Day Nine - Zoo

Apparently Hobart used to have a zoo. I stumbled across it today for the first time in my 22 years in this city. And I used the term 'city' lightly. Hobart's more of a boat village than a city. Only there aren't any boats. Except on the wharf. But that's beside the point. What I mean is, Hobart's ridiculously small. So is Tasmania. So how could I have lived here this long and not known there's an 1800's zoo sitting there? This is probably a sign that I need to open my eyes a little more. There's so many interesting things around me every day that I just take for granted and don't absorb, let alone document.

The area was quite interesting. There were a couple of 1800's structures that were clearly animal housings scattered about the place. There was a small description on the gate that told of the main remaining enclosure which housed a polar bear. The bear escaped, as they do, and mauled one of the zookeepers resulting in his death and ultimately, the closure of the zoo. The area was later converted into a storeyard for Hobart's oil industry.

Even though there were awesome 1800's structures, the most intriguing part for me was the gate. It looked as if it was undergoing restoration, but it was covered in little cast iron sculptures of zoo animals trapped behind bars. Needless to say, they all looked rather unhappy, which probably wasn't the best image for the zoo. But at least they were being honest.

This photo's of one of the caged animals in abstract form. I believe this one was a tiger. But it could have been a bear.
For photo info and camera settings etc click the photo to link to my flickr page.

This photo to the right is what's left of the polar bear enclosure.