The Original Boswell Wilkie Circus. No longer travelling.
Let us take you on a trip down memory lane…
In 1956, Mr. W.H. Wilkie bought the ‘Wilkie Circus Farm’ in Randvaal. It served as a permanent base for training, repairs, maintenance and the manufacturing of trailers, equipment and props. It’s location was chosen due to the close proximity to the train station. Each year, the circus stopped here for a 2 week layover, where the new season’s show was rehearsed and the trucks repainted for the next 11 month tour of South Africa.
In 1964, new seating was bought from the Famous Swiss circus - Circus Knie and was shipped to South Africa. It could seat 2,500 people. The seating from Circus Knie travelled with Boswell Wilkie Circus for many years before being stored on the circus farm. Now, years later the Swiss pine wood seating planks
have been beautifully restored and converted into the stylish tables used in our wedding venue.
In 1999, The Cannobio Tent now set up on the Circus Farm, was imported from Italy and was
assembled for the first time in Durban. Performances inside our ‘Big Top’ were held all over the country to thousands of wide-eyed spectators. The ‘Big Top’ was always filled with applause, laughter and happy memories.
In 2001, Boswell Wilkie Circus performed its last show on the road, and the Wilkie family settled down on the Circus farm.
In 2002 the original house, which is well over 100 years old was converted into a Coffee Shop
- ‘Café du Cirque’. The coffee shop walls are now filled with photos and posters from the circus days, which offers our patrons their own trip down memory lane.
In 2014 the ‘Circus Stables’ were refurbished to create our wedding venue with a country ‘cirque’ feel. The stables started out as a dairy, and were later used as the stables for the circus animals. The stables through the years have also been home to zebras, goats, ponies and Shirley the pig.
2015 sees the grand opening of the Circus Wedding & Events Venue.
