The story behind Sydney’s Luna Park and its impact on the city

The story behind Sydney’s Luna Park and its impact on the city

From Conversations by ABC Australia

April 17, 2026 · 50 min

About this episode

This episode explores the history and impact of Sydney's Luna Park, featuring insights from author Helen Pitt.

Author Helen Pitt has written a history of the iconic fun park and it's a tale bound up with con men, crooked cops, and developers who have long wanted to snatch up the prime piece of waterfront real estate.Millions of people have happy memories of walking through the teeth of the gigantic face on the edge of Sydney Harbour but it wasn't the first Luna Park in Australia, that honour goes to the Melbourne version which opened a decades earlier. But the tale of Sydney's Luna Park is arguably the most dramatic and it's one of only two amusement parks in the world protected by government legislation. Helen Pitt's book is called Luna Park: the extraordinary story of the showmen, shysters and schemers who built Sydney's famous funk park is published by Allen And Unwin. This episode of Conversations explores Luna Park, amusement parks, Sydney, Sydney Harbour, history, show rides, engineering, the Great Depression, the Ghost Train fire, tragedy, historical preservation, waterfront real estate, protest, Martin Sharp, the Big Dipper, protein spills.

People in this episode

Guest: Helen Pitt

Topics covered

  • Luna Park
  • amusement parks
  • Sydney
  • history
  • waterfront real estate
  • historical preservation

Keywords

  • Luna Park
  • Sydney
  • amusement parks
  • history
  • Ghost Train fire
  • waterfront real estate
  • Great Depression

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Allen And Unwin

Books & works: Luna Park: the extraordinary story of the showmen, shysters and schemers who built Sydney's famous funk park

Places: Sydney, Melbourne, Sydney Harbour

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