Luna Park Sydney

Luna Park Sydney is a heritage-listed amusement park located at 1 Olympic Drive, Milsons Point, New South Wales, Australia, on the northern shore of Sydney Harbour. The amusement park is owned by the Luna Park Reserve Trust, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It is one of Sydney's most famous landmarks and has had a significant impact on culture through the years, including being featured as a filming location for several movies and television shows.
It is protected by government legislation, namely the Luna Park Site Act 1990 which specifically protects the site and sets it aside for the purpose of an amusement park. Several of the buildings on the site are also listed on the (now defunct) Register of the National Estate and the New South Wales State Heritage Register.
The park was constructed during 1935, approximately 600 metres (2,000 ft) from the northern approaches of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was an extremely popular attraction during World War II and the post-war period. The park suddenly closed in mid-1979 after the Ghost Train fire which killed six children and one adult. Most of the park was demolished and a new one was constructed, which operated for a brief time as Harbourside Amusement Park before the name was reverted. The park was closed again in 1988 as an independent engineering inspection determined that several rides needed urgent repair. The owners failed to repair and reopen the park before a Government of New South Wales deadline, and ownership was passed to a new body.
The park reopened in 1995, but closed yet again within thirteen months due to noise complaints about the Big Dipper rollercoaster from local residents, which led to reduced hours and a drop in attendance that made the park unsustainable to run. Luna Park opened only sporadically for the next nine years, including for special charity events and as a filming location. After another redevelopment, it reopened in 2004 and has continued operating ever since.
The Cammeraygal people are the traditional owners of the North Sydney area, having lived there for at least 5,000 years.
After the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, a block of land between Lavender Bay and Careening Cove was granted by colonial authorities to a private soldier named Robert Ryan. This land passed down via surveyor-general Charles Grimes to politician Robert Campbell by 1805, with James Milson later settling there in the 1820s.
In 1830, Jamaican ex-convict Billy Blue commenced the first ferry service across Sydney Harbour. By 1837, a regular wharf and waterman's service was operating from the site now known as Milsons Point. A regular vehicular ferry was operating by 1860, joined by a tram line to North Sydney in 1886. The North Shore railway line opened in 1890, and was extended to Milsons Point in 1893.
The first Luna Park was opened at Coney Island, New York in 1903. The first Luna Park in Australia opened in St Kilda, Melbourne in 1912, followed by Luna Park Glenelg in Adelaide in 1930.
From 1924 onwards, the future site of Luna Park Sydney was used extensively by Dorman Long to fabricate and assemble steel components for the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which officially opened in 1932. Once the bridge was completed, North Sydney Council opened up applications for tenders to develop the site.
At the same time, the owners of Luna Park Glenelg - Herman Phillips, his brothers and A. A. Abrahams - happened to be searching for a new location to establish the park due to difficulties with their local council and residents.
Phillips and his associates won the tender for the North Sydney site and began a 20-year lease on 11 September 1935, forming Luna Park (NSW) Limited. The rides from Glenelg were dismantled and transported to Sydney over a three-month period - an elaborate process undertaken by Stuart Brothers under the direction of David Atkins, Ted Hopkins and Arthur Barton. Construction of the park employed almost 1,000 engineers, structural workers, fitters, and artists. Architectural plans and drawings of the park from this era are held at the State Library of New South Wales.
There were noise complaints and protests from North Shore residents against the park's construction as early as April 1935, before it had even opened. Members of a "Parks and Playgrounds Movement" were quoted as saying the park was the result of "a deplorable lack of aesthetic taste", and akin to "Coney Island under the Tower of London" - as in, not worthy of proximity to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. These sorts of complaints would turn out to be a theme throughout the park's history.
On 4 October 1935, Luna Park Sydney was officially opened to immediate success. The park's signature entrance face, designed by Rupert Browne, was placed between two Art Deco-style towers with spires imitating New York's Chrysler Building. The Big Dipper roller coaster was an instantly popular attraction. After a successful opening season, the park closed down for the winter months so that rides and attractions could be overhauled and repainted, and new ones could be added. In 1936, the North Sydney Olympic Pool was also opened on an adjacent site.
