Tuesday 27 March 2012

LUNA PARK, MELBOURNE

Melbourne's Luna Park is a historic amusement park located on the foreshore of Port Phillip Bay in St Kilda, Victoria, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia. It opened on 13 December 1912 and has been operating almost continuously ever since. This was the first of the four Luna Parks that were built in Australia, of which only Melbourne and Luna Park Sydney are still operating. The other two, now defunct, Luna Parks were at Glenelg in South Australia (1930–1934) and at Redcliffe in Queensland (1944–1966).

The St Kilda park was developed by American showman J D Williams, in company with the three Phillips brothers (reputedly from Seattle), who had all had experience in the amusement and cinema industry in the US. Their Chief Engineer and main designer was Englishman T H Eslick, who, according to the opening day brochure, had worked on numerous parks around the world. Williams returned to the US in 1913 to help found First National Films which subsequently became Warner Brothers. The Phillips brothers stayed on and ran the park until their deaths in the 1950s.

A fire in 1981 destroyed the Giggle Palace, and in the same year the River Caves were declared unsafe, and demolished. In 1989 the Big Dipper was demolished in anticipation of a new large roller coaster which never eventuated. The main historic features of the park to remain include the iconic "Mr Moon" face entry and flanking towers (1912, restored 1999), the Scenic Railway (1912) which is the oldest continuously-operating roller coaster in the world, and the carousel (1913 restored 2000). Other historic attractions include the Ghost Train (1934), and the fairytale castle-style Dodgem's Building constructed to house the newly patented ride in 1927 (the ride itself was relocated from the first floor of this building to the ground level in the late 1990s). The park also includes many modern attractions such as the Metropolis roller-coaster, the Spider, a Ferris wheel, and other mechanical thrill-rides. The park remains popular with children and their parents who have fond memories of the park from their youth. Extensive parks and beachfront attractions surround the Luna Park and contribute to its status as a tourist magnet.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme.








14 comments:

  1. What a fantastic, colorful park, Nick!! And such an interesting history! Your captures are delightful and so inviting! I could be a kid all over again!! Hope you have a great day!

    Sylvia

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my - that looks like a lot of fun!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wonderful fun and colorful photos. I'm sure it is a very popular place with the children. Thanks for sharing your world. Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This amusement park looks good for children and their parents. But I feel a little scary about the entry face!

    ReplyDelete
  5. have never been to that Luna Park but loved the Sydney version as a kid. It looks very similar.

    ReplyDelete
  6. what fun!

    i really love your photos, they just gave me a wee break from my other things of the day.
    thank you!

    wishing a wonderful day/week!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Looks like a very cool place; just like the old Coney Island!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Colorful lively captures! How wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a festival of colours! I love the entranceway, it's so cool.

    ReplyDelete
  10. So it's a 100 years old - wow! The giant carrousel looks very attractive to me!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love the entranceway too!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Fantastic shots of this fun place.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you. I used to think the history of leisure activities was fun, but not very scholarly. But the more I read about sea baths, bathing boxes, women riding bikes, cabarets, tea dances etc, the more I think these facilities were critically important. Melbourne's Luna Park is indeed an historic amusement park, and I love the idea that it opened before WW1 even started.

    What did the entrance look like in 1912? Do any photos survive?

    ReplyDelete

Feel free to comment, I'd really like to hear from you!
Please do not use this comment box to advertise your goods and services!