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births0 relocated0 deathszooSydney
    (map)    		New South Wales
    Cells Brothers Circus
    Kept totally 3 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births0 relocated3 deathscircus
    Cremorne Hotel Gardens
    Kept totally 1 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births1 relocated0 deathszooUnley
    (map)
    Eronis Circus
    Kept totally 1 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births0 relocated1 deathscircusMelbourne
    FitzGerald Brothers' Circus and Menagerie
    Kept totally 1 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births1 relocated0 deathscircus
    Fritz Schultz
    Kept totally 1 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births1 relocated0 deathsdealerOrmeau
    (map)    		Queensland
    Gepps Cross Hotel (Mr Matthews)
    Kept totally 1 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births0 relocated1 deathsprivateAdelaide
    (map)    		South Australia
    Goldwyn Brothers circus
    Kept totally 5 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births1 relocated4 deathscircus
    Hagens Circus
    Kept totally 0 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births0 relocated0 deathscircus
    Highfield Hall (Ellis Stanley Joseph)
    Kept totally 2 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births2 relocated0 deathszooSydney
    (map)
    Hobart Beaumaris Zoo
    Kept totally 1 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births1 relocated0 deathszooHobart
    (map)    		Tasmania
    Lennon Brothers Circus
    Kept totally 3 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births3 relocated0 deathscircus
    Macleay Museum (Chau Chak Wing Museum)
    Kept totally 0 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births0 relocated0 deathscampCamperdown
    (map)    		New South Wales
    Monarto Zoo
    Kept totally 1 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births0 relocated1 deathszooMonarto
    (map)    		South Australia
    Mr J. Thomas
    Kept totally 1 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births1 relocated0 deathsprivate
    (map)    		Tasmania
    Pagels Circus (Greg Bullen Circus)
    Kept totally 2 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births2 relocated0 deathscircus
    Pagens circus
    Kept totally 0 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births0 relocated0 deathscircus
    Perry Brothers circus
    Kept totally 10 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births4 relocated6 deathscircus
    Perth Zoo
    Kept totally 13 elephants    		, 3 present (1,2)0 births6 relocated4 deathszooSouth Perth
    (map)    		Western Australia
    Ridgeways circus
    Kept totally 5 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births1 relocated4 deathscircusSydney
    Royal Melbourne Zoological Park
    Kept totally 19 elephants    		, 6 present (1,5)5 births5 relocated8 deathszooMelbourne
    (map)
    Silvers Circus (Mervyn King)
    Kept totally 1 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births0 relocated1 deathscircus
    Sir Joseph Banks Hotel Zoological Gardens (William Beaumont)
    Kept totally 3 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births1 relocated2 deathszooBotany
    (map)    		New South Wales
    Smiths Hotel
    Kept totally 1 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births1 relocated0 deathsprivateSmithfield
    (map)    		South Australia
    Sole Brothers Circus
    Kept totally 8 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births1 relocated7 deathscircus
    (map)
    South Australian Museum
    Kept totally 0 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births0 relocated0 deathsmuseumAdelaide
    (map)    		South Australia
    Stardust Circus
    Kept totally 3 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births2 relocated1 deathscircus
    Sydney Zoo
    Kept totally 42 elephants    		, 3 present (0,3)4 births19 relocated20 deathszooSydney
    (map)
    Sydney Zoo (Moore Park)
    Kept totally 6 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births5 relocated1 deathszooMoore Park, Sydney
    (map)    		New South Wales
    Taronga Western Plains Zoo
    Kept totally 18 elephants    		, 8 present (4,4)2 births0 relocated10 deathszooDubbo
    (map)    		New South Wales
    Tex Mortens Circus
    Kept totally 0 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births0 relocated0 deathscircus
    University of Newcastle
    Kept totally 0 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births0 relocated0 deathsmuseumCallaghan
    (map)    		NSW
    W.H. Hartley
    Kept totally 1 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births1 relocated0 deathscircus
    Wirth Circus
    Kept totally 34 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births7 relocated27 deathscircusSydney
    (map)
    Wonderland City
    Kept totally 1 elephants    		, 0 present (0,0)0 births1 relocated0 deathszooSydney
    (map)    		New South Wales


    Elephant Encyclopedia and database
    ELEPHANT
    ENCYCLOPEDIA
    Established 1995
    ELEPHANT
    DATABASE
    Established 2006
    Search for keywords

    Locations of visitors to elephant.se
    34.201.9.19