This park at Tamarama Beach once was the home of Wonderland City, a fun park that drew thousands of people to Tamarama Beach between 1906 and 1911. "Founded by theatrical entrepreneur William Anderson, Wonderland City took up eight hectares of Tamarama Gully, at the western end of the beach, and featured entertainments hitherto unimagined in Australia, including the country's first open-air ice rink, a double-decker merry-go-round and an artificial lake. There were waxworks, a seal pond and an aquarium, plus the Airem Scarem, an airship that tracked on a cable from cliff to cliff. When not taking rides on Alice the resident elephant, crowds would gather to watch daredevil Jack Lewis rollerskate down a ramp, through a flaming hoop and into a tank full of sharks.
But despite pulling huge crowds, Wonderland City eventually ran into trouble. Tamarama locals resented having their beach blocked off and breakdowns of the Airem Scarem prompted several safety scares. The park was closed in 1911." (Sydney Morning Herald, October 11, 2008) Click on that link to find out more about this wonderful group, and the artist.
I adore this collection....it has an exuberance that is delightfully infectious. It makes you smile. But even so, it's not actually my absolute favourite of this years sculptures....we've got a way to go yet to that reveal!
NB The Alice referred to is Alice the Elephant, one of the chief attractions at Wonderland, not the story by Lewis Carroll! She is seen in the second, and last, photos.
sally you're doing a wonderful job - this is priceless to me.
ReplyDeleteI loved the whole story, they make the sculptures so much more meaningful !
FANTASTIC POST !
THANKS A MILLION!
I haven't been to see the sculptures, I've only seen them on TV and on your blog Sally. Of the ones I've seen so far, this is my favourite. It's the one that makes me want to go to see them in real life. Also I agree with Nathalie, you are doing a fantastic job. All your blogs are amazing!
ReplyDeletevery neat artwork here! I collect elephant 'stuff', so i like the tall one best! =)
ReplyDeleteNice colors and funny shapes! I didn't know there is an Alice elephant!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sally, for being one of my "followers".
Nathalie, helen, brian, alice - thanks so much. I'm enjoying finding out about the sculptures now I've seen them! And bringing them to you.
ReplyDeleteI adore these sculptures! I just adore them!!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a fab series, Sally. Only just catching up and see what wonders I've missed. Loving your commentary too. Sending this comment from the PC cos it won't work from the new iMac...
ReplyDeleteI just love this sculpture series.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever been to NYC? They also have several Alice in Wonderland sculptures there. They are more realistic though. I much prefer this artist's approach. The colors are wonderful and the shapes would appeal to children, I think.
Beautiful. Sculptures are such great subjects to photograph
ReplyDeleteThanks for the explanation that this was not Alice in Wonderland.
ReplyDeleteInitially, I looked at the sculptures/photos and was trying to figure out how they were related to Alice in Wonderland. :-)
Gotta love the penguin in stripes! these are so querky.
ReplyDeleteNot really an interesint article as it has bee copied more or less word for word from another site!!
ReplyDeleteHi Sally
ReplyDeleteI can tell you what happened to Alice the elephant from Wonderland City. She was sold to Wirths Circus in 1907 and was renamed "Princess Alice" She lived until she was 65 years old dying in 1941.