Seven year old Mavis Hallcroft was woken just before dawn one November morning by a heavy weight on her bed and a large, rough tongue licking her face. She called out, ‘Mum!..Mum, there’s a big dog on my bed. ‘
Mavis’ bed was on the verandah of the family’s cottage in country Narrandera, New South Wales. Her three year old sister Fay was fast asleep beside her. When her parents went to investigate they could scarcely believe their eyes, the ‘dog’ was a tiger!
Understandably, the little girl was too scared to move. Her father, 39 year old Mr Claude Hallcroft, did what he felt was the only thing possible to protect his child. He grabbed his .22 rifle and while his wife held a torch he shot at the tiger. The bullet hit the animal in the nose and thankfully it jumped off the bed and ran away.
It didn’t take long to establish that the tiger was an escapee from Bullen’s circus, which was camped about half a mile from the Hallcroft home. The circus had performed to a full house at Narrandera the previous night.
Police and circus workers, including Mr Stafford Bullen, searched for the wounded animal, known as Queenie. They found her 400 yards away, collapsed from loss of blood. It was sad, because she was still very young and extremely friendly.
Safely back at the circus poor Queenie had to be given huge shots of penicillin. She was placed on an invalid diet of glucose and milk. Fortunately she recovered relatively quickly.
In an effort to soothe Queenie during her recuperation, Jules the musical circus clown serenaded her with a rendition of ‘Tiger Rag’;
The big cat became a star in her own right and proved that she held no grudge against humans. Little John Collins thought she was adorable when he visited the circus a few weeks later;
It turned out that the six month old tiger had been bottle fed after she arrived at the circus from Singapore. Below is a photo of Vicki Davis acting as ‘Mum’ at the beginning of November;
Queenie had quickly become the pet of the circus and took a liking to the comfy beds in performers’ caravans.
When she saw Mavis Hallcroft’s bed on the verandah the friendly big cat assumed she would be welcome.
Three men were arrested for deliberately releasing her. They were ex circus employees with a grudge against Bullen Bros. It was never quite clear whether they were trying to steal the tiger or just aiming to cause trouble.
The story spread around the country….. and the world. I do love this illustration from an Italian publication. No need for Mavis to wash her face before school.
I must say I agree with the Women’s Weekly’s take on Mavis’ experience;
FOR THE HISTORY OF BULLEN BROS. CIRCUS, CLICK HERE.