During World War II, Luna Park was a magnet for servicemen, many of whom were either treating their girlfriends to a night out or looking to meet someone. The influx of servicemen also drew sex workers to the area and large-scale brawls were a common occurrence, usually between Australian home defence troops and American sailors on shore leave. As non-essential uses of electricity were curtailed in wartime, the park's neon lights were disconnected and many ride facades were dimmed. The park's external lights were also 'browned out' in case of a Japanese sneak attack on Sydney.
In 1950, the Phillips brothers were bought out by Atkins & Hopkins. Numerous changes and additions were made over the next few years, as the two men travelled the world to bring back new concepts from amusement parks in the Netherlands, the United States, Germany and Britain. A version of The Rotor - a spinning drum that uses centrifugal force to pin guests to the sides, developed by Professor Ernst Hoffmeister in Germany - was constructed and installed, and became the stage of many stunts. It remains in place today. Barton also redesigned and reconstructed the park's entrance face, which had begun to sag and distort. The new design was based on illustrations of Old King Cole, and became the inspiration for all future variants.
Atkins' passing in 1957 saw Hopkins become the park's manager. Meanwhile, the rise of television and car culture throughout the 1960s saw the park facing increased competition. Several initiatives were attempted to maintain public interest throughout this era, including the installation of the Wild Mouse roller coaster and the hiring of silhouette artist S. John Ross.
Hopkins retired in 1969 and sold the remaining six years of the park's lease to World Trade Centre Pty Ltd. Winter closures were abandoned under this new management, meaning there was no opportunity to carry out regular maintenance works on the rides. Barton also retired in 1970, the last of the park's original showmen.
Soon after this, the new owners applied to construct a $50 million international trade centre on the Luna Park site, consisting of seven high-rise buildings, 929,000 square metres (10,000,000 sq ft) of exhibition space, and a heliport. However, this plan was rejected by the Government of New South Wales. After a reshuffle within the consortium, the decision was made to continue operation as an amusement park.
Over the next few years, the new managers scrapped several of the old rides and replacing them with new, American-designed thrill rides. After consultation with Hanna-Barbera, Luna Park's slogan was temporarily changed from "Just for Fun" to "The Place Where Happiness Is". Another result of the consultation was the creation of a short-lived park mascot, "Luna Bear - the Space Age Koala."
In 1973, Martin Sharp and Peter Kingston undertook repainting works on the park in a pop art style. The face was repainted with a new expression and a clown-like mask, offset by strong primary colours. Sharp would turn out to play a major role in the park's history in the decades to come.
By 1975, Luna Park was operating on a week-to-week lease with plans to develop the Lavender Bay foreshores as a "Tivoli Gardens". When the park's lease expired that same year, the directors went into negotiation with the New South Wales government to renew it. However, when Neville Wran became Premier in 1976 the negotiations ground to a halt, and the park was allowed to continue operating.
In 1977, an exhibition was held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales entitled Fairground Arts and Novelties, highlighting many important aspects of Luna Park. Meanwhile, Sharp and Kingston, as well as Richard Liney and Garry Shead, were involved in many major redesigns and artwork installations throughout the park. Sharp was quoted as saying:
On 16 April 1979, a steel runner came loose on the Big Dipper, halting one train and leading to a collision with another. Thirteen people were injured.
On 9 June 1979, the park's Ghost Train burnt down during operation. The fire quickly destroyed the ride, although it was contained before spreading to the nearby Big Dipper and River Caves. Searches of the charred rubble revealed the bodies of seven people: John Godson and his two children, Damien and Craig, and four Waverley College students, Jonathan Billings, Richard Carroll, Michael Johnson, and Seamus Rahilly. The park was immediately shut down.
