Wallace was a star of the Melbourne Zoo for almost a decade until his death in 1891.

He was one of the first lions to be exhibited at the Zoo and was famous for his love of classical gramophone music. It is said that he "listened attentively with a dreamy, far off look in his eyes".

In 1913 two young hippos arrived at Melbourne Zoo. William and Rosamund, also known as Mr and Mrs Hippo, quickly became a popular attraction for zoo visitors.

During this time, hunters were paid by zoos to procure hippos and other animals from the wild and ship them around the world. The boat trips to Australia were long and many animals died during the journey.

In this era, the Zoo would also purchase animals from animal dealers. The first hippo to arrive at Melbourne Zoo in 1912 was purchased from Hagenback of Hamburg, one of the major international animal dealers.

Sourcing animals for Melbourne Zoo was also achieved through relationships with other zoos around the world. Melbourne Zoo traded Australian animals with other zoos or purchased animals from them to add to their collection.

Mollie was one of Melbourne Zoo’s most famous characters in the early 1900s due to her intelligence and quirky personality, as well as the human-like habits she was taught.

Mollie came to the Zoo in 1901 when she was only a few months old and remained a crowd favourite until her death in 1923.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, humanisation of animals was common in zoos all around the world and Melbourne Zoo was no exception. Mollie was known for her ability to light and smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. She had an elaborate ritual for setting up her bed each night, which she created from hessian sacks in her cage.

Unfortunately, due to her talent for lighting matches, Mollie had a habit of setting her bedding on fire. After partially burning down her wooden enclosure, a concrete one was built to replace it.

After her death Mollie was stuffed and put on display at the Melbourne Zoo. She was so well loved by the Victorian public that the anniversary of her death was still recognised ten years after her death.

Queenie was a much loved and controversial figure in Melbourne Zoo’s history. A ride on Queenie was a major zoo attraction for over 40 years until she tragically crushed her keeper in 1944.

Visitors to Melbourne Zoo would queue for hours to ride on Queenie’s back for the price of a tuppence. She gave rides around a circuit, where children would leave apples and peanuts on the posts for her to eat. She gave up to 500 rides each day and travelled an estimated 165 000 kilometres during her working life. Queenie was known and loved for her gentle nature.

On September 19, 1944 Queenie crushed and killed her keeper, Wilfred Thomas Mory Lawson, inside her enclosure at the end of her working day.

After this tragic incident the zoo retired Queenie from giving rides and, after public support, decided to keep her as an exhibit. Sadly in 1945, she was put down. The reason given for this was that it was wartime, fodder was scarce and the zoo could not afford to keep her.

Birthday parties and photo opportunities were common for Melbourne Zoo's celebrity animals, such as Betty the Asian elephant.

Betty arrived at the zoo in 1939, along with another elephant calf, Peggy. These two elephants took over Queenie's duties after 1944, giving rides to hundreds of zoo visitors every day.

Animal performances and elephant rides continued at Melbourne Zoo into the 1960s. These performances included elephant balancing acts and monkeys riding on miniature bicycles.

These acts and rides continued for so long because Melbourne Zoo patrons enjoyed them and expected them as part of their zoo experience. They were also great sources of income for the zoo.

Elephant rides at Melbourne Zoo were ceased in 1962 for safety reasons. This coincided with the end of elephant rides in European and North American zoos.

In 1978 twins Bono and Suma were born to Olga at the Melbourne Zoo. At the time, they were one of only five sets of orang-utan twins born in captivity across the world.

Bono and Suma's mother Olga became very ill soon after their birth and the twins were hand raised by a team of zoo staff, headed by keeper Uli Weiher. Another orang-utan, Girlie, became a foster mother to the two young primates after the death of their mother.

The orang-utan twins became media darlings, with the press and public being fascinated with the work that went on behind the scenes at the zoo.

Mzuri gained international fame as the first surviving gorilla born as a result of artificial insemination. In addition to this, he was the first gorilla born on Australian shores. As a result, Mzuri became a media sensation and a Melbourne Zoo crowd favourite.

Mzuri was born in 1984 to parents Yuska and Rigo, who had arrived at Melbourne Zoo five years earlier. Due to being raised in captivity, some animals do not have the skills required to raise their young. Mzuri had to be hand-raised by zoo staff, a practice that is avoided, wherever possible, to avoid humanising the animals.

The Victorian public became very attached to Mzuri, seeing him grow up through the media and vistits to the Zoo. When the time came for him to be transferred to Jersey Wildlife Park to take part in an international breeding program, there were many expressions of sorrow from the public.

Mali was born in January, 2010 to mother Dokkoon. She instantly became a media star and visitors flocked to the Melbourne Zoo in their thousands just to see her.

Mali, along with her younger brother Ongard, are of great significance to the regional endangered species conservation breeding program. Mali was the first elephant to be born at Melbourne Zoo, the first female elephant ever to be born in Australia and the first elephant to be born through artificial insemination.

