Tributes to Dreamworld founder John Longhurst after death, aged 89

Queensland tourism soared when serial entrepreneur John Longhurst acted on a vision and built Dreamworldon the Gold Coast. After his death aged 89 this week, we should remember him as a true visionary, writes Des Houghton.

WHEN Dreamworld opened at Coomera on Tuesday, December 15, 1981, John Longhurst knew the biggest gamble of his life had paid off.

He had made several fortunes in Sydney but risked every penny he had on the Dreamworld venture. As the carpark filled up and Queenslanders rushed the ticket office in droves, he wept.

The $13m theme park on 26ha would boost the Gold Coast economy and change Queensland tourism forever.

I’m convinced that today’s anti-business environmental regulators and nitpicking council planners would sink a similar proposal if it was put up now.

Longhurst built Dreamworld himself with his son Tony, who was 15 when he joined his father’s small team. There was no masterplan; it was all in John’s head.

They camped on the site for four years. They knocked down trees, moved mountains of earth, built roads and buildings, and even changed the course of the creek to accommodate the paddle steamer.

Dreamworld founder John Longhurst in 1981. Picture: Bob Barnes

A few years ago, I helped John write his memoir and was surprised when he told
me Dreamworld was not formally approved until after it was built.

It did, however, have the backing of the Albert Shire Council chairman Bill Laver. Laver and his aldermen believed they had lived in the shadow of the Gold Coast for long enough and wanted a slice of the tourism pie.

Longhurst, who died last week at his Sanctuary Cove villa, aged 89, took on the world and won.

His legacy cannot be underestimated.

His Down Under Disneyland became the catalyst for billions of dollars of investments in more
theme parks.

Longhurst didn’t invent the Gold Coast, but he gave it the rocket fuel to send it soaring.

Family package tours boomed. Airlines had to quadruple flights to Queensland.

The floodgates opened.

Tens of thousands of Japanese tourists suddenly arrived. The influx of tourists, in turn, sparked a trillion-dollar apartment-building spree that shows little signs of slowing down.

Despite a turbulent decade, Dreamworld remains one of Queensland’s top tourism destinations. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

I’ve met a fair few entrepreneurs I would describe as have-a-go-heroes. But few come close to Longhurst.

He had drive and self-belief and that other magic ingredient, imagination.

In my opinion he sits up there with the giants like Rupert Murdoch and Springfield’s Maha Sinnathamby.

Longhurst had three sites earmarked in Sydney on which to build his theme park when he suddenly changed his mind and opted for Coomera.

He told me he dreamt about the site in a vision he had while snoozing on a plane flight back from the USA.

When he started work on Dreamworld many mistakenly believed he was building a golf course, and he was happy to encourage that illusion.

First, he bought a bulldozer but didn’t know how to drive it.

Workers jumped out of the way as he pulled at levers and began driving around in circles, and backwards, before he got the hang of it.

John and wife Annette on their wedding day.

John and his wife Annette and their six children, Tony, Sallyann, Veronica, Rodney, Carolyn and Matthew were living in waterside luxury at Yowie Bay in Sydney when John decided to pursue his dream in Queensland.

John Clifford Longhurst was born in a speeding ambulance near Minto in Sydney in 1932 after his pregnant mother fell from
a ladder, probably inducing
his birth.

His father James Longhurst rented a barn and the family lived in the loft, some sleeping in hammocks.

The rooms were divided by hessian curtains and the family had to pump water by hand to fill their tank.

“As kids, we struggled, but there was a lot of love, and I now realise I have had an absolutely glorious life,” he told me.

John’s mum died when he was 11 and her premature death, he said, helped him develop grit and determination.

His road to prosperity began when he left school at 16 to work as a fitter and machinist with Lawrence Hall’s Specialty Engineers in Sydney.

He built marine engines and helped Hall develop the prototype of the Victa mower.

He thought he could build a better mower and was just 22 when he launched his own company from his garage in direct competition to Victa.

He soon had a factory making 1000 Pace mowers a week.

Victa bought him out in 1959 and at 26, Longhurst walked away with $10m in today’s money.

The Pace mower designed by John Longhurst. Picture: Des Houghton

He then turned his attention to building houses and boats and made other fortunes.

In the 60s, Longhurst became the largest manufacturer of fibreglass pleasure craft in the southern hemisphere.

Dreamworld was generating substantial cash and in 1987 he purchased Green Island and Fitzroy Island in the Coral Sea and a port in Cairns and launched the Great Adventures ferry company to take tourists to the outer reef.

He seemed to have a Midas touch.

Great Adventures was soon rivalling Dreamworld for profits and international suitors were knocking on his door.

He had no intention of selling Dreamworld but did so in 1989 when he was offered well over $100m.

He thought he would be mad not to take it.

Restless, he then bought the Logan Hyperdome for $200m believing Loganholme would be a substantial growth corridor. Bullseye again.

John Longhurst also collected cars and owned a Model T Ford. Picture: Des Houghton

He had big expansion plans but didn’t know a lot about retail so agreed to enter a partnership with the Queensland Investment Corporation.

Sixteen years later, in 2012, the QIC purchased the remaining 50 per cent and Longhurst walked away with another handsome profit.

He was always busy “dreaming up” new ventures, his daughter Sallyann told me.

“It was exhausting being a child around him,” she said.

“He was so active. Dad was always on a mission.’’

John then helped his children set up a significant boating business.

Son Tony, a two-time Bathurst champion, runs The Boat Works at Coomera.

Brother Rodney owns and operates Riviera next door.

Together they own 30ha of prime riverfront land along the Coomera River.

The property is less than 5km from Dreamworld, where it all began.