Willow Springs Adventure Park revisited

OUR SAY: Willow Springs Adventure Park is a collective memory from anyone who grew up in the Downs in the 70s, 80s or 90s, but the next generation has been robbed of such a memory. Isn’t it time to bring back some splashing fun?

Christine Schindler

2 min read

December 30, 2024 - 3:59PM

Toowoomba Chronicle

Opinion

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It was the 1990s. It was hot, but it was a blissful summer when my family and our friends picked up a season’s pass to Willow Springs Adventure Park in Kearneys Spring.

This iconic water park is sure to bring back endless joyful summer nostalgia for those growing up in the 70s, 80s or 90s in Toowoomba and the Darling Downs.

For me, too young to ride the Rocket water slide, but just old enough to brave the Sidewinder, there was an endless amount of joy found in this 10 acre park, because there was something for all ages – even the adults.

Kids ride the rocket slide at Willow Springs Adventure Park, Spring Street. Photo: Errol Anderson

I remember first exploring the kids pool, before braving a toe in the murky water of the deeper pool beside it.

When you’d cooled down enough in the water, you’d usually find a sibling or friend keen to hit a round of mini golf with you.

Now, if water wasn’t your thing, or you’d dried off and didn’t want to get back in, there was a whole property to explore.

What about the swans? The treehouse? The zip line? The mini steam engine? I can hear the memories roll in.

Flooding rains or droughtlands, this adventure park wasn’t all about the water.

The pedal swans where you could do a round of a little billabong and stare at the bird poop on the island in the middle, or the zip line further afield where you’d race your friends down as you took turns going down and then bringing it back up – just to go back down on it.

Wild.

Willow Springs Adventure Park owner Jim McEwan in front of the swans in December 1994. Photo: Errol Anderson

But wait, there seriously is more, the best part would be when the sun sets and the concrete slab surrounded by railings in the centre of the park would light up.

Here’s where I graduated from the strange peddle cars for the tots to actual rollerskates.

After the park closed down in the late 1990s, this Toowoomba summer dream has never been replaced, and almost 30 years later, Darling Downs residents are being told that a splash park is in a “concept” design on a project that is 20 – 30 years away.

A girl rides a pedal car at Willow Springs Adventure Park. Photo Nev Madsen

In 2024, cool down options include Milne Bay Aquatic Centre, with its 45m indoor water slide and a wave pool, or the Highfields Aquatic and Fitness Centre, which was built in 1995.

Both of these places are barely adequate to sustain this growing city, which boasts 45,859 families with an average of 1.9 children.

It seems wilder than Willow Springs that the latest public swimming infrastructure at Highfields was built 30 years ago.

Frankly speaking, the health and safety standards from the 1990s would likely would attract massive insurance premiums today.

However it does seem odd that nothing has been put on the table by Toowoomba Regional Council, one of the largest inland cities in Australia, for a simple splash park, or some kind of water play – somewhere in one of our luscious city parks.

Take any number of Logan’s five splash parks, which include small wading pools, swimmable water fountains, rock pools, dumping buckets, and mist sprays.

Hervey Bay’s Wetside park.

Further north, look at Hervey Bay’s Wetside with water slides, a water park, and an aqua ninja course.

They have plenty of water, yes, I hear you, but even our neighbour to the west, Chinchilla, has a splash park in their botanical gardens, a quirky fun playground built around its iconic fruit, the watermelon.

Argue for your limitations and they will be yours, look around for inspiration and it will also be yours.

Whether its three years or 30 years before the Garden City sees any resemblance of another Willow Springs, here’s a few photos to kickstart all the memories from the summer of the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Enjoy.