1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,880 Speaker 1: You're listening to the Jonesy and Demanda podcast. 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 2: Well, it might be one of the most iconic faces 3 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:08,760 Speaker 2: in Australia, loved by young and old and young at heart. 4 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:12,520 Speaker 2: I'm talking about the famous face that frames Luna Park. 5 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 2: Behind the big pearly whites are stories of con man, criminals, 6 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:19,439 Speaker 2: crooked cops, and that's just the beginning to tell us more. 7 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 2: Is the author of a new book called Luna Park. 8 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:22,600 Speaker 2: Helen Pitt. 9 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 3: Hello, Hello, hell am I hello, we are great. 10 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: I'm let me just say this, I am a lunar 11 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:33,160 Speaker 1: park PERV. I love lunar parks so much. 12 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 2: Terrible title to have. 13 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: It is a terrible title. But as a kid, I 14 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:38,599 Speaker 1: love the Melbourne I love the Sydney one, and I've 15 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: always followed its history. I've just always loved it. 16 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 3: It's such a great history and you can as look 17 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:43,839 Speaker 3: down on it. 18 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 2: We are now, but we can see the Sydney one. 19 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 2: But there are Luna parks all over Australia, or they were. 20 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:53,800 Speaker 3: Indeed, there were eight once and the first was in 21 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 3: New York Coney Island, which sort of laid the template 22 00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 3: for all of them around the world. They're actually about 23 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 3: four four in America and hundreds throughout the world, but 24 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:06,679 Speaker 3: the first came to Australia in Melbourne in nineteen twelve. 25 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:10,560 Speaker 3: The owners that brought it were American, so these American 26 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,760 Speaker 3: entrepreneurs brought Melbourne's Lunar Park. Then they set up one 27 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 3: in Adelaide in nineteen thirty several years after, but alas 28 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 3: the good people of South Australia didn't really like it 29 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 3: the sort of crowd that it brought to Glenelg at 30 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 3: the end of the tram line, and they also didn't 31 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 3: like Sunday trading, so they wouldn't allow the operators to 32 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:34,399 Speaker 3: have a rent reduction in the Great Depression when it 33 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 3: was set up in nineteen thirty and not having a 34 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 3: bit of a hard time, and they also didn't let 35 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 3: them trade on Sundays, so this was a bit of 36 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:44,399 Speaker 3: a problem. So what the owners ingeniously did was pack 37 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 3: it all up and shipped it to Sydney. 38 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:49,920 Speaker 2: Why is the story filled with con men and crooks? 39 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 2: What's all that about? 40 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 3: Well, it is very interesting. There was a guy called 41 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:57,120 Speaker 3: t h Eslick that was the man that dreamt up 42 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 3: the very first face in Melbourne, kind of like Christopher's 43 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 3: Case of the era. I think would be fair to 44 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 3: say he'd worked at amusement parks all over the world. 45 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 3: However his credentials were slightly questionable. He was at worked 46 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 3: on Melbourne's Lunar Park, then he came to Sydney. Then 47 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 3: he arrived in Brisbane and in nineteen thirty nine got 48 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:22,639 Speaker 3: a whole load of people together to help build Luna 49 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 3: Park Brisbane. Now he got stacks of money from some 50 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:31,240 Speaker 3: of Brisbane's biggest burgers. I think of the era, it 51 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 3: was meant to be a lunar park, but then the 52 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 3: war happened right at that time. It closes, he disappears 53 00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:41,320 Speaker 3: as overnight and owes a whole load of money to 54 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 3: all the people. Do have a face, did not have 55 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:47,520 Speaker 3: a face, but had cloud Land, which was quite iconic 56 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 3: and people beloved the only other face there obviously there's 57 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:53,679 Speaker 3: the Sydney face yep, and there was the Melbourne face. 58 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:56,920 Speaker 3: And the other beloved face was in Perth, which was 59 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:00,160 Speaker 3: at Scarborough Beach, and that was again started exactly the 60 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 3: same time as the Brisbane Lunar Park, at the beginning 61 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:05,839 Speaker 3: of the war, and it was right on the beach 62 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:08,799 Speaker 3: at Scarborough. It was a big blue cement rendered thing 63 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:13,639 Speaker 3: equally iconic as the Sydney and Melbourne ones were, and 64 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:18,200 Speaker 3: really very popular during wartime and right up until its 65 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 3: closure in nineteen seventy two when it was bulldozed and 66 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,960 Speaker 3: became a shopping center which remains today. I know, and 67 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 3: everyone's got photos of their family out in the front of 68 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,160 Speaker 3: Melbourne and Sydney's face, don't they. So you can imagine 69 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:32,399 Speaker 3: it was a very popular. 70 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,960 Speaker 1: Because Sydney One has certainly had a lot of controversy 71 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: in its time. It's had tragedy. Has the Melbourne one 72 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: had as much? Has it been? Has it ever been 73 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 1: threatened with being demolished? 74 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 3: No? No, I mean it's had change, lots of different 75 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 3: changes of ownership, and it was shut during the it 76 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 3: opened prior to the war, and it was shut in 77 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 3: the First World War. It hasn't had a tragedy like 78 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 3: unfortunately Sydney's had nineteen seventy nine a ghost train fire 79 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 3: that seven six of them children, and that consequently led 80 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 3: to the closure immediately of the park and subsequent seventeen 81 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 3: years of closures on and off until two thousand and four, 82 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:14,560 Speaker 3: where it's been open ever since, which is remarkable really. 83 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:17,479 Speaker 1: Whenever I look at the lunar parks around the country. 84 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:19,360 Speaker 1: You know Melbourne and Sydney, and I think they're great. 85 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:21,920 Speaker 1: The Sydney ones had a massive facelift in the seventies, 86 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:24,440 Speaker 1: had this horrible plaster head. Now it's all plastic. It 87 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: looks like a real housewife of Sydney had a ton 88 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:28,160 Speaker 1: of worked done. 89 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 3: It's had a stack of work done. It's actually been 90 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 3: eight different version. This one's fiberclass and has been here 91 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:35,839 Speaker 3: for thirty thirty one years or so, but lots of 92 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 3: touch ups. 93 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: Yes, just like the real housewipes. Very Sydney, Helen. It's 94 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:42,520 Speaker 1: so great to catch up with you. Helen's book Lunar 95 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:44,920 Speaker 1: Park is available now and it's a great read. Thank 96 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:46,359 Speaker 1: you for joining us, Oh delight.