Pre Luna Park

The following history was provided by the Friends of Luna Park Inc.

The earliest maps, circa 1865, of the area surrounding the present
Luna Park show a wasteland mostly covered by a lagoon.
The lagoon was drained in the 1870’s and remained unoccupied in the 1880’s.

The St Kilda Foreshore Committee was formed and held its first meeting on 22 June 1906.
The committee’s role was to promote positive use of the foreshore area and to manage the
Crown Lands along the beach from Fraser Street in the north to Head Street in the south.
A vaudeville performer, Mr E S Salambo applied for a lease on the paddock next to
Shakespeare Grove at this meeting.


On 2 November 1906, Mr Salambo opened “Dreamland” which was an outdoor
amusement park situated approximately where Luna Park stands today.
Its attractions included Mt Fujiyama, The Rivers of the World, the Destruction of
San Francisco, the Underworld, the Figure-8, a Grecian Theatre, an airship and a band.
The venture failed after three seasons, possibly due to its high entrance price.

Dreamland was demolished in 1909, but one ride, The Figure-8, located approximately on the site
of the Palais Theatre, was popular enough to be retained. It was a primitive type of roller-coaster and remained until about WWI.

Planning and Construction of Luna Park

The Greater J.D. Williams Amusement Company acquired a lease on the land in 1911 to build a new amusement
park for a ten year period at £400 per annum. James Dixon Williams had moved to Australia from Canada with the
intention of expanding his amusement interests.

Together with Herman, Harold and Leon Phillips from Seattle, and 20 other imported American fun fair experts,
the company began work on the construction of Luna Park. The chief designer/ builder was T. H. Eslick who had
worked in the amusement park industry for over 14 years in many countries.

The Scenic Railway is reportedly a replica of the roller-coaster he built for The Great Durbar Exhibition of Old Bombay for the
visit of King George V in 1911.His stay in India is thought to be the inspiration for the Moghul/ Moorish entrance facade and
flanking towers built at Luna Park.

Other key instigators with experience at Coney Island were Louis Corbeille who was responsible for
many of the original illusions and effects, and the Whitney Brothers who invented the while-you-wait
photographic studio first seen at Luna Park, Coney Island.

The design of the park was quite open, with attractions arranged around the perimeter except
for the Bowl Slide and the Ferris Wheel.

The centre was also the location for most of the live entertainment, particularly a high-wire for
acrobatic performances. Many sideshows had their own styles, such as the Pharaoh’s Daughter
which was Egyptian. Moon symbols were incorporated into the tea-terrace balustrades.

The whole complex at night was a blaze of light with no fewer than 80,000 electric lights.

The Opening

The park’s opening in December 1912 was an immediate success and drew large crowds.
Some of the original attractions included the Scenic Railway roller coaster, the River Caves
(a romantic boat journey through exotic scenes), the Pharaoh’s Daughter (an exotic performance
auditorium also known as the Egyptian Theatre), the American Bowl Slide (a giant slide
down a chute into a revolving bowl of polished wood), the Palais de Folies (incorporating the Whitney Electric Photographic Studio),
the Palace of Illusions (which exhibited the genius of Louis Corbeille), the Terrace Tea Gardens (where 2000 patrons could enjoy
tea on a terrace perched above the river caves with views of the bay), the Ferris Wheel and numerous American slot machines (that used dimes).

A main attraction at the park was live entertainment which included the Luna Park Band, high wire performances, performing animals, acrobats,
trick cyclists, a troop of midgets and a Swedish diver, Miss Thelin who dove into a pool from a 50 ft tower into a tub of blazing water with her clothes alight.

Traditional amusement park fare such as popcorn, hot-dogs and fairy floss, were also served and were very popular.

The Early Years of Success

During the winter of 1913, J.D. Williams returned to America where he founded First National Films which subsequently became Warner Brothers.

For the next season the Phillips brothers stayed on and revamped the Park. New scenes were added to the River Caves, the Scenic Railway
was overhauled, the Palais de Folies was extended, the American Bowl Slide was removed, and the temples and pavilions were renovated and repainted.

New sideshows for the 1913/14 season included a Hoopla Bazaar (incorporating the Canadian Log Walk), Aunt Jemima’s Washing Day
(where a Negro woman was situated above a wash tub and fell in when hit), the Egyptian Palace of Fortune, Poker Toss, Ping Pong Pitch,
Association High-Kick, the Chocolate Derby, the Arabian Dart Game and the Melbourne Joy Club (in which the aim was to knock the hats
off 16 upper crust inebriates rolling out of a pub).

In early 1914 The Argus reported that Luna Park was drawing 8,000 to 10,000 people each Saturday night. With war imminent,
1914 saw more patriotic themes appearing. The River Caves were filled with British and Australian Naval history and monuments,
and the Kaiser’s Kitchenin the Palace of Illusions was a game in which patrons hurled crockery at an
effigy of Kaiser Wilheim II.

The 1914/15 and 1915/16 seasons were also successful, but in 1916 Luna Park was forced to
close for the War.

The Scenic Railway remained operating, but the Park as a whole was only opened for
patriotic events.