Rising 120 metres above Docklands, the Melbourne Star Observation Wheel was in 2008 a symbol of the hopes and aspirations of a new waterfront suburb.
Sixteen years later, the doomed wheel – which hasn’t carried a passenger or turned in three years – sits motionless and dark on the city skyline: an anticlimactic fate for a bold $100 million idea which was plagued with problems since its construction and is now a symbol of the area’s wider failures.
The Melbourne Star Observation Wheel opened in 2008.Credit: Photo: Graham Denholm; Art: Matt Davidson
“What people think is, Docklands is dead because the wheel is dead,” Docklands resident Anikesh Sasmal told a recent launch of Soul of Docklands, a community-based project aimed at rehabilitating the image of the suburb by focusing on its residents.
Sasmal rates his suburb highly – but locals, business and community leaders all admit the wheel is a 1250-tonne drag on its reputation, and rumours are mounting that its days on the skyline are numbered.
Lord Mayor Sally Capp said it was her understanding that the private owners of the wheel were looking to sell its parts after being unable to secure a buyer to get it turning again.
“All sorts of efforts were made to find ways for it to continue, and it just wasn’t commercially feasible. More recently, the focus has been on whether it can in any way be reactivated, and I think that has sort of come to the end of the line now,” she said.
“The owners are currently working through that. I believe they’ve had the various parts up for sale, so if you’d like one of those capsules at your place, you can buy one for a fee. They’re quite big, actually.”
The Age’s Docklands series explores what has gone wrong with Melbourne’s most maligned suburb and what could be done to fix it.
Capp said she missed the wheel. “The lights and the light show, I absolutely loved it. I thought it was just a lovely part of our skyline.” But she said the council, the state government and other business owners in Docklands were “open to good ideas” on what should be on the privately-owned land instead.
A family rides the wheel in 2008, when it opened under the name the Southern Star.Credit: Paul Rovere
A well-placed property industry source, who could not speak publicly due to commercial sensitives, confirmed options for salvaging the wheel parts was being actively considered, but liquidators who have been in charge of the business since 2021 did not directly answer whether the wheel was being sold in parts.
“We are currently working with a party in relation to the Melbourne Star Observation Wheel and they have commenced a due diligence process to assess the operational issues in respect of the wheel,” said Andrew Hewitt, partner and head of financial advisory at Grant Thornton.
“Upon completion of this, they will determine whether they wish to progress to a purchase of the assets.”
The wheel was for sale on the international market. Singapore-based portable ride broker JNELC listed it online as a unique offer between 2021 and earlier this year without success.
JNELC managing director Jeroen Nijpels would not comment specifically on the wheel due a confidentiality agreement, but said there was a “reasonable market” for pre-owned equipment.
“It has to be the right proposition for the right buyer. First of all, it depends on the costs of acquisition, the costs of dismantling, transportation and reinstalling the ride, and the costs of any refurbishment if so required,” he said.
“Secondly, it then depends on having the right buyer in your network, for whom the opportunity comes at the right time.”
The wheel’s 21 pods were manufactured by Sanoyas Rides Corporation (SRC, formally known as SHM) in Osaka, Japan. The supporting steel columns were manufactured in Tasmania and the wheel structure was made in the Dandenongs, according to historical listings.
The skyline view in 2008.Credit: Paul Rovere
Daniel Hibberd, president of the Docklands Chamber of Commerce, said he was limited in what he could say about the wheel’s future.
“Maybe Sally [Capp] knows more than me ... I don’t think I can say any more in detail, but I’ve heard recently that there’s still a glimmer of hope,” he said.
Paul Guerra, chief executive of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the wheel “either needs to spin or it needs to move”.
“Our view is the wheel is best suited probably somewhere opposite Crown ... where you can see up and down the Yarra and see back into the city, rather than [Docklands],” he said.
“But I suspect there are some contractual implications and some legal implications which will make it difficult to move the wheel.”
The $100 million Observation Wheel originally opened in 2008 – two years late – under the name Southern Star, but was forced to shut just 40 days later because of cracks caused by problems with the design. It was out of operation for almost five years between 2009 and 2013 as it was taken down and almost fully rebuilt.
It’s had a colourful history: In 2009, Sunday Age photographer Ken Irwin captured one couple having a sexy romp in one of the wheel’s capsules when it was the Southern Star. In 2018, the wheel suddenly halted with 95 people on board, many of whom were forced to use emergency urinals in the pods.
The construction of the Observation Wheel was different to The London Eye, which used cables to give the structure its strength. Melbourne’s Observation Wheel is slightly smaller, at 120 metres, has no cables and relies on an internal skeleton.
MB Star Properties Pty Ltd announced the immediate closure of the wheel in September 2021 as it revealed it was going into liquidation. The company cited effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and pre-existing difficulties amid “increased high-rise development and changes” in Docklands.
Trying to estimate the worth of the wheel’s individual pieces, or as scrap metal, is difficult. The Age called several metal recyclers and demolition firms for an estimation.
A sales representative from a Melbourne-based metal recycler who was not authorised to speak on behalf of the company said the going rate for mild steel was $350 per tonne – putting an estimated price for the 1250 tonnes of steel in the wheel at $437,500.
“If they processed the material, cut it all up and delivered to the depot, we would be rebating at $350 per tonne for a mild steel price,” he said.
“We have never had a ferris wheel and wouldn’t be able to transport in the shape it is. As you can imagine, VicRoads wouldn’t like the sight of that coming over the West Gate [Bridge]. It would need to go on semis.”
A spokeswoman for a separate Melbourne-based demolition firm said the value of the steel would likely outweigh the costs of taking it down.
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