Sydney newspapers and the NSW Police reported at the time that the fire was caused by an electrical fault. A contemporaneous coronial inquest was unable to establish the cause of the fire, but concluded that Luna Park's managers and operators had failed in their duty of care towards the park's patrons. Investigations led by Sharp in future decades, backed up with the testimony of multiple eyewitnesses and several NSW police officers, would determine the blaze was in fact deliberately lit by associates of Abe Saffron in an attempt to gain control of the park site.
The NSW government called for tenders for the site's development at the end of July 1979. and again in March 1980.
Meanwhile, a group named "Friends of Luna Park" was formed by impassioned community members. A "Save Luna Park" protest marched from the Opera House to the Face, followed by a free concert headlined by Mental As Anything. As a result, the Face was an item of national heritage by the National Trust of Australia and the rest of the park was given a 'recorded' classification.
Australian Amusements Associates won the tender in September 1980, and took over administration of the site in early June 1981. Much of the original park was then either demolished or sold off, including the Big Dipper, Tumble Bug, Turkey Trot, Barrels of Fun and the River Caves. Later that year, the Luna Park Site Act was passed, meaning Luna Park Holdings had to vacate the site. Everything that remained - with the exception of the Face, Crystal Palace, and Coney Island - was bulldozed and burnt.
The park was then rebuilt by Australian Amusements, following design advice from Texas-based LARC International. It reopened as the "Harbourside Amusement Park" in April 1982. The change in name was caused by a dispute between the current and previous owners, preventing the use of the Luna Park name until August of that year.
Over the next six years, the Face was removed from over the entry gates on two occasions, the owners of Harbourside were involved in two disputes with the Department of Public Works and one director was the subject of an inquiry by the Corporate Affairs Commission. Reports from independent engineers were then presented stating that several rides in the park had to be shut down for "renovations and repairs". The park closed again in 1988, and the entrance face was re-located to storage owned by the Powerhouse Museum.
Harbourside's lease was then transferred to Luna Park Investments Pty Ltd. With a year, after no efforts had been made to repair and reopen Luna Park, and several submissions hade been made to replace most or all of the amusement park with high-rise apartment blocks and hotels, the New South Wales State Government issued an ultimatum to the company: open Luna Park by 1 June 1990, or lose the lease. Despite this ultimatum, Luna Park Investments did little to prepare the site. Rides were moved around, repainted, and renamed to give the appearance that the new owners were trying to make an effort. The directors kept putting forward excuses to try to gain an extension, even declaring a trade union ban on their own site.
Four days after the government ultimatum passed, the lease was terminated and the Luna Park Reserve Trust was established. Soon after this, the National Heritage Trust added several buildings on the site to its list of protected structures.
On 12 October 1990, the Luna Park Site Act 1990 was gazetted, although the act had been used prior to this to terminate Harbourside's lease and establish the Luna Park Reserve Trust. The Act was intended to protect the site of the park, dedicating it for amusement and public recreation.
In 1991, the first two stages of the three-stage redevelopment and restoration plan for Luna Park was given the green light, with $25 million granted by the Open Space and Heritage Fund towards the project. The third stage, involving the demolition of sections of the old North Shore railway line (which had been in use as a holding area for trains outside peak hour since 1932), construction of parkland, an amphitheatre, art gallery, and museum, was not approved.
In 1992, the Trust commissioned Godden Mackay heritage consultants to prepare a Conservation Plan for the site. The plans were approved by North Sydney Council in August 1992, with Ted Hopkins also supporting the plans shown to him. Work began in January 1993, with the Face being moved back to its place over the entry gate. An 'army' of tradesmen and artists worked for six months on the restoration of the park's buildings, and on the repair of numerous artworks, including several of Barton's murals.
During the reconstruction, there was vocal opposition from a number of nearby residents and companies,on a variety of issues. The main points of opposition were the noise levels of the park after opening, and the installation of a 40-metre (130 ft) tall steel roller coaster to be named the Big Dipper after the original. The Environmental Protection Authority approved the construction of the new Big Dipper on the condition that the Trust abided by strict noise control guidelines and covered the cost of soundproofing for any residents affected by excessive noise. In addition, North Sydney Council imposed a series of times when the roller coaster could not operate.
