Circus Diaries Goes to Kalgoorlie

I presented a paper at the Cultural Studies Association of Australia conference, in the big dusty bowl of Kalgoorlie. I haven't been here since 1978, and my... it's changed! It's much more civilised, but still deeply fascinating. I watched the annual parade, featuring lolly throwing miners, belly dancing miners' wives, Scotty bands, bmx bandits (also throwing lollies) and the hugest bloody mining trucks you've ever seen. Two or three stories high, trying to maneouvre down the main street, past the light poles, and around the roundabouts. Thrilling. And I have an idea for my next research project.... Nearly got blinded by a flying lolly that felt like a rock when it hit my eyebrow. Big lump for two days. Who says sugar won't hurt you?

Here's an excerpt from my paper, delivered just before I skived off to tour the Questa Casa brothel - one of the last three brothels in town. Kalgoorlie used to be famous for its hard drinking and hard... well you know.. culture. Bureaucracy is closing this town down as much as it is circuses it seems...

Belonging and Survival: the future of family circuses in Australia.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a circus that came to town. Now it doesn’t. Not so much. It’s too far. The travel is too expensive. The council might ban the circus if it has dogs or ponies. Kids are too busy gaming on the web. Communities are isolated by online networking. Sharing time under a bigtop with family and friends, marvelling at the skill of artists who train for thirty years or more to entertain their audiences, pales when compared with the cybernetically enhanced feats of Lara Croft.

The odds are mounting against traditional circuses in Australia. Circus fortunes mirror those of the communities through which they travel, and in which they perform, and like the broader community they are facing numerous financial and environmental challenges. However, they are also facing other challenges unique to circus culture. Drought is driving up the price of animal feed, and affecting rural audiences’ ability to afford tickets. Rising fuel prices are making long haul travel less feasible. Urban, regional and industrial development is swallowing up traditional sites, leaving circuses to put up their big tops on marginal lands further and further from their audience base. High-density residential developments are causing conflict with residents over issues of noise, privacy and perceived animal smells.

Changing attitudes in some areas towards performing animals is creating conflict, and occasionally the banning of circuses in council areas, restricting access to audiences, and creating vast areas through which they must travel without earning income. Competition for the entertainment dollar is contributing to dwindling audience numbers. Spiralling insurance costs and conflicting federal, state and council regulations are creating an expensive bureaucratic maze out of which some circuses cannot find their way.

All these changes and attitudes take their toll on this unique culture. Three of Australia’s largest and most popular traditional circuses closed during the past ten years. Can those remaining survive into the future? Should they survive? And if so, how?

Traditional circuses are perhaps the oldest, non-indigenous, mobile community in Australia. However the term ‘mobile community’ is a contemporary concept, and traditional circuses is more aptly described as a nomadic culture – not the aimlessly wandering tribes of anthropological fancy, or the disturbingly unsettled of medical discourse, but a deep culture with history, traditions, genealogy and identity framed by constant and necessary movement. There is much we can learn about community from this extraordinary culture, and much it can offer in the debate about ‘belonging’ – a concept too often argued in terms of ‘place’............

Thanks to Julia Horncastle for making everyone's time in Kalgoorlie so fabulous, and to the CSAA for proving that culture is also rich outside our cities..