Could any of these 10 Queensland grand plans be revived, including Gold Coast Disneyland or the Brisbane Skypoint?
A 21-year project to get Disneyland to come to the Gold Coast and a new world-famous landmark billed as Brisbane’s version of the Eiffel Tower are among 10 grand ideas for South East Queensland that never quite made it off the ground. Should any of them be considered now?
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Imagine how different Southeast Queensland would look if Brisbane had a landmark to rival the Eiffel Tower, the biggest cathedral in the southern hemisphere or a river stadium?
Or what about a Disneyland on the Gold Coast, a Dolly Parton theme park, a giant bronzed lifesaver statue towering over the Southport Broadwater or an “icon geyser” off Surfers Paradise?
Here are 10 grand ideas for the southeast that never quite made it off the ground. Some were thought bubbles, the others costed and planned.
Were they crazy dumb, brilliant or just ahead of their time?
And ahead of the 2032 Olympics, could – or should – any be revived and reborn?
Have your say in our poll below
BRISBANE SKYPOINT
It was billed as Brisbane’s version of the Eiffel Tower, a new world-famous landmark soaring high over the river city atop Mt Coot-tha.
But plans for the $55 million, 215m Skypoint Tower, unveiled in 1997, failed to eventuate.
Touted as a tourism and telecommunications tower, Skypoint was to have been built on council-owned land occupied by the ABC and SBS TV tower.
It would have replaced all the television station towers on Mt Coot-tha and also featured viewing platforms, a restaurant and “alternative reality” theatre.
But Skypoint never got off the ground, let alone reached the sky, as the 1998 Asian financial crisis put paid to the ambitious project.
DISNEYLAND ON THE GC
It took 21 years of work but entertainment giant Disney was finally keen to build its own Disneyland on the Gold Coast.
But it all went wrong and the plan fell apart.
The push to secure Disneyland for a site at Coomera first began in 1977 when the Southport-based Star Land Company began trying to woo the American company.
But it was not until early 1998 that things got serious when the State Government got involved.
Then-Sport Minister Mr Mick Vievers visited Disneyland in late 1997 with former Expo chairman Sir Llew Edwards, fuelling speculation that the Government was negotiating a deal with Disney Corporation to set up shop in Queensland.
Talk initially centred on Bribie Island but attention soon turned to the Gold Coast and the Star land.
When the Beattie Government was elected in 1998, Labor took the Disney plan and ran with it.
Operating under the working title of ‘Starland’, former premier Wayne Goss dispatched to the US by the government to negotiate with the Walt Disney company.
Less than two months after taking office, Premier Peter Beattie wrote to Disney saying he wanted an answer on whether the project would go ahead by September 1998.
Disney responded that month saying it would require millions of dollars in support to make the theme park viable.
A month later, Mr Beattie wrote to the Disney organisation seeking a clear indication by the end of September as to whether the Starland project had sufficient support for a full financial feasibility study to proceed.
But Disney hit back claiming the “economics” were “difficult”.
“At this time, we do not have sufficient confidence that the project will receive enough financial support for it to be feasible, and therefore, do not wish to risk creating false expectations either among the public, government leaders or Star Land Company.
“Therefore, unless your government is willing to commit to this type of funding, we don’t believe that probabilities warrant further time and energy being spent …’’
The Premier then wrote to Star Land chairman Dr J. Carmichael that the Government appreciated the substantial effort and commitment by the company to the development of the project.
“In the circumstances, I advise that the Queensland Government is not prepared to provide any further funding to the Star Land Company for the Starland project,’’ he said
HOLY NAME CATHEDRAL
A pet project of the late Brisbane Catholic James Duhig, the Holy Name Cathedral was envisioned for Fortitude Valley and would have been the biggest in the southern hemisphere had God smiled on the bold plan.
The massive church would have been large enough to accommodate 4000 worshippers and would also have been the single biggest cathedral built worldwide in 300 years.
Dominating the northern end of the CBD, it would have been crowned by an 82m cupola as part of Duhig’s grand vision, which he championed during his 48-year tenure between 1917 and 1965.
But a year after the foundation stone was laid in 1928, the Great Depression hit, followed by World War II.
There were also fears that the cathedral would cause traffic snarls, and rumours that money earmarked for the project and sent to Rome for blessing never made it back to Brisbane.
In 1982, the Catholic Church sold the site for $6 million and it was developed as the Cathedral Place apartment complex in the late 1990s.
RIVERCITY STADIUM
Amid Brisbane’s 1990s quest for a “super stadium”, the-then Coalition government led by Rob Borbidge came up with the idea for a 65,000-seat arena to have been built beside the river at Hamilton.
The $170 million Rivercity Stadium was pitched as Brisbane’s answer to Sydney’s Olympic precinct, with tennis and basketball also part of the 84ha master plan which would have been bankrolled with the help of surrounding commercial development.
Opponents raised concern about traffic and flight path issues given the site’s proximity to Brisbane Airport, and Peter Beattie’s election in 1998 sounded the project’s death knell.
The site is now home to the Portside precinct, including cruise ship terminal, Eat Street Markets, restaurants and apartments.
