Opening at the north end of Coogee’s sweeping crescent of sand in 1887, the Coogee Palace was a grand and ambitious entertainment precinct. Inside the vast domed building was an aquarium, swimming baths and great hall, which was used for dances and a roller skating rink. Outside rides, a bandstand, open-air bar and aviaries delighted the daytrippers. There were trams at this time too, helping to bring in the weekend crowds to enjoy the seaside resort. But when trends changed and ocean swimming became more socially acceptable, visitors to the indoor baths and aquarium dwindled.
By the 1920s parts of the sprawling space had been let out to shops. The pools were demolished in the 1960s and the Coogee Palace and Aquarium slowly fell into disrepair. A conservation order was placed on it in 1982 but just a few years later its central roof was severely damaged in a storm that caused the total collapse of its landmark dome. It was restored and reopened in 1987 as the Beach Palace Hotel, a popular haunt with backpackers. In 2014 the historic site was given yet another lease of life by hospitality group Merivale. Now known as the Coogee Pavilion, it’s still an iconic seaside destination once again, but one where a rooftop bar and sophisticated dining replace turn-of-the-century seaside fun.
Just around the coast from Bondi, Tamarama has a small ocean beach set between two headlands. The exclusive coastal suburb is nicknamed Glamarama and is a popular surfing and posing spot. Things looked very different back in the late 19th century though. It was the site of the Royal Aquarium and Pleasure Grounds, which opened in 1887 and was known as the Bondi Aquarium. It closed and in 1906 a large open-air amusement park called Wonderland City opened. It had a haunted house, Helter Skelter, merry-go-round, circus ring, skating rink and roller coaster that ran along the length of the beach, whizzing above the water at high tide. Daredevil stunts and novelty acts by performers also pulled in the crowds.
Few clues remain to tell the tale of this short-lived venture, which was modelled on New York's Coney Island and closed just five years later in 1911. Despite drawing around 2,000 people over summer weekends and employing 160 people, according to Waverley Library, the park was mired by public protests that it prevented beach access, along with concerns about animal welfare. Today the ambitious attraction is remembered in the street named Wonderland Avenue and in a mural on the side of the Tamarama Surf Life Saving Club, which was set up shortly after residents reclaimed the beach.
A sleepy farming town called Claremont, just outside of Tasmania’s capital Hobart, was chosen as the site for Cadbury’s first ever overseas operation. The British confectioners bought the land on the banks of the River Derwent in 1920 and built a large-scale factory and worker’s village like the one they’d established in Bournville in the 1880s. They reportedly chose the island state over the more obvious choice of Melbourne due to its climate. The bustling factory allowed behind-the-scenes visitor tours for around five decades which proved extremely popular until 2008, when they stopped due to health and safety regulations.
But customers could still get an insight into the workings of their favourite confectionary factory at its visitor centre, which welcomed tourists keen to learn about the history of chocolate and Cadbury. They could also taste different types of chocolate and, of course, stock up on their favourite bars in the shop. Sadly, that attraction is also a distant memory as the factory closed its gates to all public visitors in 2015. Declining visitor numbers were blamed and the need for the company to focus on its core business of manufacturing.
Ocean baths have lined Australia’s coastline since colonial times, built to provide safe swimming zones. And Darwin certainly had call for a protected swimming area with stingers, saltwater crocodiles, sharks and huge swells to contend with. Opening on the city’s Lameroo Beach in 1922, the mixed-use sea pool also had bathing sheds. Not everyone was welcome, though, with the Lameroo Baths Regulations stating the pool was open to all “except full-blooded Aboriginals, who shall not be allowed to use the baths at any time". A bitter blow given the beach was a traditional camping, fishing and swimming spot for the Larrakia people.
Another of Coogee’s now long-gone seaside attractions was a pleasure pier, taking its inspiration from the seaside structures that were popular in English seaside towns. Construction of the pier, which extended out from the centre of the beach, began in 1924 and it opened in 1928 with a large theatre, ballroom and restaurant. A year later a steel mesh shark-proof enclosure was added to protect swimmers on the popular surf beach. It was attached to one of the pier’s pylons and enclosed half of the bay.
Changing tastes saw visitor numbers dwindle and storm damage further hampered the pier’s financial viability. The structure was torn down in 1934. All that remained to remind people of the pier were the remnants of 12 timber and concrete pylons, occasionally exposed in storms. However, even these have now gone. The council removed them in 2022 due to safety concerns after strong storms and swells swept away large quantities of sand and dislodged them.
