Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
Moments in a longer story.
Selected milestones in the history of Adelaide Zoo.
On this page
A zoo, its buildings and its animals
These dates describe the place you can learn about here. They are not a company timeline for Apollonaut.
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1882
First director
R. E. Minchin becomes the zoo’s first director.
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23 May 1883
Opening
Adelaide Zoo opens, the second zoo in Australia after Melbourne’s.
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1893
A second Minchin
A. C. Minchin follows his father as director, serving until 1934.
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1900
The Elephant House
The Elephant House is built; it is now on the South Australian Heritage Register.
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1974
Nocturnal House
The Nocturnal House opens.
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1985
Reptile House
The Reptile House opens; it is expanded in 1993.
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1995
Immersion
The first part of the South-East Asian rainforest exhibit is finished.
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2009
Giant pandas
The giant panda exhibit and the Bamboo Forest open.
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2024
New pandas
The giant pandas Xing Qiu and Yi Lan arrive.
Follow the stories behind the dates
A timeline is a beginning. The longer history introduces the people and places; the sources below provide further context.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
