Helen Pitt

It didn't really consult.

It was run by a Lunar Park Trust.

They were in conjunction with Whittingslow's Amusement Park that had run the Moomba Festival.

So they put in the Southern Hemisphere's biggest Big Dipper.

Now, in hindsight, it's kind of ill-advised because it did go right by the sight lines of Harry Seidler's office and home.

as well as all the other neighbours, it was way too big for the site compared to the old Big Dipper, which had to be demolished after the fire.

So it was perhaps not the best consultation with the neighbours.

So they eventually banded together and took it to the Supreme Court, which impacted the number of hours the Big Dipper could operate.

So it could only operate on a Friday and Saturday night, which made it financially unviable.

So the park had to shut 13 months just after it opened again.

Absolutely.

Why would you live near an amusement park if you didn't like the sound of children?

Quite possibly.

I mean, the point is it was a childhood venue of just delight for so many people.

And so it did seem very mean on their part to do this.

And court case after court cases happened thereafter as well.

But that's, again, it's just a remarkable rollercoaster story in that you think, okay, surely it's not going to survive.

Then...

It does.

And when it shut in 1996, I think people really thought that this is really curtains.