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For many years Wittingslow was Australia's (and one of the world's) largest traveling carnival operations, spanning more than 60 years in the outdoor entertainment industry.
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Founder Thomas George Wittingslow made his start during the dark years of the Great Depression in the early 1930s. After a brief apprenticeship at a city fun parlour, Thomas went out on his own in 1932, working small shows and fairs in country Victoria. Returning to Melbourne for his first Royal Melbourne Show, Thomas began what was to become a lifelong association. His game of ‘Guess Your Weight’ involved the operator estimating, within four pounds, the exact weight of the customer.
After six years of war service, Thomas returned to the industry in 1946 and with son Des began working fairs in large provincial towns. They ventured into the first amusement rides at the Royal Melbourne Show, when merry-go-rounds or carousels were hugely popular after years of war-time austerity. The Melbourne Moomba Festival of 1948 saw Wittingslow present the first new generation "thrill" rides. Over the next 30 years, the Wittingslow family business grew steadily with three generations playing an active role. Bigger, more exciting rides and games from England, Europe and the United States delighted showground patrons. In 1982 Tom Wittingslow formed a partnership with Terry Cartlidge and engineer and owner of CAMAC Ride manufacturing. This led to ventures into new ride designs and construction led to successful projects, such as the Sea World Corkscrew rollercoaster on Queensland's Gold Coast and many other successful thrill rides. Disagreements between the parties led to the dissolving of this partnership in 1986. CAMAC went onto building other notable rides such as the Lethal Weapon rollercoaster and other notable rides throughout SE Asia.
The Wittingslow Carnival operated at all major agricultural shows, including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide, and many street festivals in Melbourne. Since the 1950s, Wittingslow rides have also provided many hours of summer holiday fun at the Rye and Rosebud Christmas Carnivals on the Mornington Peninsula.
After a series of unfortunate incidents, the Wittingslow operation went into receivership in 2001 ending an era for Australia's east coast agricultural shows.
Since going into receivership in 2003, Wittingslow have returned, and are now trading as Amusements Australia.
Now in 2012 Wittingslow Amusements is run by grandson Michael, with his wife, Manya, and two of their four children. Michael's children are all in their 20s, and to his delight the youngest, Morgan, 20, is keen to keep the Wittingslow name at carnivals.Morgan, who supervises the Break Dance ride at the Rye carnival, says he loves the diversity of it - from mechanics to dealing with the public. His earliest memory is, as a four-year-old, riding a beetle in the Lady Bug ride, which seemed impossibly fast and thrilling.At 13, in school holidays, he would take tickets and let kids onto the Jumping Castle.Working at the carnival was a teenager's dream. Easy work, and I got to surf all day, he says. He got paid and saved up for clothes, toys and surfboards. He says as a career it would mean an endless chance for new places to take the business and be creative.It's the only place I seem to fit in, he says. I know what I'm doing, know what's going on.He says in the internet age, carnivals are not over for young people. I think carnivals will always be there. It's just the classic family place to go. Kids will always want to go on rides. You get over looking at the net.At the carnival you can get out and see your mates and go on the rides with them. A lot of people just hang out down there.