Wimmins Circus

The Wimmins Circus was an Australian feminist circus troupe based in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1979, it was the first women's circus in the world. Its home base was the Pram Factory, but it also toured to Sydney, before it disbanded in 1981.

History and description

In the late 1970s, the acrobatic group Circus Oz was based at the Australian Performing Group's Pram Factory in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton. Women in this group included Robin Laurie, Sue Broadway, Jane Mullett, Celeste Howden, Laurel Frank, and Hellen Sky. Ollie Black and others formed a one-off group called the Mighty Bonza Whacko Women's Circus, which included some of these performers, which proved to be a huge success, with feminism in Australia at a peak at the time. Wimmins Circus was formed out of this group in 1979 by Ollie Black and others.^[1][2][3][4]

Wimmin's Circus acts were described as "a zany combination of traditional circus skills, eccentric comedy and madcap music".^[5] Co-founder Ollie Black later wrote that the group used "humour and live music to present images of women that challenged stereotypes".^[1]

The group dissolved in 1981.^[1]

Selected performances

On Sunday 14 October 1979, Wimmin's Circus appeared, along with the bands Redgum, Small Axe, and Hit 'n' Run, at an Anti-Uranium Benefit concert, in support of trade union bans on uranium mining, at the Caulfield Institute of Technology at Caulfield, Melbourne.^[4][6][7]

The troupe performed at the second Women and Labour Conference at the University of Melbourne, which took place from 17 to 19 May 1980. A reviewer wrote in the ANU student newspaper Woroni "The highlight of the night was the 'Wimmins Circus', who performed various acts of skill and dare-devillry(sic) for the delight and amazement of the audience".^[8]

On 5 June 1980, the Wimmin's Circus began their first season at the Pram Factory in Melbourne, performing twice a day.^[9]

In July 1980, the Wimmin's Circus performed at the second "Rock Against Racism" concert at the Northcote Town Hall in Northcote, Melbourne, along with bands including No Fixed Address, Men at Work, and Ross Hannaford's Lucky Dog.^[10]

On Thursday 7 August 1980, the troupe gave a free performance at the Roundhouse at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, organised by the student's union.^[11] On Saturday 9 August they appeared at Glebe Town Hall, Glebe, in Sydney, along with the bands Stray Dogs and Hens' Teeth.^[12][13][14]

Legacy

After the demise of the Wimmins Circus in 1981, a group of former members of the troupe moved to Sydney and established Lollie's Warehouse. Many women's performance groups performed there in the early 1980s, including Harpies Bizarre, Freeda Stairs, the Piano Accordion Band, and Furious Chicken.^[1]

Co-founder Ollie Black^[3] went on to found Vitalstatistix in Adelaide in 1984, which later became the National Women's Theatre.^[2] The troupe was the first exclusively women's circus troupe in the world.^[3]

In 1991, the Women's Circus was established in Melbourne by Donna Jackson, inspired by Wimmins Circus.^[1]