Documenting the parks history

[Mickazee]

Hey guys, I've been inspired recently to build a website documenting the history of Wonderland from it's construction to it's disassembly. There are a few people on this forum that are an amazing repository of information and I'll be in touch with you soon trying to get as much info as possible out of you ;-) What I need though is as much stuff as possible! Pictures, clips, inside information etc... To be honest I've never been a big fan of wonderland and definitely not a theme park nut, but, like everyone else I've grown up with the park, it's something that has "always been there" and an icon of 'western sydney' you could say (the day I go down the M4 and see the spaceprobe and bushbeast missing will be a sad one). So providing a site that gives the people like us who have grown up with it some insight on it's creation, growth, decline and closure would make for some interesting reading I'm sure (and it's what attracts me to this forum in the first place!) I'm thinking of splitting the site up into a few major sections. - Park Creation: A bit of info on the construction of the park and the major timeline of when rides were bought (plus a little history on where rides came from e.g Titan from the world expo). This is perhaps the hardest section I think. There hasn't been too much discussion in these forums about the early days of the park although I have a friend whose dad worked in a construction company for the park. If you have any info, post away! - The Rides All the info on the rides, how much they costed, where they came from, when they were decommisioned and sold. But the most interesting of this section will be the inside info that's been discussed here regularly (iirc a post by wonderbus highlights the 'shoddy' maintance performed on demon and it's major accidents and their consequences, some news about a lift cable shearing on space probe etc) - Marketing The logos of Wonderland, the advertising slogans and media campaigns (which basically stopped mid 90's with the park focussing on asian tourists etc) "Wouldn't it be wonderful if the world was wonderland" ? - The Park Park maps, timeline of the 'areas' (goldrush, hanna barberra) and when/why they were closed. - Closure A discussion on the real reasons why the park closed (cashing in on the land, poor management etc) - Gallery As many pictures and movies as possible! I know this is a really ambitious project but with everyones help we can get this off the ground. I am an experienced web designer too so design won't be a problem (and it won't look like a geocities site gone wrong). So what I'm asking for is as much info as you can provide me! Do you know interesting info about the park? I heard there were people who visited it almost every day (info on those people?) and there have been people who post on these forums who have an intimate knowledge of what happens behind the scenes at WL (your confidentiality is assured if this is an issue). Thanks guys, your input would be great!

[steve$]

I have some high quality photographs that I would be willing to contribute to this good cause

[Mickazee]

Danke! I guess I should provide an E-Mail address to send stuff to! mickazee@gmail.com I'm not sure of the maximum size of the attachments but it can't be any less than a few megs I'm sure. I'll write a PHP script in the next few days to let people upload their stuff to my webserver which should be more efficient than E-Mailing it. Thanks again!

[steve$]

ill send them in a couple of weeks then

[Mickazee]

Once again, I need a few photos! Does anyone have any photos of the 'sunken ship' that sat in Botany bay? Even better would be a picture with the stunt show that used to be held on it... Anyone?

[Flea]

Credit for this image should go to Clint (DJRappa) for finding this...

[Mickazee]

Thankou Liam (and clint!) Any other photos you can upload for me :-P ? I've done quite a bit of work tonight..it's coming along nicely.. I should have a 'visitable' site up in a few days

[T-bone]

I found that one on Google Images. Didn't use it due to it having someone in it.

[zoggyno1]

Here are some photos

[Mickazee]

Thanks guys, www.----URL removed for non-compliance with Community Guidelines----.com is now active and the site is now up (in a small form). Please check out the history section and fact check what I've written there (there are dates that I don't know and will need to chase up). There's now the ability to upload photos to the site as well. Tell me what you think!

[T-bone]

Very cool. I hope the site grows a bit more than what it is at the moment.

[scott]

Yeah good work,more then anything I could do(I absolutely suck with computers).

[SeanM]

Hi Mickazee and Guys, Attached is a few photos, let me know if you want anymore I have heaps.

[SeanM]

some more photo's

[Mickazee]

Mucho appreciated! If you have any more, defo post them..the more the better! :-P I haven't had much time this week to work on the site, but next week should definitely have some more stuff up

[SeanM]

Mickazee, All the originals are around 65 meg each..If you post me a private message with your postal address I'll send you a disc with the tiff's as long as I get credited. Cheers Sean

[Mickazee]

PM sent Greatly appreciated!

[T-bone]

Post some more up please. Why didn't you reply to when i was after some Wonderland Sydney photo's? I needed those. Would it be alright if i could get a Cd sent too? If so, PM me.

[steve$]

That reminds me,Mickazee how is your site going at the moment?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Hey Micka, glad you helped me out with my puter problem... i found some stuff on there i completely forgot about - the ENTIRE wonderland promotional photos set.... As soon as I get around to getting my puter back up and running, ill get it sent over to you. its a zip, but its full of TIFF files, so its HUGE

[T-bone]

This reminds me, what nationality was Steven Galbraith? He looks like from that photo above he was german. What was he?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

a git. =-)

[Daniel]

Correctamundo. Other nicknames I'll refrain from posting due to the litigeous society we live in. Who cares? Stupid question Paul.

[Bussy]

Galbraith is a skip as far as I know. I don't know if you know or not but he started off at Seaworld as a ride operator. When he went to Wonderland he took several people with him, Michael Croaker (Entertainment), Zoe Schblahblahblah (Operations) and a couple of others whose names escape me at the moment. "The Bus is now leaving for Escape Reef, Queensland"

[Wazza1]

Galbraith is a skip as far as I know.  I don't know if you know or not but he started off at Seaworld as a ride operator.  When he went to Wonderland he took several people with him, Michael Croaker (Entertainment), Zoe Schblahblahblah (Operations) and a couple of others whose names escape me at the moment.

Zoe originally came down as his PA. He also brought down Mary McTaggart who was Operations Manager before she went over to Sunway. Also Dustin Lockett who was sales & marketing