A sickly circus cub, a hospital incubator and an extraordinary act of kindness created one of Ipswich’s more unusual stories
Long before Ipswich Hospital became the sprawling health precinct it is today, one of its more unusual patients arrived from just up the hill.
He was tiny, struggling to survive and very definitely not human.
His name would become Beryl, a lion cub born while Ashton’s Circus was performing at the Ipswich Showgrounds, and according to veteran circus performer Lorraine Ashton, an incubator at Ipswich Hospital helped save his life.
For Lorraine, who has spent virtually her entire life beneath the big top, the remarkable Ipswich story remains one of the memories that has stayed with her decades later.
“We were showing in Ipswich, which was in the showgrounds, which is on the top of the hill, and the hospital is just down below,” she said.
“We had two cubs born. One died, and the other, I went down to the hospital and asked, could we put one in the incubator so it would revive?”
Hospital staff agreed.
The tiny lion cub was placed inside an incubator normally reserved for newborn babies and, against the odds, began to recover.
“I think he was one of the first in the incubators there,” she said.
Ipswich Hospital itself has been caring for the community since 1860, making the tale another colourful chapter in the long history of the site.
Lorraine raised Beryl as he grew, keeping him near the family’s caravan and gradually introducing him to life around the circus.
“Every time I had him, I took him into the show, into the audience,” she said.
“Then as he grew up, he was on the lead, and I used to lead him into the show and around the ring and everything like that.
“He became a good pet. He was a lovely animal.”
For a young Lorraine, there was nothing particularly unusual about growing up alongside lions, horses, ponies, camels and other animals.
She is the daughter of legendary Australian circus performers Doug and Phyllis Ashton and grew up travelling with the family show.
Historical accounts of Ashton’s Circus record an extraordinary collection of animals over the years, including elephants, tigers, lions, monkeys, parrots, a giraffe, bear and hyena.
Lorraine herself became a performer, her career eventually took her around Australia and overseas, including an appearance with her family at the famous circus festival in Monte Carlo.
The Ashton family’s circus tradition stretches back generations, with the family becoming one of the best-known names in Australian circus history.
Yet among the international performances and famous encounters, there remains something particularly special about the story that unfolded in Ipswich.
