History of RZS NSW

"...That a society be formed to be called the New South Wales Zoological Society...for the introduction and acclimatisation of song birds and game, and for other objects set forth in the prospectus"

So read the motion passed at a public meeting held in Sydney on the 25th of March 1879 that brought the Society into being!

Many at this public meeting expected the formation of a scientific and educational society thus the objectives of the society were broadened to include science. However the initial aims of the society remained tightly bound to the original acclimatization idea.

Soon after its formation, the Society obtained and released many species of birds and fish into New South Wales, many of which went on to become serious pests. Thankfully, within two years the Society began to broaden its thinking and steps were taken to establish a zoological garden. In 1880, after an agreement had been reached with Sydney City Council to lease land from them, work began on a zoo in the council's Billy Goat Swamp enclosure at Moore Park. This is now the site of Sydney Girls' High School at the intersection of Cleveland Street and Anzac Parade.

By 1883, the Society had stocked the fledgling zoo with two elephants, one of which was donoted by the King of Siam. The Acclimatisation Society (from which the NSW Zoological Society was, in a way, an off-shoot) also donated in 1883 a collection of birds it had housed at the Botanic Gardens in Sydney. The Moore Park Zoological Gardens were opened to the public for the first time in 1884.

The rapid growth of the zoological gardens began to create problems for the Society. Financial difficulties plagued the Society from the opening of the zoo and into the early part of the twentieth century. Numerous "begging" delegations to the Colonial, and then State Government following Federation in 1901, produced substantial grants, but it was still a very difficult time for the Society. The site at Moore Park presented other difficulties. It flooded often and became a dust bowl during droughts such as the record drought that affected Australia at the turn of the 19th Century. Occasional outbreaks of disease amongst the collection were also a problem for zoo staff and caused the closure of the zoo on at least one occasion when bubonic plague irrupted. Even with such financial distress and a difficult site, the zoo was extremely popular with the people of Sydney and the zoo grew rapidly in area with further land leased from Sydney City Council. The collection of animals on exhibit also grew.

Due to the difficulties of Moore Park site by 1909 the RZS Council was actively canvassing new sites for the zoo. In 1910, a site at Ashton Park near Bradley's Head on the northern shore of Sydney Harbor was identified as ideal. As it was Crown Land, the State Government was lobbied successfully for a grant of land at this location that was formally announced in the NSW Government Gazette of 24th April 1912. However part of the arrangement was for the management of the new zoo to be placed in the hands of a Government-appointed trust which became know as “New Zoological Garden Trust”. By 1917, all except one member of the Trust were members of the RZS, so the society was really the controller of the Zoo’s policy, and this may be why in July 1918, the trustees granted special privileges to members of the Society.

At an Annual General Meeting on 20th of September 1919 the report included:

"Under the terms of our association with the Taronga Zoo Park Trust we are to be afforded facilities for conducting scientific investigations at the Park…"

Free entry to the Zoo’s grounds has always been permitted to RZS members