A look back at 100 years of Luna Park, Australia’s oldest amusement park
LUNA Park in St Kilda is the oldest amusement park in Australia. Take a look back at the opening day of this Melbourne icon in 1912.
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MELBOURNE’S Luna Park has been laughing at passers-by for more than 100 years.
It’s the oldest theme park in Australia and the only one in the world completely enclosed by a roller coaster — the famous Great Scenic Railway.
The clacking of the wooden rollercoaster and the screams of young children hurtling down its tracks are a common sound in the bayside suburb of St Kilda.
Take a look at the incredible footage from the opening day of this iconic Melbourne landmark, and see how it has changed over the years.
The park was established by the US entrepreneur J D Williams and the three Phillips brothers, Leon, Herman and Harold from Los Angeles.
They leased the St Kilda site from a previous failed amusement park and went about constructing a new park in 1911 based on the latest American trends.
They hired designers and craftsmen who worked in the world famous Coney Island amusement park in New York, including T.H. Slick, who designed the laughing face and distinctive towers at the entrance.
Luna Park was the name used around the world for American-style amusement parks, inspired by the first Luna Park built in Coney Island in 1903.
The Melbourne park opened on the 13 December 1912, with thousands flocking to catch a glimpse of the tight rope walkers balancing across the top of the park and to test rides which had never been seen before in Australia.
“Never before in the history of Australia have such innumerable attractions in the way of “thrills” been attempted,” newspaper the Malvern Standard said in 1912.
The most famous ride at the park is the Scenic Railway, a rollercoaster which runs around the park’s entire perimeter.
It was designed by the L A Thompson Scenic Railway Company of New York, whose founder LaMarcus Adna Thompson constructed the world’s first purpose built roller coaster at Coney Island in 1884.
Constructed entirely of timber, except for the rails, it includes nearly two kilometres of track in a double circuit around the park, dipping up and down, creating the complex web of timber beams seen today.
The cars come in pairs with a ‘brakeman’ in the centre, who controls the speed of the cars, to ensure that it slows to a near stop at the top of the main dips. The front cars feature ornate carved dragon figures on each side.
It’s the oldest continually operating roller coaster in the world — a pretty impressive feat.
When Luna Park first opened it featured live acts — including clowns and acrobats — but it was mainly the attractions such as Funnyland (later renamed the Giggle Palace) and the River Caves that drew crowds on summer evenings.
The park was closed during WWI, reopening in 1923 after a major reconstruction adding the Big Dipper — which was demolished 1989 — and the beautiful 1913 Carousel, which was fully restored in 2001.
Various further attractions were added up to the 1950s, such as the Dodgems in 1926 and the Ghost Train in 1934 — which was classified by the National Trust in 1994.
In 1981, a fire lit by vandals destroyed the Shoot ’Em Up Gallery, the company offices and most of the Giggle Palace, and the Big Dipper and Great Scenic Railway were temporarily closed for fear of repeat incidents, but were reopened by March 1982.
Further rejuvenation started in the late 1990s with the restoration of the Face and Towers in 1998. The old Mr Moon face is still underneath the newer, restored modern fibreglass face, which was unveiled in 1999.
Of the four Luna Parks built in Australia (the other two built in South Australia and Queensland, only Melbourne and Sydney are still currently in operation.
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