Opening on Manly Cove in 1963, Marineland was the largest aquarium in the southern hemisphere and the third largest in the world. The site became one of Sydney’s biggest tourist attractions, enthralling visitors with its displays of Australian marine life. Marineland’s first shark was caught off the Sydney Heads and airlifted to the site. The original building was knocked down in 1987 and replaced by the Manly Underwater World. Another name change happened in 1992 when it became Oceanworld, and again in 2012 when it was rebranded as Manly Sea Life Sanctuary. Its thrilling Shark Dive Xtreme became one of its most talked-about features.
But Manly’s long-running attraction closed in 2018 after 55 years. Owner Merlin Entertainments Group said the cost required to maintain and upgrade the three-level aquarium was not financially viable. Its inhabitants – 107 sharks and rays, 2,000 fish, 500 invertebrates, 19 penguins and 11 reptiles including turtles – were painstakingly rehoused in other aquariums including sister attraction Sea Life Sydney, across the harbour in Darling Harbour (which is still going strong). Now owned by Transport for NSW, the distinctive building has sat empty and semi-derelict since its tanks emptied. Plans are in motion to demolish it, extend the boardwalk and enhance the Manly West Esplanade precinct area.
A picturesque cross-country ski and hiking area in Victoria’s High Country, Cresta Valley was once home to a popular and family-friendly mountain resort. It had a 26-room lodge, restaurant, ski school and ski lifts. In fact, Cresta Valley was ahead of its time – it laid claim to Australia’s first mechanical ski tow, which opened here in 1937. Originally known as the Tatra Inn, a wooden chalet-style lodge opened in the mountain resort in the 1960s and was later renamed the Cresta Valley Ski Lodge.
The ferocious bushfires that ripped through Victoria’s parched Alpine regions in December 2006 were to change the course of this ski resort’s fate. The series of bushfires devastated parts of Mount Buffalo National Park, including Cresta Valley. It pretty much wiped the once bustling holiday destination off the map, razing the wooden Cresta Valley Ski Lodge to the ground. The valley’s ski infrastructure was severely damaged. Although there have been calls to get the lifts up and running again they still stand weathered and abandoned for now.
Casting a spell over young children far and wide, Fantasy Glade was a theme park in the rainforests of Port Macquarie on New South Wales' mid-north coast inspired by fairy tales and nursery rhymes. It was opened in 1968 by George and Rosemary Whitaker with its chief attractions including a dragon statue that sprang to life from its cave with flashing eyes and spurting water; a boot-shaped house; Cinderella’s castle, and Snow White’s cottage.
Another couple took over the park in the 1980s and ran it successfully until closing it in 2002 when they retired. The picturesque plot was left to run wild until it was reclaimed from the forest by new owners with grand plans. They didn’t eventuate, however, and it was sold once again in 2015. This time the new owner did set about restoring the fantasy theme park’s beloved buildings with talk of reopening Fantasy Glades and its storybook cottages as a glamping holiday park. However, local concerns around the effect of the redevelopment on the resident koala population put plans on hold. The spruced-up former fun park is now up for sale once again. But will its happy-ever-after ever come?
Opening on New South Wales’s central coast in 1975 with prime minister Gough Whitlam in attendance, Old Sydney Town was an open-air living museum intended to transport visitors back to colonial Australia. The large estate was built to recreate Sydney Cove as it was in the early 19th century with a man-made lake replicating the harbour. The first of its kind in Australia, it swiftly captivated the imagination of visitors with some risqué interactive activities including putting children in the pillory and graphic re-enactments of convicts being flogged by redcoats and pistol duels. There were also horse-drawn carriage rides and firing cannons.
Maintaining the sprawling attraction and employing the large numbers of actors needed to keep the experience vivid was costly. Displays were scaled back but eventually Old Sydney Town closed in 2003. Some buildings were used as filming locations and hired as venues for private functions. In 2014 a fire caused severe damage to parts of the site. Nostalgic fans and locals have led various campaigns over the years to bring back the open-air museum, but its replica 19th-century buildings sit empty and forlorn. Reports of a buyer for the site in 2019 have ignited hope for a reinvigorated Old Sydney Town with a more multicultural focus.
Before long the marine park was drowning in financial difficulties, not helped by new regulations that required larger enclosures for dolphins. The site eventually shuttered in 1990 with most of its famed dolphins (who had been captured off the coast) set free. The site was abandoned and left to crumble under the watchful face of the trident-bearing Neptune, who was also vandalised and graffitied over the years. Considered a local landmark, the limestone statute was restored and the Sun City Precinct where it sits was included on the State Register of Heritage Places last year.
