A real good article this. I read it many years ago in a book, which deals with the history of the Gold Coast: "The real Surfers Paradise". Its a late 80's book, and each chapter deals with a different area of the Gold Coast, from the 5star hotels (of the late 80's remember) the proposed new monorail in Broadbeach, the new casino, and the nightlife of the time, as well as chapters about the 50's and 60's. The chapter that I've stumbled across deals with the development of the spit, and in particular on Seaworld's development. Quite possibly the most remarkable part is the transcripts are found on Seaworld's official website, and the article can be found here.

A great read. It's especially interesting to hear the extent to which John Menzies actually built the place - it's a bit more literal than you'd think! You'd never think that a travelling ski show would come complete with the pool to ski in.

Yes I read these articles originally in the Surfer's Paradise book while doing research for a hotel project. I haven't read the article link a second time, but one of the things I remember was how they built most of the rides here in Australia after viewing various designs in USA, for a fraction of the cost it would've cost to import. The flume ride comes to mind.

Indeed, they mention the fact that both Viking's and Lassiter's Lost Mine came it amazingly cheap for how good they were. Same thing happens today to some extent: You try and tell the average American that Superman is only AU$15mil