Luna Park reopened in January 1995. In the months that followed, the park was affected by poor weather conditions, causing lower than predicted attendance. Legal claims against the operation of the park and roller coaster were filed by some local residents and supported by business figures whose tenders for the redevelopment had not been accepted. The newly elected Carr government put the park's long-term viability in doubt; first removing the government guarantee of a $14 million loan to the trust, then dissolving the trust's board of directors and appointing an administrator. The park was forced to close again on 14 February 1996.
In 1997 the Department of Land & Water Conservation (DLWC) engaged the Urban Design Advisory Service (UDAS) to investigate urban design and land use options for the future use of Luna Park. The Luna Park Plan of Management was prepared by the New South Wales government in 1998 to guide the future management of the Luna Park Reserve. This plan identified a preferred option for Luna Park's future use, determined in consultation with residents, the general public and other stakeholders. It sought to preserve Luna Park's amusement park character while introducing new uses to improve its viability and accordance with the parameters in the Luna Park Site Amendment Act 1997. There was also grassroots community support for the park's reopening; one example of this was the collection of a 5,000 signature petition by a pair of high school students.
In June 1997, the New South Wales government presented four development proposals to the public. After a month of public viewing and comment, a 'diverse-use' plan, encompassing rides and amusements, restaurants, cafés, and function capacity was announced as the winning plan. In February 1998, the NSW Department of Public Works and Services called for proposals to redevelop Luna Park, and 20 proposals were submitted, with eight selected for further consideration.
In July 1999, the results of the tendering process were made public. Metro Edgley Group (consisting of Metro Edgley, Multiplex Facilities Management, and a group of private investors) was awarded the tender. Their proposal intended for most of the rides to stay, but called for the Big Dipper to be replaced with a multipurpose concert venue, and asked to redevelop the Crystal Palace as a function centre.
A Master Plan for the site was prepared in 1999, which included a Heritage Report prepared by Godden Mackay Logan. Further consultation with North Sydney Council brought the development to a standstill, with the Council and the directors of Metro Edgley clashing over several aspects of the proposed redevelopment. In January 2002 the Minister for Planning approved a development application for the site. On top of this, specific applications had to be lodged for each element of the plan, each of which in turn would require community consultation. The development eventually began in 2003.
During the long decision-making and approval process, Luna Park was permitted to operate for several charity-organised events, including for Variety Club and the Spastic Centre. The park was also allowed to operate on selected weekends and school holidays in late 2000 and early 2001, under strict, court-appointed conditions. In July 2001, the Big Dipper rollercoaster (installed in 1995) was sold to Dreamworld in Queensland.
The redevelopment and restoration of the park was conducted over a 14-month period between 2003 and 2004. The rides were removed, restored, and in some cases upgraded to comply with modern safety standards. The Crystal Palace was redesigned with several modular function rooms, the largest of which took up the entire lower floor.A 2,000 seat multipurpose auditorium, the Big Top, was constructed.
On 4 April 2004, the park reopened once again and has remained open ever since. Despite rain and low temperatures, several thousand people attended the opening day, and an accumulated attendance figure of 200,000 was reached within two months.
Legal action against the park by a group of seven Milsons Point residents and one developer began again in April 2005. The claim was of noise nuisance from the amusement rides, particularly those in Maloney's Corner. The case was defeated when legislation was passed by the New South Wales government protecting Luna Park from such claims, although it was later revealed that these laws may have been influenced by court documents leaked to then-Tourism, Sport, and Recreation minister Sandra Nori by two Luna Park executives. The executives were charged with contempt of court in August 2007.
A new case began in June 2007, with the residents instead claiming breaches of the Trade Practices Act. Stating that they had been misled as to the types of amusement ride that were located in the Maloney's Corner area, the residents and developer attempted to claim over $20 million in damages, and demanded the relocation or permanent closure of the Ranger and Spider rides. The case was dismissed by the Supreme Court of New South Wales on 6 February 2009, with the supervising Justice ruling that the development applications submitted by the park had not been "misleading or deceptive", as claimed.
