If you’ve ever wanted to learn all about the history of one of Sydney Harbour’s icons – Luna Park – you’re in luck.
Luna Park by Helen Pitt uncovers everything from its rich 90-year history.
Speaking with New Idea, Helen reveals that she’s been fascinated with the park her entire life.
“I think, like me, a lot of people have this really warm glow when they think about Luna Park, because it’s a place of childhood excitement and fun,” she says.
“That was the springboard for the book, that whole feeling of nostalgia. But, it’s also got a dark side to it,” she adds.
Luna Park uncovers all the ups and downs of a park that has brought so many children joy.
Read some of the highlights below.
The heartbreaking tradgedies
Although Sydney’s Luna Park is known for creating fun memories, several tragedies have darkened its legacy.
On June 9, 1979, six children, along with one adult, were killed when the Ghost Train ride went up in flames.
Four school friends from Waverley College – Jonathan Billings, Richard Carrol, Michael Johnson and Seamus Rahilly – andJohn Godson, with his two sons Damien and Craig, sadly lost their lives.
Author Helen Pitt was the same age as four of the kids who perished – the quartet of Year 8 schoolboys.
Helen says the fire impacted her deeply.
“I’m not the only person who grew up in the city having this feeling of real sadness about this place of childhood delight,” she tells New Idea.
Other on-site deaths include Frederick Chitty, 33.
In 1946, he tried to ride the Big Dipper standing and fell.
Four years prior, shooting gallery attendant Geoffrey Dalton, 16, was accidentally shot dead while at work.
The Prince’s tumble
The park has been visited by royalty, including the late Duke of Edinburgh in 1945.
Prince Philip was staying at Kirribilli’s Admiralty House and had been at a farewell party on the HMS Whelp before visiting the park.
He made the front page of the Daily Telegraph, photographed sitting on the floor laughing, after falling out of the Barrels of Fun spinning ride.
Later that evening, Prince Philip embarrassed himself again when he was escorted out of the River Caves ride.
He’d broken the rules by getting out of his boat mid-cruise – causing quite the stir among the locals.
Dolores King, now 96, who was there that day, tells Helen she will never forget it!
Although Queen Elizabeth II never visited, the park’s lights were turned on for her when she attended a show across the water at the Sydney Opera House in 1980.
The friendly neighbour
Sydney’s Park came after Luna Park Glenelg closed in April 1935, following five years of operation.
It opened that same year, in October, using the rides from the Adelaide site.
Ted Hopkins, a young electrical and mechanical engineer, drew up the reassembly of Sydney’s park and helped with the build.
He subsequently ran the Sydney site, in the suburb of Milsons Point, with David Atkins for several years.
Ted lived in a nearby suburb and was well-loved by the families in his neighbourhood.
In fact, he was known to hand out wads of free tickets to local children.
The missing teeth mystery
One night in 1974, six teeth were stolen from the famous Luna Park face.
The theft was front-page news, with Rod Earle, the general manager at the time, pleading for the pearly whites to be returned.
Helen reveals in her book that the mystery was solved “over half a century later”, as part of a prank students from the University of New South Wales did for their annual scavenger hunt.
They also had to steal a condom machine from the university and a railway sign.
“That face is such a staple of the visual beauty of Sydney Harbour, and I think it will remain so,” Helen says.
More ups & downs than a roller-coaster
Although Sydney’s park has resided in its prime spot on the harbour since 1935, it hasn’t been open the whole time.
“The park has survived so much, from the COVID closures to real financial woes. It’s had battles in parliament, on the streets, and in courts,” Helen tells us.
Following the Ghost Train fire in 1979, the park shut its gates, reopening in 1982.
Structural repairs forced another closure in 1988, and it didn’t open again until January 1995 – but this time only for 13 months.
“The neighbours tried to shut it down in the 1990s because of the noise pollution related to the second Big Dipper roller-coaster,” Helen says.
The park finally reopened after redevelopment in 2004, with new rides added in 2013.
It has been operating relatively constantly, aside from COVID closures in 2020.
Hooray!
Luna Park by Helen Pitt, Allen & Unwin, $34.99
