Weekender July 19

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ELECTION 2013

SENIORS

ARB OPEN DAY

P14: RUDD, ABBOTT COLUMNS

section starts page 37

SPECIAL FEATURE INSIDE

EXCLUSIVE TO THE WEEKENDER

STORIES, ADVICE AND MORE

SEE PAGES 73 TO 79

JULY 19 2013 ISSUE 1112

PROUDLY INDEPENDENT CIRCULATION: 59,069

THE HEARTBEAT OF PENRITH

COUNCIL BATTLE Penrith City Council looks again set to oppose plans for the former Panasonic site on Station Street. Owners of the vacant 7.8 hectare site opposite Howell Oval, Parkview Penrith, have been vying since 2008 to have the site become a mixed use, retail, commercial and residential space. The issue is expected to attract fierce debate when it returns to Council on Monday night.

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Local residents remember the fun times at Wonderland as they sit in one of the old Beastie roller coaster carriages. Photos: Ray Watts.

Ride into history

GOT MILK? Huge investment news for Penrith PAGE 21

Meet the die-hards preserving Wonderland’s legacy

T

NATHAN TAYLOR

hey once carried thousands of thrill seekers every year at one of the nation’s most iconic theme parks, but now the Weekender has found the carriages of the famous Beastie and Bush Beast roller coasters living at a property in Londonderry – saved from the scrapheap by Wonderland fanatics. It’s taken five months and 82 die-hard Wonderland lovers to raise $6,000 to save the remaining carriages of the Bush Beast and Beastie roller coasters that were once the flagsh ip of the western Sydney theme park.

With these historic trains now saved, their attention is turning to forming an historical society in order to preserve the physical legacy of Wonderland. The driving force behind all of this is Chris Watts, a local resident and Wonderland lover. In 2004, Mr Watts started the website www. wonderlandhistory.net, after he jumped the fence into the then abandoned Wonderland site to take some photos, and wanted to share them with the world. “In 2004, there was no Facebook or Twitter or anything like that, the best way to share the photos with the world was to create a website,” Mr Watts said.

“We got more and more content from many people, and today we host over 5,000 photos, documents and videos of Wonderland. “We have thousands of followers on all forms of social media and we are the place to go for anything Wonderland related.” It was this social media push that encouraged Mr Watts to pursue helping to preserve what physical remains of Wonderland exist. “Th rough our thousands of followers, we became aware of the potential loss of the roller coaster trains and it seemed like the natural next step for us was to try and secure the physical memory of Wonderland,” he said. Story Continues Page Six

EMUS GROUNDED Union side still without a win this season PAGE 69

30/08/2013

30/08/2013

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