On 1 January 2007, a staff member working on the Golden Way Amusements-owned Speed (hired for the Christmas holidays) was struck in the head by the armature while the ride was in motion. The employee was taken to hospital and placed in intensive care.
In October 2007, Multiplex announced that it was intending to sell the lease to one of the undeveloped sections of Luna Park. The section of land, advertised for approximately $7 million, had initially been leased from the NSW Government for $1, on the condition that any profit made from property built on the site was invested in the amusement park. There were concerns that the money will be used to allow Multiplex to recoup the financial outlay made when redeveloping the park, instead of going towards the ongoing operation and maintenance of Luna Park's facilities.
In February 2010, the Park was placed on the NSW State Heritage Register.
In late 2011, the NSW government allocated $78,000 in the state budget for upgrades of the park's lighting to LEDs, along with repairs to the park's buildings.
On 19 March 2020, Luna Park confirmed that the park would be closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The park reopened on 3 July with the implementation of additional safety measures, including regular cleaning between rides, limits on the number of visitors per ride and health checks upon arrival.
The park closed again in January 2021, and nine new rides were built including three roller coasters; one a Gerstlauer family shuttle coaster called Boomerang, and another a coaster designed for children called Little Nipper. These were supposed to open on 26 June, but was delayed until 22 October due again to the COVID pandemic and resulting lockdowns. The third coaster is an Intamin Hot Racer that is Australia's first single-rail coaster, and is named Big Dipper after the coasters that operated before it. Big Dipper opened on December 26, 2021.
In March 2023, the park held a reunion of the Friends of Luna Park activist group at Coney Island. A plaque was unveiled to commemorate their efforts, and particularly Sharp's, in saving the park from development. In June 2024 Luna Park's lease that runs until 2044, was sold by Brookfield to Oscars Group.
The iconic 9-metre wide (30 ft) smiling face, as well as its Art Deco towers, have presided over the main entrance for almost all of the park's existence. The idea was based on the large smiling faces at Luna Park, Melbourne, Australia, and Steeplechase Park in the United States.
There have been eight distinct faces, installed in 1935, 1938, 1947, 1958, 1960, 1973, 1982, and 1995. The seventh face was donated to the Powerhouse Museum in May 1994. The eighth and current face was created by Australian sculpture company Natureworks. It was built in 1993 from heavy duty fiberglass and installed in 1995. The design is based on Arthur Barton's 1960 "Old King Cole" face.
Stretching from the Face to Coney Island, the Midway has always been the main thoroughfare of Luna Park. The Midway is the focus of many activities and amusements, and provides access to the Crystal Palace, Big Top, and Coney Island, along with the majority of Luna Park's permanent rides.
The Rotor was designed by German engineer Ernst Hoffmeister in the late 1940s. The Rotor is a large, upright barrel, rotated at 30 revolutions per minute. The rotation of the barrel creates a centrifugal force equivalent to between 1 and 1.5 g. Once the barrel has attained full speed, the floor is retracted, leaving the riders stuck to the wall of the drum. At the end of the ride cycle, the drum slows down and gravity takes over. The riders slide down the wall slowly. Although Hoffmeister was the designer, most Rotors were constructed under licence. The first Luna Park Rotor was built by Ted Hopkins in 1951. Three Rotors were built in Australia based on Hoffmeister's design. All had been demolished or destroyed by the 1980s, although a slightly redesigned Rotor was rebuilt for Luna Park Sydney in 1995, which is still in operation.
Beginning life in 1935 as a dodgem hall and office space, the Crystal Palace has seen many uses over the park's history, including as a dance hall, a BMX track, a games arcade, and a restaurant and bar. The essential form of the Crystal Palace is a large rectangular thirteen-bay steel-framed structure, two storeys in height with a hip roof behind extended walls. The end bays are framed with heavy Oregon members and the roof ends above them are gabled hips with louvered ventilation in the gables. The exteriors were originally symmetrical, the two long elevations having emphatic central elements and end pavilions. Parapets conceal the main roof; these are crenulated except for the tower motifs where chamfered blocks of timber, imitating machicolation, have been planted on. The cladding, once predominantly asbestos cement, has been replaced in the early 1990s works with fibre-cement. The centre of the east or Midway entrance elevation has a steep hipped roof between tall pinnacles, while the four "towers" of the end pavilions have steep pyramid roofs.
