The Aviary, or Cage Bird section, as it was previously known, has consistently been a stand-alone competition since 1998. Prior to this, aviary birds were usually shown with poultry and pigeons.
Evidence shows cage birds were exhibited as early as 1869. Two prizes were offered that year for the ‘Best collection of caged birds of every kind’.A gentleman called Mr T. W. Crawley won first prize with a collection of “different varieties of doves, quails, and finches”, and second place went to a Mr Hyam who had “a handsome cage of fifty canaries, of which there were four varieties – Belgium, jonque, lizard, and common.”
Up until 1896, cage bird classes were dominated by canaries. However, in the 1870s some classes for collections of native birds were introduced, along with a class for white magpies. Classes for swans were offered in 1876 and 1877, but there were no entrants.
In 1898 canary classes were segregated from other birds, becoming in effect a separate competition, leaving Australian natives and foreign birds to compete together. These bird-types included: finches, cockatoos, galahs, corellas, parrots, parakeets, rosellas, king parrots, budgerigars, sparrows, love birds, lories, and honeyeaters. There were also classes for hybrids. That said, not all types had classes in all years.
In 1907 the section became known as Poultry, Pigeons, Canaries and Cage Birds, and it stayed that way until 1985, when cage bird competitions temporarily ceased. In 1998 they returned as their own section in time for the first Show at Homebush. Since then, classes have been stable, and are divided into African lovebirds, parrots, canaries, finches and budgerigars. Parrots include (but are not limited to) cockatiels, lorikeets, rosellas and cockatoos.
