Perth residents have remembered the "dignified and graceful" Tricia the elephant, a mainstay of Perth Zoo for more than six decades.
Tricia died this week after making it to the grand old age of 65, the oldest elephant in captivity in Australasia.
Western Australia's Environment Minister, Reece Whitby, said Tricia "touched multiple generations", and her long life was a testament to the wonderful care and support she received.
"So many children have seen her. Those children have come back with their own children," he said. "And then they've come back again with their own grandchildren. We're incredibly blessed that she was with us for so long.
"There's not a person who calls Western Australia home, who doesn't know Tricia, who didn't meet her at one point or another in their lives."
From Sunday, the Perth Zoo will open a memorial pathway for Tricia, commemorating her love of going out for walks with her keepers in public.
Visitors will be able to follow a path with pictures of Tricia and written memories from her keepers.
The walk will be open for at least a week, while the Zoo and state government mull a more permanent memorial.
This morning Caspar Matson, 7, brought flowers hand-picked from his garden to the zoo for Tricia, accompanied by his dad and siblings.
"Tricia was one of our favourite animals at the zoo and we were very sad that she died, so we decided to bring this," he said.
"She was really cute … we visited her lots."
Esperance resident Megan Nickson had a special connection to Tricia through her father, which had become part of her family's lore.
"My dad won a competition when he was about seven to name the elephant Trish," she said, although she stressed she only had his word to go on, and it was a long time ago.
She brought her children to visit Tricia but she died before they could say a final goodbye.
"Obviously, because of that story, it’s my favourite thing here," Ms Nickson said.
“[I have] just a very sort of strong connection and bond to her. She's the most important thing at the zoo."
Zoo visitor Courtney Farrell said that, although she was sad that Tricia was gone, she was glad the zoo "did the right thing by her, and let her go when she needed to".
"But we will miss Tricia. We used to love coming to see her," she said.
For Catherine Travers, visiting with her daughter, Lucy, her thoughts were with Tricia's keepers.
"I felt bad for the zookeepers, because, you know the way they’d be her life, and vice versa," she said.
Tina Rigoli, now visiting with her daughter, Frances, remembered seeing Tricia as a child herself.
"She's been such a big part of the zoo.
"The last time we actually saw her, she was kicking the ball around. So that was pretty cute, to see her play soccer.
"[Frances] absolutely loved it and so did daddy."
Abagail Varsden and her younger brother, Harrison, were hoping to see the elephants today.
"Me and Harry really love elephants. They were really cute and they had lots of character," Abagail said.
"They were always doing funny things and I think they were like a favourite at the zoo.
"We really miss them already."
She remembered seeing Tricia play with a ball.
"She used to throw it up and play with it on her trunk and kick it," she said.
"I remember she came right close to us and she brought a branch over."
Senior elephant keeper Steve Edmunds, writing in The West Australian, remembered Tricia as "a very special individual, even among her species".
He also spoke of her early years at the zoo as a "display animal" after she arrived in 1963.
"Times were a lot different back then and seem very unsatisfactory by today's standards," he wrote.
"Tricia spent her first 23 years at the zoo in a small concrete enclosure — basically a display animal.
"Although it is easy to wish we could go back in time and change the way Tricia was housed back then, for a lot of people in Western Australia Tricia was the first elephant and for many the only elephant they saw in real life."
He said Tricia developed a reputation as an aggressive animal as she would lash out and injure people in her "understandable" frustration.
Tricia's condition improved with the expansion of her living areas and the introduction of other female elephants to the enclosure.
She was taken out to interact with the public on long walks through the zoo grounds.
No more elephants, but other large animals to stay
Mr Whitby said right now the other two elephants were mourning Tricia, but they would be moved at some point to a more appropriate facility.
"When Tricia came here in 1963, and went into that concrete enclosure, it's not something we would do today," he said.
"Having a metropolitan zoo is a wonderful thing and the Perth Zoo has a long future ahead of it.
"But … in terms of certain animals, particularly elephants, it's no longer a place that is appropriate."
He said herd animals, in particular, needed a lot of room and the zoo was searching Australia and overseas for a more appropriate home for Tricia's companions.
However, Perth Zoo executive director Wendy Attenborough said the closure of the elephants' enclosure did not spell the phasing out of large animals at the Perth Zoo.
"I guess one of the outcomes of the elephants leaving is that we will have more room in the African savanna to provide the best possible homes that we can provide for some of the other animals that are living there," she said.
"We'll have more room for those animals to run."
