MasKs, MiscHiEF & MaRVEls

For generations, travelling circuses brought a strange kind of magic to towns across Australia. Arriving almost overnight, the canvas rose. Lanterns glowed, horses stamped in the dark and empty paddocks transformed. Acrobats, clowns, musicians and animal trainers gathered in a world that seemed to appear from nowhere. Then the tents came down, the wagons moved on, and the show disappeared down the road to Gundagai.

Conceived by Riverina Live and presented as part of the Australian Art Deco Festival Leeton, Masks, Mischief & Marvels brings together contemporary and historical artworks, works with a vintage circus feel, photographs, costumes, props and archival material. Together, they explore the artistry, imagination and enduring appeal of Australian circus culture: a world shaped by skill, travel, timing, risk and invention. May Wirth, the Australian-born bareback rider who became one of the world’s great circus performers, thrilled audiences in Australia and overseas while her family’s Wirth’s Circus carried the excitement of the big top into cities and country towns, including Leeton during the 1930s. Local newspaper reports tell of packed crowds, grand performances and, on one memorable occasion, the escape of a six-month-old tiger.

In the 1920s and 1930s, circus belonged to the same entertainment world as picture palaces, dance halls and theatres, and, like the Art Deco era, was defined by movement, glamour, light and display. For a few weeks, the gallery echoes the spirit of the travelling show. Visitors can browse look books, handle selected props, settle into the lounge room space and step into a play area inspired by the balance, nerve and sheer practice behind circus performance.

The circus was never made to be watched quietly. Come closer. Look, play and discover how the spectacle was created.