A 47-year-old postie from Queensland has come forward as the girl on the back of the rampaging elephant at Arden Street in 1978.

Sally Wood was an avid cheer squad member who volunteered to ride the circus animal in order to help promote a local circus.

“It will be 40 years next year. I was in the cheer squad and they asked if anyone wanted to ride an elephant and being a plucky eight-year old I put my hand up and said, ‘Me, me, me’.” she told The Herald Sun. 

“I vaguely remember it was supposed to kick footballs. I just remembered getting on it, it running amok and everyone just scattering and me just hanging on.

“I got off and I felt like a bit of a rock star.”

Wood said the story and other famous tales from Arden Street have lived on and will always hold a special place I her heart.

“My husband is a Collingwood supporter and I remember when I very first met him and I mentioned it and he said, ‘Oh my god’ and now he tells the story to everyone.

“It would be that and the pie stand catching fire. We were playing Collingwood too that day and we were saying, ‘Burn Pies, burn Pies’. It’s so funny the things you remember.

“That period in the 1970s was just magical. You would be standing there with your foot on the fence ready to jump over when the siren went and I remember going into the changerooms with my autograph book and duffel coat.”