Since the 2004 reopening, Crystal Palace has been host to four of the seven rooms used by Luna Park's functions business. The main room stretches across the entire lower floor of Crystal Palace, and is often used for wedding receptions and other large social functions. The Midway-facing exterior of the building is host to numerous sideshow games, such as the Laughing Clowns, Crazy Crooners, and Goin Fishin'.
Constructed during the 2003 redevelopment on the site of the Ghost Train, the Big Top (originally to be named the Luna Circus) is a fully licensed, multi-purpose venue capable of seating 2,000 people (this capacity can increase to 3,000 for standing-only concerts). The modular design of the stage and seating allows the entire venue to be easily reconfigured for different event types, and the concrete building is heavily soundproofed to cut down on noise pollution. Examples of events run in the Big Top include concerts (including shows from Kylie Minogue's Anti Tour and the annual Come Together Music Festival), award shows and presentations (like the inaugural MTV Australia Video Music Awards or the live finals for the 2005–2008 seasons of Australia's Next Top Model), sporting tournaments (like the Australia Mixed Martial Arts Cage Fighting Championship and the 2013 Sydney Darts Masters), trade shows, and other large events.
First constructed in 1935, Coney Island - Funnyland is the only operating example of a 1930s funhouse left in the world. Although some changes have been made over the years, the layout is almost identical to when Luna Park opened in 1935. It is a rectangular building with the longest side running east–west. It has a corrugated iron hip roof with its external walls forming parapet walls around each side. The basic structure of Coney Island is virtually identical to that of the Crystal Palace. It is similar in width but slightly shorter, having twelve bays. Internally the steelwork of the main structure is concealed by mural panels or decorated motifs which were physically conserved during 1994. The roof purlins and sheeting are exposed. The industrial light fittings are suspended from the roof. The open space contains large and small fun devices, giant slides 1–4, joy wheel, turkey trot and barrels of fun.
The design was based on funhouses in Europe and the United States, and contains rotating barrels, moving platforms, large slides, and arcade games. Today's Coney Island is also host to the restored artworks of Arthur Barton, who started as one of 35 artists, along with photographs and memorabilia spanning Luna Park's 85-year history. The slides and amusements are the same ones first used in 1935, but modified to meet modern safety standards. The amusements were saved from the 1981 demolition by the 'Friends of Luna Park' action group, who purchased them for $9,200, on the condition that they remain in the heritage-listed building.
Originally named Maloney's Corner, after Tony Maloney, a long-time Luna Park employee who started at 13 years old. Maloney's Corner was built on land purchased from the New South Wales government and the State Rail Authority during the 1994 development, so that supports for the Big Dipper could be built, and a park, including a Ghost Train Fire Memorial. During the 2003 redevelopment, this area was paved over so the Ranger, Spider and various children's rides could be relocated here from the Midway, to provide room for other developments. Around 2013, the Ranger was renamed to Moon Ranger. In late October 2020, the Spider and the Moon Ranger were removed. In November 2020, it was announced that the whole area would be cleared to make a new land called "Luna Land", with 9 brand new rides. 3 being Roller Coasters, 1 being a Thrill Flat Ride, and the rest being Children's Rides. The Park closed on January 26, 2021, and reopened with 8 new rides on October 22. These rides are: Boomerang, Bug, Cloud 9, Freaky Frogs, Little Nipper, Loopy Lighthouse, Sledgehammer, and Silly Sub. Big Dipper would open to the public on December 26, 2021.
This is a list of all permanent rides in operation at Luna Park as of 2025.
This Wikipedia article contains material from Luna Park Precinct, entry number 01811 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 2 June 2018.