Wonderland City

33°54′00″S 151°16′16″E

Wonderland City amusement park, Tamarama, New South Wales, 1906–1911, from Ted Hood collection.

Wonderland City was an amusement park located at Tamarama, on Wonderland Avenue near the point at which it joins Fletcher Street, in Sydney, Australia.[1] It opened on Saturday, 1 December 1906 and closed in 1911. At the time it was the largest open air amusement park in the southern hemisphere. The 20-acre (81,000 m2) amusement park was operated by theatrical entrepreneur William Anderson. During its operation the colossal playground had a balloon could go up to about 3,800 feet (1,200 meters) high.[2] An enormous switchback railway and around the clifftop, a steam-driven miniature railway operated over about two miles (3.2 km) of track.[3] A large wooden bridge build over an artificial lake, the Alpine Slide would take you to "Rivers of the World", Seal Pond.[4] An open air Roller Skating Ring, American Shooting Gallery.[5] It was operated by electric light powered by its own steam plant, and the whole area was covered with thousands of gaily coloured lamps and described as a Fairy City.[6] The first Surf "Gymkhana" Carnivals was held at Wonderland City (Tamarama Beach) organised by Bondi SBLSC on Saturday 11 February 1908. was dogged by controversy for its attempts using high barbed-wire fence blocked access completely to local swimmers from Tamarama Beach.[7] Before being occupied by the amusement park, Tamarama Park was the site of The Royal Aquarium and Pleasure Grounds, commonly called the Bondi Aquarium.[8][9]

  • Photos of Wonderland City from Waverley Library Image Gallery

Further reading

References
  1. "Wonderland City" (PDF). Waverley Library. Waverley Council. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  2. "Daily Telegraph". 27 January 1908.
  3. "Sydney Morning Herald". 23 April 1960.
  4. "Wonderland City, Tamarama". Bondi Surfer. May 1960.
  5. "Wonderland City". Sydney Morning Herald. 22 December 1906.
  6. "Wonderland City". Waverley's Heritage. 1983.
  7. "That Airship". Sydney Morning Herald. 23 April 1960.
  8. Waverley Library Wonderland City
  9. Tim Elliott Avenue to Wonderland, Sydney Morning Herald, 2008-10-11
  10. Atkins, Jack (2000). Wonderland City and Tamarama Beach. Orient Point, N.S.W: J Atkins.


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