Remembering Magic Mountain - Gold Coast, QLD

Magic Mountain mid 80s.

Magic Mountain Pretty Jesus · Song · 2023

1984 Magic Mountain....Courtesy Janet Morgan.

Magic Mountain, Gold Coast Highway, Nobby Beach.
Today we are on the corner of the Gold Coast Highway and Chairlift Avenue looking at the former Magic Mountain amusement park.

The site was acquired in 1961 by Page Newman who was approved for the development of a tourist attraction by the Gold Coast City Council which would be perched on top of Nobby’s Bluff.
Over the following year the Gold Coast’s first tourist attraction to focus on amusement rides was constructed, from the South Coast Highway to the top of Nobby’s Bluff where there were uninterrupted 360 degree views of the Gold Coast.
At the summit a lookout and cafeteria were also built.
For those not wishing to take the Chair Lift up or down, a tramway was also provided.
The attraction opened in July 1962 and in the first weekend of operation almost 2,000 people had been transported on the Chair Lift.
However a year later the number of guests transported by the attraction was well over 40,000.

In February 1976 the site was purchased by Mr. George Carrett who proceeded to make improvements, such as a mock medieval castle erected on the summit and remodelling the entrance building fronting the Gold Coast Highway to resemble a medieval castle.
Mr. Carrett was joined by friend, Mr. Arthur Coghlan, who performed magic shows inside the castle at the summit.
He is the one who suggested to Mr. Carrett to rename the attraction Magic Mountain.
After the first year of performing the magic act the castle proved to be too small for the volume of spectators coming through the gates, so a 500 seat theatre was erected half way up the mountain.
Another attraction added soon after was a dry slide, which was perched near the base of the hill and finished near the entrance building.
One attraction added in 1979 appears to have been l a double water slide attraction called “The Big Wet”.

In 1982 Mr. George Carrett sold Magic Mountain and in 1983 the new owners had invested $13.6 million upgrading the Magic Mountain amusement park.
This redevelopment was designed by Lark Company Pty. Ltd. from the United States, which included attractions such as a Parachute Drop Tower, a 40 metre high Wave Sw***er ride, waterslides and an enlarged theatre to accomodate growing audiences.
Other attractions included Flickers (old black and white silent movies), a Carousel, Giant Cargo Nets, Jumping Castle, Ball Pit, Splashdown (water park), Train, Tram Ride, Double Decker Carousel, Dodgem Cars and Chair O Planes.
At the time Magic Mountain was stated to have been one of the largest adventure playgrounds in the Southern Hemisphere.

In 1985 owner ASC Property Trust placed Magic Mountain on the market, stating that it was not making the returns they had expected from this investment.
It was believed that it would sell for $10 million, however they only received offers of between $4 million to $6 million.
The park then sold in November 1985 to Dewrang Pty. Ltd. for $6.2 million.
The new owner announced that they were planning a major overhaul of the park attractions, with hopes to revamp some while adding others.
By 1986 the park doesn’t appear to have been open every day, with their trading hours being listed as being Sunday though to Thursday only, while admission was just $8.
Sadly the Magic Mountain amusement park ended up closing down in 1987.
At this time the newly abandoned Magic Mountain reportedly was used as a filming location for the remake television series Mission Impossible in 1989 in an episode titled “The Hunting”.
At this stage the Chair Lift was removed and relocated to nearby Dreamworld where it opened on November 30th 1989.
It remained in operation until March 15th 2005 when it closed and was eventually removed.
Meanwhile the Parachute Drop Tower was sold to Australia’s Wonderland in Sydney and opened in 1991 as Skyhawk, which it remained until the park’s closure in 2002, then was sold in 2005 to the Fly Coaster park on the Gold Coast.

Attempts were made to redevelop it into a resort, however it sat abandoned and was ravaged by vandals.
In 1989 site owner Laureate Pty. Ltd. had secured a buyer for the property for $18.5 million, which was conditional to approval for a development and evidently fell through.
In October 1990 an auction was held to try to find a buyer for the site, with this being the second attempt to sell it this year.
Sadly the property was passed in with a maximum bid of $13.1 million achieved.
The site owner, Laureate Australia Pty. Ltd., had offered the site with two sets of plans for its redevelopment, which included approved plans for a 316 room hotel and 122 apartments.
This proposal was known as The Akropolis, which was a Mediterranean style hotel and villa project.
The headland at Nobby Beach was one of six along the Gold Coast coastline and the only one available for development.

The site was then cleared in 1991 and and reportedly a portion of the castle made its way to another Gold Coast attraction.
This being the castle’s turrets, which were mounted onto the Dracula’s Cabaret restaurant building and remained there until 2015 when they were removed.
This Magic Mountain site was then subdivided in 1993 and offered for sale as two separate lots.
The lower 4,129 square metre parcel of land was auctioned off in October 1993, but was passed it with a maximum bid of $925,000.
It then sold in November 1993 for $1.35 million to developer Raptis, who planned the Santorini by the Sea development.
In February 1994 it was announced that Sydney based Water Corp had acquired a 1.45 hectare portion for between $5.5 million and $6 million.
They planned to construct an apartment complex with somewhere between 150 to 160 units, which had an expected end value of more than $40 million.
Fast forward to May 1997 Walker Corporation’s development of the site was complete, with the resort apartments being managed by Quest Accomodation Group.
The road constructed leading up to this complex was named Great Hall Drive.
Just two years later in 1999 the management rights were sold for $1.35 million, then again in 2000 for $1.8 million and again in March 2002 for over $2 million.

In February 2003 a drug lab was found in the bathroom of one of the Magic Mountain apartments.
A 28 year old man and a 30 year old man were charged with possession of dangerous drugs, producing a dangerous drug and other offences.
Fast forward to April 2015 Queensland Police Force’s Task Force Maxima executed a search on a property in Great Hall Drive where they found a large quantity of dangerous drugs (steroids).
Then in May 2015 it was reported that the Magic Mountain Apartment complex had recently had its facade repainted, which was a task undertaken by the firm Usher and Son.
More recently in May 2023 it was reported that construction was about to commence on stage three of the Gold Coast Light Rail project, which would extend the tram terminus from Broadbeach along the Gold Coast Highway to Burleigh Heads.
Work would commenced in July 2023 on this 6.7km section and cost $1.2 billion, which will feature a station in Nobby Beach opposite the Santorini complex.
**These articles are researched and compiled by myself John Prpic, which is unpaid and done in my spare time around my employment. Any brands or business depicted in my postings are purely coincidental and are done without remuneration. The information supplied in my articles are sourced from a variety of locations, such as newspaper archives, State Heritage Register, Council Heritage Registers, current newspaper articles, QImagery, word of mouth and many more locations.
(Taken: 1980s/2023)
(Source: Curtis Murray/John Prpic)
(Please Like👍🏻 & Support)