Luna Park, Sydney 28.05.2011

While the builders were filling in the two missing walls and Pedram went to work (“easy” day - “only” 8-6 with no pager!), Anna, Pat and I set out for a day in Sydney.

 

From Milson’s Point station, we had a good view of the bridge.

 

As we walked past Luna Park, I was reminded of the only time I had been there, aged about 18 (just a few years ago).  My friend Erica and I took the train from Brisbane to Sydney where we stayed for a week at the People’s Palace.  Being a country girl, and never having been on a roller coaster, I was desperate to go to Luna Park and try the Big Dipper.  Erica wasn’t keen, but said she’d go on it with me.

Well, it took me about six seconds to realise that roller coasters were not for me.  I was absolutely terrified and thought I was going to die.  For an eternity our car creaked and groaned at impossible angles up to incredible heights, then lurched and dropped over the top at a speed which sent my stomach through my eyeballs.  I had no faith in the integrity of the structure and fully expected our car to fall off, either on the way up or down.  My fingers clamped around the bar of our car, with my fingernails drawing blood where they fastened into my sweaty palms.

After what seemed several lifetimes, we finally shuddered to a halt, and I staggered off, unsure whether to give thanks that it was over and I was still alive, be sick or fall over.  Erica turned to me with shining eyes.  “Let’s go again!” she cried.

 

  “Come in, come in!”

Luna Park opened in 1935, and operated continuously until 1979, when it was closed as a result of a fatal fire on the Ghost Train.  Between 1982 and 2004, it opened and closed spasmodically.  A new Big Dipper was built, but neighbours complained about the noise.  In 2001, the Big Dipper was sold to Dreamworld in Queensland.

In 2004, a sparkly new Luna Park opened, which was listed on the State Heritage Register in 2010.

 

All the fun of the fair – without the roller coaster.

 

Now the Ferris Wheel is the highest part of Luna Park.

 

From Luna Park, you can look under the Harbour Bridge to the Opera House.

 

A closer view of the photogenic Opera House.

 

We walked along the boardwalk past Luna Park towards Lavender Bay, beside the long narrow Art Barton Park.

Arthur “Art” Barton (1887-1974) worked as an artist at Luna park from 1937, the year of the park’s opening, until 1970, when failing eyesight obliged him to retire.  Barton’s paintings gave the park a very Australian character and his “happy face” entrance gate, built in 1959, has been used as a model for all the subsequent Luna park faces.  Art Barton Park was opened in 2007.   (From a plaque in the park).

The park is also home to miniature sculptures by Peter Kingston of cherished comic characters including Australian icons Blinky Bill, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, the Magic Pudding and this representation of Barton’s “happy face” Luna Park gate.