Australia's Wonderland: The Bush Beast and Bounty's Revenge

Originally intended to fill the gap left by the frequent closures of Luna Park, Wonderland opened in 1985 in Sydney’s West. With plenty of room to stretch out, it quickly developed themed areas including Medieval Faire, Goldrush and a water park called The Beach, as well as acquiring whizz-bang rides like the Demon, Wizard’s Fury and the Bounty’s Revenge. It even had its own tall ship where pirate battles were staged using acrobats who would plunge from the masts onto the deck. But its premiere attraction was the Bush Beast, a towering wooden rollercoaster set in the trees.  

In this clip from a 1989 Scott Ross camerawork compilation, we get a visceral impression of what it was like to ride the front carriage of the largest wooden rollercoaster in the Southern Hemisphere. The passengers’ faces as they jolt around in their seats alternate between joy and horror (the man in the pink shirt looks distinctly uncomfortable throughout). At its highest point, the ‘double out and back figure eight’ track stood at nearly 28 metres – quite the plummet. We also get a taste of what it must have been like to be strapped into The Bounty's Revenge as it looped through the air in a complete 360-degree circuit, hanging its passengers upside down.

The park’s fortunes faded in the early 2000s, and after it was sold to a parent company in Malaysia, it declined further. Eventually all its rides were broken up or sold. The Bush Beast’s track was bulldozed, but a few of its carriages were rescued from the defunct park and went to live at Bathurst’s Artisans Park.