Many magical childhood memories were made at Magic Mountain, a theme park that opened in 1982 in Adelaide’s coastal suburb Glenelg. As the name suggests, the park had a mountain-like facade that loomed above the sandy beach and lured families from the waves to ride on its carousel, dodgem cars, bumper boats and water slides; and to spend their pocket money on arcade games. Good old-fashioned seaside fun. However it closed in 2004 as a major redevelopment of the foreshore was announced.
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Despite controversy around the redevelopment and an outcry from residents, the theme park was demolished. Some diehard fans managed to snag some Magic Mountain memorabilia at an auction. Before long, though, the beachside suburb got a new entertainment complex, with the Beachouse Glenelg opening on the site in 2006. Still there today, the family amusement arcade also has a carousel and bumper boats along with a heated waterslide. But some South Australians would argue that it failed to create the same kind of seaside magic as its predecessor.
Opening in Sydney’s western suburbs in 1985, Australia’s Wonderland (as it was first known) was the largest theme park in all of the southern hemisphere. Later renamed Sydney’s Wonderland, the instantly popular park had three themed areas: Goldrush, Medieval Faire (which was renamed Old Botany Bay), and Hanna-Barbera Land (becoming Little Wonders Land in 2001). A waterpark was added a few years later. The crowds flocked in with many keen to take on the park’s most famous ride, the Bush Beast – at the time, it was the tallest rollercoaster in the country. The Beastie was its smaller sibling.
Best known for its replica of Uluru, known as the Ayers Rock Roadhouse, Leyland Brothers World was a short-lived attraction on the Pacific Highway in Tea Gardens, just north of Newcastle. It opened in 1990 and was a passion project for brothers Mike and Mal Leyland. The duo grew to fame in the 1960s with their travel films documenting their daring exploits and later popular TV series. Promising a taste of Australia’s wilderness, the attraction pulled in punters who were keen to meet the brothers. It had rides, a playground, roadhouse, museum, a gauge circular railway and a bush camp. It also had a movie studio.
However the brothers ran into financial difficulties and it closed just two years later. It was sold at auction in 1992 for just £415,166 (AU$800,000) – the ambitious Uluru replica alone had cost the brothers over £1m (AU$2 million) – and the site was used to host outdoor educational activities. In 2009 it became the Great Aussie Bush Camp, which has three sites and is a popular destination for school camps to give children experiences in the bush. Sadly, a little piece of Aussie history was destroyed in 2018 when a fire engulfed the famous fibro-constructed Uluru.
Opening in 1997, indoor interactive theme park Sega World Sydney was one of the leading attractions of Darling Walk, the entertainment precinct that transformed Sydney’s industrial harbour in the 1980s. Promising the next generation of entertainment with simulated rides and the chance to meet Sonic, it opened to much fanfare. There was a roller coaster, ghost train, arcade games and Nickelodeon-themed play area and is still fondly remembered by many Gen Y Sydneysiders, many of whom attended family outings and under-18 dance parties here.
But the video game theme park failed to bring in the big numbers and closed just a few years later in 2000. The site lay empty for many years with its games and rides sold off at auction in 2001 for cut prices. The distinctive (and rapidly dating) red-and-blue building with its big blue glass pyramid was later used as a furniture showroom before it was eventually demolished in 2008. Now it’s the site of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s HQ.
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Giant observation wheels can be seen on the famous skylines of London, Singapore and Dubai – Melbourne was once part of the trend, too, with its Southern Star opening in the city’s regenerated Docklands precinct in 2008. It promised riders dizzying views of the city and Port Phillip Bay – however, it closed just 40 days later after concerning cracks appeared. Some were up to 10 feet (3m) long. It closed and was disassembled before being completely rebuilt. Nicknamed the wheel of misfortune, the new version didn’t open until 2013, when it was renamed the Melbourne Star.
According to the attraction owners, the wheel welcomed 30,000 visitors annually at its height. However, like all attractions, the giant Ferris wheel was shuttered during Melbourne’s many and lengthy COVID-19 lockdowns and it eventually went into liquidation in 2021. There were suggestions that moving the wheel to a busier location on the banks of the Yarra River could reinvigorate the attraction but with no buyers in the offing nothing has eventuated. While the Star still looms over Melbourne, it no longer lights up its skies at night and its pods seem unlikely to spin again.