About 2 o'clock the donkeys come down. They are such dear, little, obstinate creatures, and are about eleven in number; but more are to come from New Zealand, where they are bred. The children are delighted with the novelty. They pet and fondle them, and discover their names engraved on their halters. There is Gipsy, Topsy, Madcap, Murmur, Bland Holt, Seddon, and Napoleon. This last donkey objects to carrying adults or boys, he likes the girls best. It is strange how he knows, instantly a man or boy is wont to get on his back he bucks most viciously, and yet for the girls his temper is angelic. Double-seated wicker saddles are provided for the very little children, and the donkeys look so pretty with a double-freight of chubby babies; on their backs. I am sure they feel their twofold responsibility in carrying such precious burdens. Boys and girls ride straddle-saddle, so there is little fear of a fall. Even if such a catastrophe should happen, it would not be serious on the sand. Boys accompany the riders, whipping the donkeys up, until they break into a fast trot, and judging by the beaming faces of the children, it must be great fun, and well worth a trial. Several timid little girls want a ride badly, but they are afraid unless an elder sister walks beside the donkey to held then on. Then the difficulty is to get them off, as they have enjoyed the ride so much. (1)
Are these Gipsy, Topsy, Madcap, Murmur, Bland Holt, Seddon, and Napoleon?
Donkeys on the St Kilda Beach, dated c. 1906. State Library of Victoria image H33670/4 http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/289402
The Public Works Committee granted Mr Wright, permissive occupancy of the foreshore, between the baths and Brooke's boat house, for donkey rides, subject to regulations to be drawn up. (3)
Trove list - I have created a list of articles relating to donkeys on the St Kilda beach, access it here.
In spite of this permission (and possibly because a new application was required each year) Mr Wright applied again to the Council in November 1904 to use a portion of the foreshore for the purpose of giving rides on donkeys to all and sundry. (4) He was granted permission for donkeys being run on the foreshore north of Kenney's baths to a point in line with Mary-street. (5)
Donkeys on the St Kilda Beach
Weekly Times, January 7, 1905 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/222539805/23493233#
Gipsy, Topsy, Madcap, Murmur, Bland Holt, Seddon, and Napoleon were very popular with the children, but there was drama in early January of 1905 when the donkeys were attacked. The following letter was written to the Editor of The Argus newspaper -
Sir -This is what happened at half past 4 on Tuesday afternoon on St Kilda beach. A respectable young man is running donkeys, and while some were carrying their human freights two larrikins took from a cart - which they had driven to the water's edge - one or two fierce bulldogs. The collar was removed and the bulldog let go. It deliberately set on to a donkey carrying a little boy. The boy was severely bitten about the legs necessitating hospital dressing, and the donkey was greatly injured, needing the services of a veterinary surgeon. Police assistance was sought in every direction and although the depot was telephoned no police arrived for fully 40 minutes. (6)
Donkeys on the Sands, St Kilda.
Image not dated but likely to be c. 1905
Australian National Maritime Museum image 00001937
I have no information as to whether the donkeys were on the beach all year, or just over the Summer season, but as this article from the newspaper in November 1905, tells us
Numbers of children were disappointed on Monday at St Kilda owing to the absence of the donkeys on the beach. It was not discernible whether it was because the public works department sand trucks are shifting the whole beach between Brook's boathouse and the baths or whether it was owing to some other reason. Anyhow the donkeys were not there and the sand tracks were, whilst it may be added that the beach is gradually disappearing. Will it ever - like the cat - come back again? (7)
On the Sands at St Kilda - lounging adults and children riding donkeys.
Did the Donkeys come back that Summer? I cannot say. I have found other accounts of the donkeys at the the St Kilda Beach, the earliest one from November 1868. In January 1870, The Age advertised that Rowland's stud of Donkeys will be at St Kilda Beach during the week, and at Brighton on Sundays, during the season. (8) But these donkeys were not popular with everyone as The Herald noted in February 1870-
Donkey Riding at St. Kilda - A correspondent writes to us anent the "donkey riding nuisance," and says "it ought to be done away with by the authorities." Alluding to yesterday afternoon, our correspondent says : "At one time there were two or three hundred boys on the St. Kilda beach, where a man hired out several donkeys for short rides along the beach. Every time a donkey started a number of these boys would scamper after them, yelling, and shouting, and cheering, to the great annoyance of those who were out for a gentle stroll by the rippling waters of the bay to enjoy the fresh breeze after the confinement of the week." We quite agree with the writer of the above, that what he complains of is a great nuisance, and should be checked. (9)
In January 1871, Mr Rowland put his stock of donkeys, mules and equipment up for auction which offered a man of small capital the opportunity to enter into a lucrative pursuit. (10)
Mr Rowlands sells his donkeys
The Argus, January 10, 1871 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5840797
After 1871, I could find no reports of donkey rides until Mr H. Wright and his donkeys in 1904 and 1905.
