A 20th Century Sydney Juggling Network or who knew who......

 Today many jugglers learn through watching youtube, instagram or facebook. Some learn through swapping ideas personally and attending juggling clubs. Before social media, the best way to learn new juggling tricks was through personal interaction, and there is an indication that many jugglers passed on their knowledge this way.

In 20th Century Sydney there was a group of jugglers who knew each other and through their connections, they probably did what jugglers do today. Swapped tricks, recommended each other for jobs, protected their skills, and promoted their art.

This brief discussion of the relationship between jugglers in Sydney is superficial. It focuses on who knew who rather than what particular tricks or styles were passed on. The latter is something that I will add later. For now, here is a network of jugglers who definitely knew each other.

This network starts with George Campbell. Campbell was an English juggler who came to Australia in 1906 with Wombwells circus. His partner in the circus was Charlie Jarvis. The duo split up.  Campbell remained in Australia and married Ella Airlie, who wrote the famous Australian Pantomime The Bunyip which featured a juggling trio, Frank, Lank and Alice.

After splitting with Campbell, Jarvis teamed up with a young Victor Martyn who married Maude Florence. The pair had two children, Decima and Topper. Both children became famous jugglers overseas, although Topper was better known as a magician. 

Returning to George Campbell ;  He wrote an interesting letter that outlined the conditions for jugglers in the USA in the early 20th Century.

Campbell and Airlie split up when Ella had an affair with the boss. George in the 1920s teamed up with Herbert Beaver in the Cockatoo Farm Company. Beaver was from New South Wales and was a juggler.

Herbert Beaver eventually became the manager of radio station 2KY where a young Jimmy Wallace, a juggler, won a talent competition. 

Jimmy Wallace was a child progeny. He had contact with many jugglers. He trained with Ossie Delroy and definitely knew Jimmy Creighton, who he regarded as Australia’s best juggler.

 

Moreover, Jimmy was involved in the Waratah Company. A World War 2 entertainment troupe put together by juggler J J Collins. In this company Wallace,juggled with Ossie Delroy and Jim Creighton. Both famous Australian jugglers who had started on the Tivoli Circuit in the early 1900s. J J Collins, of course, who organised this rabble of jugglers, was a Western Australian juggler. 

This is just a preliminary indication of who knew who in the early 20th Century, presumably there were many more jugglers in the network. The chart below is a visual representation of it.