A. C. Minchin

He accompanied his parents to Western Australia with the gold boom, and they then settled in South Australia where his father had secured a clerical position in the public service[1] and he attended the North Adelaide Grammar School.

He worked for a time at the office of Green & Co., then in a sharebroking business before his father was appointed director of the zoological garden and decided to join him.

He was successful in finding wealthy sponsors such as Thomas Elder, who funded the great rotunda.

He purchased the Zoo's first elephant, "Miss Siam", and greatly enlarged the lion and tiger enclosures and the deer park.

The zoo's green Amazon parrot was the only animal to outlive his tenure, having been purchased by his father.