HUDSONS CIRCUS HISTORY

Hudsons Circus started out as a dream for Shane and Nancy Lennon to produce a medium sized World Class Circus that would appeal to families and the young  and old alike at an affordable price. Their dream is to present Traditional style Circus with Modern Costumes, lighting and sound, high class contemporary  and traditional human acts and well trained and groomed animal routines in  a show that presents ‘Real Circus under the Big Top’.

ORIGINS

Shane is from the famous Lennon Family that has owned and operated circuses  in Australia and New Zealand for over 130 years. Shane is fifth generation circus performer and grew up in the Circus travelling the length and breadth of the Australian outback towns and Major Cities. He started his working life operating the side shows and Dodgem cars in his teens. He always leaned towards the logistics  and marketing side of the Circus with many roles taken throughout the years 

working in the family businesses. Shane progressed from managing the Amusements side of the business to managing a circus for the family, Shane in 1994 at age 23,  was approached by his father, Lindsay Lennon, who offered him a role in running  a new edition of Burtons Circus. 

Burtons Circus has a proud history of presenting circus in Australia since 1851  when Henry Burton started his now famous 'Burtons Circus'. In mid-February 1851 Henry Burton opened a touring season with three performances a week at Parramatta. Styled 'The New Equestrian Circus', it featured Burton as a comic hero in 'Billy Button's Ride to Brentford'. When the discovery of gold robbed him of an audience, he went to Mudgee where he heard of a rush to the Turon  River. He played twice a week at Sofala and Bathurst for six months and then toured the Victorian diggings. Later he was acclaimed 'the father of amusements on our early goldfields'. Henry Burton died in March 1900 in Fitzroy, Melbourne. The Burton family sold the Circus to the Lennon family and throughout the years Lennon's has used the Burtons name for its second circus unit.

From 1994 until early 2001 Shane toured Burtons Circus through all of the Australian mainland states with 3 visits to Perth, Darwin and Cairns during that time as well as most capital cities and many small towns in between. In February 2001 Shane took Burtons off the road from constant touring to concentrate on the Big Top hire side of the business that started as his fathers hobby. Shanes father, Lindsay Lennon was responsible for building all of the Circus  tents that the family used for its circus shows throughout the years, he had inherited the tent building techniques passed down from his grandfather to his father, himself and then on to Shane. Shane went on to grow the tent hire business building many tents and other event hire equipment and renamed the business as Supertents Australia. Supertents supplies large event tents and venue equipment to most of the major concerts in Australia as well as sending tents to events worldwide including Japan and Malaysia. Burtons took a back seat during this time with small winter seasons in Adelaide and Perth during 2002, Brisbane 2007, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Burtons played its final show under the direction of Shane Lennon on 14th July 2013 in Brisbane.

CANADIAN CONNECTION

Nancy Lee Weaver hails from Montreal, Canada where she grew up. She began training 

as a gymnast at Dartmouth Titans Gymnastics training Centre in Dartmouth, 

Nova Scotia when her family moved to the Atlantic Province in 1984. After Nancy graduated

 from Gymnastics and High School she moved back to her home town, Montreal, the home

 of Contemporary Circus, and went on to study professional theatre at Dawson College.

 Nancy, missing the physical side of life decided to try her hand at Circus Arts 

where she started with the flying trapeze. Nancy fell in love with this style of activity 

and little did she know with her background in Gymnastics and Theatre she was 

destined for Circus performance. After graduating college she worked in retail in 

Montreal for two years trying to break into acting, with no big break coming her 

way, Nancy moved to Toronto where her parents were now living to study Circus 

skills at the prestigious Toronto School of Circus Arts. During her study in Toronto 

Nancy met a charismatic Australian Trapeze trainer, Joel Banks, who convinced 

Nancy to head Down Under to check out his beautiful sunburnt country and 

evaluate the great work opportunities in the Circus Arts in Australia. 

In May 2007, Nancy was working in Rockhampton, Queensland when Shane, who 

was visiting his family at Lennon Bros Circus, was introduced to 'Miss Nancy' as she

 was affectionately called later by Shane. Shane and Nancy stayed in contact over the 

months as Shane went on tour with one of his ‘Supertents’ for the Powderfinger and 

Silverchair music festival tour. Nancy was finally invited to join Lennon Bros Circus

 in the July and when they crossed paths again in Brisbane, Shane took Nancy on their 

first date on the Gold Coast in October 2007. 

Shane and Nancy married in November 2009 after Shane's Romantic

 proposal to Nancy Lee at Niagara Falls on a visit to Nancy's parents in Canada in 2008. 

They now have 3 children, Hudson born in October 2011 and Denver in July 2013 and Gisele born in 2015 along with Shanes 3 other children, Olivia 22, Jayden 27 and Dannii 37. 

This great story has only just begun!