The Great Jonaas

Jonaas Zilinskas was the Ashton's Circus strongman and dental trapeze artist for almost 40 years. Originally from Lithuania, I met him on the north coast of NSW where he was living in his caravan on a friend's property next to the Pacific Hwy. An extraordinary visual artist as well as circus performer, he had transformed his tiny patch into a living art gallery of pieces he made from beach pebbles, cupie dolls, house and car keys, and his own hair. He showed me his daily exercise regime - throwing a loop around his neck, throwing the end of the rope over the limb of an enormous gum tree, and then hauling himself up the tree by his neck. Nearing 90, he still had all his own teeth, legacy of so many years of holding young women aloft on trapezes he held in his teeth as he hung from the circus rig. Jonaas has since returned to Lithuania to be with his sisters and their families.