Meanwhile, the Palaszczuk Government has earmarked an upgraded Gabba and the new Brisbane Live entertainment centre and arena above Roma St railway station as key 2032 Olympics venues.
NORTH BANK
Years before plans for the $3.6 billion Queens Wharf development surfaced, the State Government led by Anna Bligh floated plans for a North Bank precinct.
Then-deputy Premier Paul Lucas oversaw the design process in 2008 to fix what he described as the “urban environmental vandalism” that was the Riverside Expressway.
Costing $1.7 billion, North Bank was to be a commercial and entertainment precinct jutting about 70m into the Brisbane River to complement South Bank.
But the project was quickly scuttled after a government inquiry found 93 per cent of people were opposed to it.
Queen’s Wharf, being developed by casino giant Star Entertainment and Asian partners, was to have progressively opened from early next year but Star recently announced the project had been delayed by factors including wet weather and Covid.
KANGAROO POINT PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE
Earmarked to complement the Goodwill and Kurilpa pedestrian and cycle bridges, the 395m Kangaroo Point would have linked the intersection of Alice and Edward streets, near the Stamford Plaza Hotel, with Thornton St at Kangaroo Point.
The bridge would have been suspended off masts 50m high and 4m wide, with a maximum clearance of 12.7m above the river.
In 2013, then-Lord Mayor Graham Quirk vowed to go it alone with the $120 million project after the Newman Government refused to stump up any cash, and it was included in Brisbane City Council’s 2014 CBD master plan as a priority project.
However, Quirk scrapped the proposal in 2015 to focus council funds on suburban projects.
THE BIG CLUBBIE
It could have rivalled the Big Pineapple, Big Banana and Big Gumboot as Australia’s Next Big Thing.
But plans for a giant rotating lifesaver statue towering over the Southport Broadwater – eclipsing even the Statue of Liberty in height – suffered an inglorious wipe-out.
The concept was the brainchild of Gold Coast “imagineer” Lloyd Bond, a creative guru who worked on the Sydney Olympics opening and closing ceremonies.
Mr Bond unveiled plans for his Bronzed Aussie icon on the man-made Wavebreak Island in the Broadwater in 1997.
The 109m colossus was to stand atop a giant “rock” shaped like Uluru and include restaurants, a 500-room hotel, 6000-seat convention centre and possibly even a casino.
But tourism, business and political leaders failed to get on board with the big lifesaver idea and it was dumped, with a disappointed Mr Bond describing the reaction as “fairly pathetic”.
“I think that is a reflection of the very sorry state of the current Queensland mentality,’’ he said at the time.
``I will do everything in my power to build the Bronze Aussie on the Gold Coast .
. . but if the apathy and disinterest here is so great, we will build it on Bondi
Beach or in Melbourne, Adelaide or Perth.
``Southeast Queensland has lost its energy and doesn’t have a vision.’’
AUSSIE STAMPEDE
In 2000, American country music superstar Dolly Parton saddled up to bring her Dixie Stampede horseshow theatre restaurant Down Under to the Gold Coast.
Unfortunately, it proved to be another of Lloyd Bond’s ill-fated ventures after he fell out with Parton and her people and his then business partner, Sydney Olympics ceremonies “ringmaster” Ric Birch.
The eat with your hands, hoot like a cowboy concept had proven a runaway success in the US and, as Parton told fans through her Dollywood website, “I’m thrilled to be taking a Stampede to Australia and share this great entertainment attraction with travellers from all over the world.”
But the plans bit the dust, with Bond blaming the collapse of the $60 million venture on Parton’s alleged demand for $20,000 a week to have her name associated with it.
The Gold Coast eventually ended up getting a horse show-themed restaurant, with the opening of the Aussie Outback Spectacular next to Movie World in 2006.
THE BIG BIKINI GIRL
Surfers Paradise Chamber of Commerce boss and perpetual mayoral candidate Brian Shepherd was never short of an idea, and this was perhaps his biggest and boldest yet.
In the late 1980s, “Shep”, as he was affectionately known, floated plans for a giant bikini girl statue.
In a very GC nod to the colossus of Rhodes or the Statue of Liberty, it was meant to straddle the Gold Coast Highway, allowing motorists to drive underneath it on their way into Surfers Paradise.
Sadly for “Shep” – the self-described “Mayor with flair who never got there” – the Big Bikini Girl never got to strut her stuff, with then-Mayor Lex Bell putting the kibosh on the idea.
Shep did, however, create national headlines for the Glitter Strip when he persuaded two meter maids to pose nude for men’s magazine, Penthouse.
THE ICON GEYSER
Proposed in 2012 by Gold Coast teacher Bill Ross, it was to be the world’s largest offshore water jet.
The Icon Geyser was slated to be built 300m off Surfers Paradise and would shoot water more than 150m into the air.
It was conceived as a clock of sorts which would grow in size for short periods every 15 minutes, reaching its maximum height on the hour every daylight hour.
It was expected to cost $15 million and had the backing of then-mayor Ron Clarke.
However, the Gold Coast City Council ultimately chose to not investigate the project any further.
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