Anyone who grew up in the 1980s or 1990s in Sydney remembers Wonderland. The theme park, sprawling over 219 hectares of pristine Eastern Creek land, was the central point of so many formative childhood experiences, be it getting a nosebleed on the Bush Beast or getting dacked in that weird water park they had. Ah, memories.
Wonderland closed on April 26th, 2004 – 12 years ago today. The Wikipedia article succinctly sums up the litany of problems the Sunway Group, who operated the park after 1997, blamed its closure on a number of factors:
Sunway Group stated the September 11 attacks, the 2002 Bali bombings, the collapse of HIH Insurance, the SARS virus, the bird flu virus, “consistent losses” on the Asian financial crisis, the collapse of Ansett Australia, the Iraq War and the 2003 bushfires all contributed to the park’s closure.
Surely not poor management though, clearly. Pity about the Iraq War, hey? Without it, we might still have Wonderland. And no ISIS! What a world.
Despite the fact Wonderland has not existed for 12 years, committed and devoted fans still post reviews on the park’s official Facebook page. Naturally, we assume the page operated by an insane former ride operator and/or groundskeeper who lives in a twisted fantasy world of their own creation where Wonderland never closed.
There’s also some juicy slices of vintage 90’s mullet content for you to absorb too:
According to the Facebook they respond to questions within several hours, so if you’ve got any inquiries about, say, Hanna-Barbera Land, go nuts.
The reviews that people are leaving (averaging to a respectable 4.7 stars out of 5), are heartbreaking vignettes of lives lived at 100km/h on The Demon rollercoaster. They are tales of love, loss, and thinking that Luna Park sucks in comparison.
Vale, Wonderland. Rumours and half-announcements keep cropping up that it’s coming back thanks to a property developer who was a former employee of the park. But who knows. For now, only memories.
Source: Facebook.
