im glad to hear someone is documenting the demolition of the park. are we able to obtain the construction of the park photos.

Has any approaches been made to the current management to see if the train carriages have been retained intact or have they been destroyed? You never know they allow you to have them. Luna park melbourne retained their two Big Dipper carriages when it was pulled out and used them as decoration in the park. Has anyone got or know of a register of items, equipment and memorabilia related to Wonderland? I know there would be alot of photos around! A retrospective exhibition is a great idea but the amount of work that is involved is quite high and time consuming. Most exhibition planning can take 18 months to two years from idea to execution. Alot of dollars are also needed if it's to be done properly. The Powerhouse would be an ideal choice of venue but they would work on a 12 - 24 month ahead schedule. Most institutions operate like that! With the right planning, approached could be made to the NSW Ministry for the Arts, the Australia Council and local government authorities (local council) for funding support. A corporate sponsor or two may be interesting in coming on board. With proper research a catalogue could compliment the exhibition documenting the 20 years or so of Wonderland.

All 14 Bush Beast and 10 beastie carriages should still be out the back stables where I put them just under a year ago. The americans at Visionland wanted to buy them and for me to send them but it all went sour after the Demon/Zoomerang mess.

That is great news to hear... Unfortunately there seems to be something up with the format of your photos, do you think you could re-post as jpegs? One thing though... why do people have to always persist with this secrecy crap? No one really cares if you have an inside scoop or anything like that. It's really much more beneficial to the community to be upfront and honest with who you are and how you happen to have photos and what your plans are and that sort of stuff for such a website... I highly doubt there is a long line of people out to beat you to it all, I am sure though that there is probably a very long line of people who would be willing to get involved and help you out in any way that they can. Whats the Zoomerang "mess" you speak of DJ?

I'm sure he meant boomerang as the type of coaster.

Edited September 1, 200520 yr by taronga

Woah yet another super informative, contributing post that makes the up most sense from Taronga!

So what happened to your pictures Anon................coldfeet?

Woah yet another super informative, contributing post that makes the up most sense from Taronga!

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Well excuse me mr i'm so superior!!

I did mean Zoomerang as that is its new name at Visionland. The mess I refer to is to do with the guy who had to be contracted in at the last minute to pull the ride down. He has a demo licence which the original company who came over did not have. He obviously thought he could charge what he wanted (500 an hour to be precise) because there was such urgency to get it down and out. After it was done the original company (Canadians) who were contracted to pull it down decided not to pay this guy his exorbitant fee using the distance between the two countries as a safe haven. This also impacted on Visionland who purchased the ride and they were also chased for payment even though it was outside their contract with the Canadian "experts". They may have made a verbal agreement to get things moving but verbal agreements can have a nasty habit of changing or dissappearing. All this mess and believe me it was an utter mess with lawsuits still to play out helped cause the lateness of the approvals to demo rest of the park which then caused heat for a certain ex-Wonderland CEO therefore damaging the negotiations for the yanks to buy the coaster cars.

I did mean Zoomerang as that is its new name at Visionland. The mess I refer to is to do with the guy who had to be contracted in at the last minute to pull the ride down. He has a demo licence which the original company who came over did not have. He obviously thought he could charge what he wanted (500 an hour to be precise) because there was such urgency to get it down and out. After it was done the original company (Canadians) who were contracted to pull it down decided not to pay this guy his exorbitant fee using the distance between the two countries as a safe haven. This also impacted on Visionland who purchased the ride and they were also chased for payment even though it was outside their contract with the Canadian "experts". They may have made a verbal agreement to get things moving but verbal agreements can have a nasty habit of changing or dissappearing. All this mess and believe me it was an utter mess with lawsuits still to play out helped cause the lateness of the approvals to demo rest of the park which then caused heat for a certain ex-Wonderland CEO therefore damaging the negotiations for the yanks to buy the coaster cars.

Bussy do you know if the Beastie is still standing and when this will be scheduled for demolition?? It would be a fine idea to attempt to document this demolition since The Bush Beast's slipped underneath the radar.

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I dont think it was all that unexpected was it? I mean didnt someone announce on here not long back that remaining rides, including BB and SP would be removed from the park in August....OK SP is still there today, but surely it wont be all that long before its gone too.

Edited September 1, 200520 yr by dr_teeth

just a little bit of news, zodiac now has the western arm in the air, stripped of all its gondolas. Sad to see! Whilst Bush Beast is totally levelled with them just putting everything into big piles and from what i can tell, dumping it in the carpark

i noticed that the zodiac was stripped yesterday afternoon. Im guessing that it will disappear from the sky line with in the next few days then the next to go will be the either the beach or space probe.

Its finally the beginning of the end for Wonderland Sydney after 19yrs of making people happy they close and 1 and half years later they decide to pull her down!

I saw a huge tower crane right next to the SP today, I think it had the hook attached to the dome, I don't know but it was right next to the SP!

hey guys, was just at wonderland with some mates and i can confirm that there is a tower crane next to SP. There were 3 guys walking around the very top of the dome of SP. There was a cage attached to the end of the crane, and it was moving up to top where the workmen were then back down to the ground. I have many pics and will upload them soon. Also im sure my mates will upload their pics.

Bussy do you know if the Beastie is still standing and when this will be scheduled for demolition?? It would be a fine idea to attempt to document this demolition since The Bush Beast's slipped underneath the radar.

I am lead to believe that Beastie is also gone and was done either the day before or the day after Bush Beast was brought down.

I saw a huge tower crane right next to the SP today, I think it had the hook attached to the dome, I don't know but it was right next to the SP!

The crane that you can see has nothing to do with Probe's deconstruction at this point. It is there for Zodiac. When I drove past on the M4 today the eastern arm was up minus all the gondolas. "The Bus is now leaving for Cranes Cowal, NSW"

Bussy, the crane was used by the workers ontop of the dome on the SP, i was there watching it for about 90mins.

I think you will find that thet strategically built the tower crane between both rides and then they can work on both rides simultaniously, wherever the demand for a lift is then the crane swings around. That is the only way they will get the rides down in the limited timeframe they have.

Dj you made a very good point i didnt even consider, so yer. The bushbeast lays in her temporary resting place in the carpark outside what we used to know as the wildlife park entrance.

Will the Zodiac & Space Probe be trashed or sold off?

Man I hope the SP goes to Movieworld! How mad would that be aye?

What I said was that at this point the crane was not being used for Probe. I think you will find that Zodiac will be taken down completely before they start on Probe. "The Bus is now leaving for Probert Well, Western Australia"

Man I hope the SP goes to Movieworld! How mad would that be aye?

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PattieBoi, That's actually a really good idea! Because they could make another Gremlins ride and use the Space Probe tower for it.

I have just got back from Wonderland and taken some photos of the Space Probe and a few other things. The gallery can be found at Billboard Space Probe Photos