Her status as a Melbourne Zoo icon is evident in the 50 Mali in the City sculptures, which were created to celebrate Melbourne Zoo's 150th birthday in 2012. The sculptures were painted by a variety of artists, displayed around Melbourne and then sold to raise money for the Zoo's conservation projects.

By the time this poster advertising the Zoo was created in 1893, attractions of the Zoo included elephant rides, an Australian fauna collection, lions, monkeys, bears, beautiful gardens and amusements for children. However, this was not the case in the first few years of the Zoo.

Melbourne Zoo was founded by the Zoological Society of Victoria in October 1857 prior to the zoo being established in its first location in Richmond. The society was renamed The Acclimitisation Society of Victoria in 1861 leading up to the Zoo opening in its current location in Royal Park in 1862.

The principle of acclimitisation involved transporting fauna from other places in the world to see which animals could adapt and be integrated into a new environment. Animals such as blackbirds, pheasants, quail, salmon, camels, goats and sheep were brought to the Zoo and then introduced into the Australian environment. Many of these species did not establish in the Australian landscape. By the late 1860s the Zoo was in financial trouble and the public had lost interest.

The Zoo made changes in order to survive and expanded their role to include building a collection of animals for the amusement and instruction of the people of the colony. This new direction was driven by Albert Le Souef, appointed secretary of the Zoo in 1870 and then director in 1882.

As a result of this shift in ideology, by 1880, Melbourne Zoo’s animal collection included lions, tigers, a panther, deer and hoofed animals such as sheep and cows, which were exotic for the colony at the time. In 1883, Melbourne Zoo purchased its first elephant, Ranee. An Australian fauna collection was also established.

By the 1890s, visitors to the Zoo would have experienced landscaped gardens and avenues with amenities such as food stalls, benches, shelter sheds and toilets.

By this time there was a growing collection of exotic animals and an Australian fauna collection. Zoo visitors could ride on Ranee the elephant, watch the lions being fed and view Tasmanian tigers and devils.

Donkey and carriage rides were a popular family activity when visiting Melbourne Zoo in the early 1900s.

These photographs come from the private collection of Beverley Morling. She shares her memories of Melbourne Zoo as a 5 year old girl.

"My treasured photos from two of my many trips to the Zoo when I was a child. The train one is dated 23.6.1940 and the two others are October 1940."

"I was Beverley Green then, and the other two girls in the picture are Patricia and Mary Buick (both now deceased)."

"I would have done many miles on that little train as it was my favourite. I well remember Queenie, but was too frightened to ever ride on her. My very favourite were the monkeys, I spent hours watching them."

For many years a miniature train, which ran alongside the elephant's walking track, was a popular attraction for children at Melbourne Zoo.

The first circular railway track was set up in the elephant paddocks in 1905 and it could carry 10 children at a time. Over the years several different trains followed these tracks, carrying generation after generation of children.

It was common practice to for zoo visitors to feed the animals from the Zoo’s early days through to the 1970s.

Visitors to the Zoo expected to be able to feed the animals as part of their zoo experience. This caused health problems and even death for some zoo animals. In 1893 an ostrich died after eating food given to it by zoo visitors.

Not all visitors to the zoo showed respect for the animals and, at times, foreign objects were thrown into the enclosures. In 1933, a hippopotamus died at Melbourne Zoo as a result of swallowing a tennis ball thrown into his enclosure. A female hippo died in the same way in 1961.

By the time bags of food, such as this one, were sold to zoo visitors, there were restrictions in place regarding which animals could be fed and what they could be fed.

Public feeding of animals at Melbourne Zoo was banned in 1963. However, it took many years for visitors to abide by the rules and some continued to feed the animals into the 1970s.

This promotional poster depicts an era of the zoo as an entertainment destination. The poster shows the carousel, elephant rides and train rides for children.

A ride on the carousel at Melbourne Zoo has been a significant aspect of the zoo experience for many visitors.

Melbourne Zoo has had several carousels in the course of its history. The zoo's current carousel, pictured above, arrived in 1963. It was built in England in 1878, imported to Australia in the 1886 and travelled the show circuit before its arrival at the zoo.

With the help of Heritage Victoria, the carousel underwent a six-year renovation, which was completed in 2005. It is one of less than 200 nineteenth century carousels remaining worldwide. It is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register due to its historical significance.

This photograph comes from the private collection of Laura Daniele. She shares her memories of Melbourne Zoo as a 4 year old girl:

"Whenever I look at this image of myself taken at 4 years of age in 1980 with my mother and older sister, I am reminded of my absolute excitement of those special childhood family outings which included trips to the Royal Melbourne Zoo. This image was taken around the time of my birthday, I am sure I asked to visit the zoo to celebrate the occasion.

"The image is now tinged rose as is my nostalgia of a wonderful childhood. I now also have children of my own and enjoy visiting the zoo with them, and when I do, I can't help but be reminded of this photo."