Melbourne Zoo in Australia


Melbourne Zoo
Bong Su, Dokkoon, Num Oi, Kulab and Mek Kapah. Melbourne Zoo 2008. Photo: © Molly Flora
Bong Su, Dokkoon, Num Oi, Kulab and Mek Kapah. Melbourne Zoo 2008. Photo: © Molly Flora
Local name Royal Melbourne Zoological Park
Typezoo
Owner
Founded1882
First elephant arrived1883
Last elephant left2025
Place Melbourne
Country Australia
Website Website
Directors 1882-1902: Albert Le Souef (director)
1902-1923: Dudley Le Souef (director)
1996-2001: Leo Oosterweghel (director)
Michelle Bruggeman
Key People: Megan English (researcher)
1882-1902: Caroline Le Souef (artist)
Veterinarians: Michael Lynch (head veterinarian)
Elephant department
Head keepers
of elephants		 -: Steve Blanchard
(elephant head-keeper)
Elephant keepers -: Lucy Truelson (elephant keeper)
-1944: Wilfred Lawson (elephant keeper)
-2019: Lucas McGhie (elephant keeper)
Record history
History of updates2025-02-20: all elephants transferred 2025-03-24: sources
Latest document update2025-03-24 15:54:50
Google map
Description

Melbourne Zoo, in Melbourne, Australia , was founded in 1882 and the first elephant arrived in 1883. The last elephant left in 2025.

Casualties

1 casualties
  1. 1944-09-19: elephant keeper Wilfred Lawson fatal attack by Queenie. Queenie killed her keeper Lawson in front of zoo visitors, while making her way back to her enclosure after giving rides. † Wilfred Lawson Died 1944-09-19, Melbourne Zoo. Wilfred Lawson, 68, who had been her keeper since she arrived, had come out of retirement to look after Queenie because there was a shortage of qualified younger men to take on this difficult task. He died the same day from injuries caused when he fell and Queenie put her foot on him. Queenie was shot by one of the keepers on the 22nd of June 1945.

Comments / pictures1883: The Royal Melbourne Zoological Park received its first elephant in 1883 from Calcutta, a year after opening an institution modeled after the London Zoo. The female Asian elephant, named Ranee, died 21 years after her arrival.

1902: The zoo’s most famous elephant, Queenie, arrived in 1902 and gave rides for more than forty years

1944: she killed her keeper Wilfred Lawson in 1944 and the Zoological Gardens decided to stop the elephant rides on Queenie and simply keep her as an exhibit.

1945: The following year she was put down by zoo management due to a food shortage stemming from World War II.

Melbourne Zoo in Australia AustraliaElephant rides in Melbourne zoo 1954.

1962: The zoo discontinued elephant rides. The two oldest residing elephants at the Melbourne Zoo, Bong Su and Mek Kapah, arrived in 1977 and 1978, respectively. They would remain together until the import of three Juvenile females from Thailand in 2006.

1977: Bong Su arrived in February 1977 as a gift from the Sultan of Pahang, West Malaysia.

2003: The $15 million "Trail of the Elephants" exhibit opened in 2003, the result of preparations for building a regional captive elephant breeding program, one of the first in Australia. Under a joint collaboration between the Melbourne and Taronga Zoos, eight elephants were imported from Thailand’s successful and large domestic breeding population. Legal action and protests, located in both Thailand and Australia, delayed the elephants’ importation for two years after quarantine in both southern Thailand and the Cocos Islands. Diplomatic and ministerial negotiations between the two countries succeeded.

2006: In November 2006, the eight animals were flown to the Avalon Airport by a Russian Ilyushin cargo plane and delivered to their new homes via tray trucks. Females Num-Oi, Kulab and Dokkoon found new home in Melbourne, while females Tong Dee, Tang Mao, Porntip, and Pak Boon and male Gung made residence in Sydney.

2008: In March 2008, fifteen year old Dokkoon was artificially inseminated by elephant fertility experts from Berlin and zoo vets with sperm from the zoo’s bull, Bong Su. She was confirmed pregnant in June via ultrasound. She was the first elephant in Australia to conceive a calf through AI. In November 2008, a second Pregnancy at the Melbourne Zoo was initiated after ten year old Kulab was artificially inseminated by elephant fertility experts from Berlin and zoo vets with sperm from the zoo’s bull, Bong Su. She was confirmed pregnant in February via ultrasound. The Melbourne Zoo’s bull elephant Bong Su, who arrived in February 1977 as a gift from the Sultan of Pahang, West Malaysia, is said to be the one of the world’s most fertile Asian elephants in the world. His sperm concentration was repeatedly measured between 2.2-2.5 billion per milliliter, compared to the average 600-800 million per milliliter. He is involved in Research projects regarding freezing and exporting sperm after the donation of a sperm-freezing machine from the German Government.

2010: Dokkoon gave birth in January 2010 to a female calf. The new calf, born to seventeen year old first time mother Dokkoon, set several records. She was the first elephant born in the 147-year history of the Melbourne Zoo and the first elephant born via Artificial insemination in Australia. She was the second elephant born in Australia, following the birth of a male calf in July 2009 at the Taronga Zoo. She joined the current Herd of three females, her dam, and her sire, Bong Su.

2023-08-24: Melbourne Zoo’s nine-year-old elephant Man Jai died as the zoos first victim for EEHV, Elephant endotheliotropic herpes virus.

2025: All elephants transferred to Werribee Open Range Zoo.


References for records about Melbourne Zoo

Recommended Citation

Koehl, Dan (2025). Melbourne Zoo, Elephant Encyclopedia. Available online at https://www.elephant.se/location2.php?location_id=201. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:


Litterature about Melbourne Zoo

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Melbourne Zoo on elephant-news.com

Melbourne Zoo is mentioned on Elephant News:

DateLinks which opens in new window
Melbourne zoo's new elephants due by christmas - Elephant News
2006-11-06Melbourne zoo: elephants are here! - Elephant News
2006-12-06Elephants settle into new home in melbourne zoo - Elephant News
2008-02-24Hopes for patter of elephant feet - Elephant News
2008-06-02Melbourne zoo celebrates elephant pregnancy - Elephant News
Melbourne elephant breaks fertility record - Elephant News
2008-08-19Melbourne zoo’s new elephant is pregnant - Elephant News
Three elephants pregnant in australia - Elephant News
2008-11-25Melbourne zoo's super-stud could help save species - Elephant News
2008-12-03Where elephants walk - Elephant News
Melbourne zoo celebrates second elephant pregnancy - Elephant News
2009-02-21Bong su the elephant is set to become a father - Elephant News
2009-12-04Vet awaits big day - the birth of an elephant - Elephant News
2010-01-16Dokkoon delivers - Elephant News
2010-02-11Zoo urged to move elephant herd to werribee - Elephant News
2010-02-09Werribee’s jumbo nursery - Elephant News
2016-08-02Nestled with mother, vets and keepers, 'little fighter' willow loses her battle - Elephant News
Melbourne zoo's boisterous new baby elephant has plenty to trumpet about - he has a new name. - Elephant News
2013-12-04Baby elephant sanook died accidentally while playing with favourite toy, melbourne zoo says - Elephant News
2013-11-12Victoria's top tourist attraction named at awards - Elephant News
2013-10-29Melbourne zoo elephant expecting second calf soon - Elephant News
2013-03-14Meet sanook: melbourne zoo's baby elephant named by herald sun readers - Elephant News
Latest news about elephants - Elephant News
2023-08-24Melbourne zoo herd grieving after nine-year-old elephant dies - Elephant News


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