The next confirmed reports of donkey rides was in December 1923, when the newspapers could announce that one of the traditional delights of English seaside resorts donkey rules for children will be an attraction at St. Kilda this summer. (11) The Herald later reported -
The week after next, children visiting St. Kilda beach will be able to hire donkeys and ride between Brooke's boathouse and the pavilion tea rooms. This innovation has been sanctioned by the St. Kilda Shore Committee, which has made arrangements with a private proprietor. An offer was also made to provide camels with Oriental trappings, each camel to be led, but the committee would not accept. The beach is too crowded at holiday times it was considered, for camels. The owner of the donkeys intends to seek similar privileges on other beaches, including South Melbourne, Brighton and Sandringham. (12)
Sadly for Mr Joe Gardiner, he was not allowed to provide camel rides on the beach and thus his camels, Mutt and Jeff, had to reside at Coburg.
The Argus, January 26, 1924 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1927133
However, the hopes of the youngsters for donkey rides were dashed, as The Herald reported -
Rinderpest in West Australia is responsible for depriving children visiting the St. Kilda foreshore of the rides on donkeys to which they had been looking forward after recent announcements in the press. Mr H. O. Allen, secretary, of the St. Kilda Shore Trust, has been in formed by Mr J. Gardiner, who was given the right to provide the donkeys that he purchased some in Perth, West Australia, but was unable to ship them to Melbourne because of the regulations issued since the outbreak of rinderpest forbidding the transfer of animals likely to carry the disease. (13)
The next reference in the newspapers to donkeys on the beach at St Kilda was in December 1931, when The Sun News-Pictorial published the following photographs -
Donkeys on the beach at St Kilda.
The Sun News-Pictorial, December 19, 1931 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/276261897
Four years later, The Herald in November 1935 published this cute photograph of a girl having a donkey ride at St Kilda
A donkey ride on the St Kilda Beach
The Herald, November 15, 1935 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/244779014
In spite of the donkeys looking cute and children being fond of them, again not everyone was happy for them to be on the beach. This was published in the The Sun News-Pictorial in December 1935 -
Denies Donkeys Nuisance On St. Kilda Beach - Replying yesterday to a complaint by a correspondent, that donkeys were allowed to be paraded on the beach at St Kilda, to the inconvenience of bathers, the secretary of the St. Kilda Shore Committee (Cr. Dawkins) denied there was any interference with bathers, or any pollution of the beach. The owner of the donkeys, who charged children a penny a ride, paid to take the animals there. This form of amusement, Cr. Dawkins said, was permitted on every popular beach in the world. (14)
Nothing came of the complaint as the donkeys were still providing entertainment in January 1936 and a year later in January 1937, when this photograph was published in The Argus.
Kiddies enjoying donkey rides on the beach at St Kilda.
The Argus, January 4 1937 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/11954036
From February to April 1938, the St Kilda Beach donkeys were for sale, advertised as quiet for children. (15)
The riding donkeys for sale
Was this the end of donkey rides being held on the beach at St Kilda on a regular basis? I can find no further references to them; the War naturally diverted resources from pleasure to patriotic causes and by the time things returned to 'normal' after the War ended, perhaps donkey rides were considered passé or donkey rides were confined to Parks.
Footnotes
(1) The Australasian, January 21, 1905, see here.
(2) The Age, March 16, 1904, see here.
(3) Prahran Telegraph, April 2, 1904, see here.
(4) Prahran Chronicle, November 12, 1904, see here.
(5) Prahran Telegraph, December 24, 1904, see here.
(6) The Argus, January 7, 1905, see here.
(7) Prahran Telegraph, November 18, 1905, see here.
(9) The Herald, February 21, 1870, see here.
(10) The Argus, January 10, 1871, see here.
(11) Prahran Telegraph, December 14, 1923, see here.
(12) The Herald, December 6, 1923, see here.
(13) The Herald, January 7, 1924, see here.
(14) Sun News-Pictorial, December 4, 1935 see here.
(15) The Herald, March 3, 1938, see here.
