Luna Park Sydney Cinema Advertisement, 1976

From the balconies of the Sydney Opera House, you can see the glittering lights of Luna Park across the water. Its enviable perch on the edge of the harbour adds to its glamour, as do the neon pillars, fashioned after New York’s Chrysler Building, that frame the famous moon face. Within lies what artist Martin Sharp described as ‘an artwork in itself, a city state of illusion, a brilliant feat of engineering with imagination’.  

Luna Park teetered on the edge of survival for years in the ’80s and ’90s, under attack from developers, noise-sensitive residents and new media. Most of its buildings and rides were sold off or destroyed. But after a renaissance in 2004, much of its interior landscape was recreated, and the lights are still on.  

This cinema ad from 1976 takes you to Luna Park at night, making the most of its photogenic neon glow, and effectively selling it as a fun and exciting destination for older teens. A group of friends laugh their way from ride to ride and through a fairy-floss fight, their exuberance enhanced by jump cuts and groovy music. The nighttime setting banishes parents and younger kids from the scene so the main focus of the ad can be on the fine time one young couple is having. The message is clear: Luna Park is for romance as well as for fun.    

The park is in its heyday here, and the ad preserves on film glimpses of popular rides including the Wild Cat, the Big Dipper and the Rotor (which pinned its passengers to the walls using centrifugal force), as well as the park’s Moulin-Rouge-styled windmill.