Nothing rough about royally loved Big Pineapple as the icon turns 50
The Big Pineapple began as an agricultural showpiece, designed to display the fruits and other produce that flourished in the tropics â€" but it grew into something entirely different.
Key points:ABC News
)At its peak, the Pineapple, which opened 50 years ago tomorrow as Sunshine Plantation, developed such pulling power it became a destination for royalty.
Patsy Flint, 92, was at the official opening and there again more than 10 years later when Prince Charles and Princess Diana came to visit in 1983.
The royal pair famously hopped aboard the rumbling green and yellow carriages that shuttled visitors around the park on an 11-minute round-trip.
"They spoke to everybody, all the workers, which was so lovely for all the people here," Ms Flint said.
Trevor Loats drove the train that day, and had to make sure their visit didn't go off the rails.
"I've got my special photo that I carry with myself, Charles and Di on the train platform together," he said.
"A lot of people say I keep bragging â€" my wife keeps saying, 'Will you stop showing people that photo'."
Supplied: Trevor Loats
)But beyond the brush with royalty, what both Ms Flint and Mr Loats remember most about the tourist attraction is the huge number of excited visitors descending on the Pineapple and its surrounds.
Mr Loats describes watching 52 buses filled with visitors pulling up in a single day after he started in 1982.
"You just basically went flat out all day," he said.
At its peak in the 1980s, about one million people would visit a year â€" enough to match the visitor numbers of Dreamworld on the Gold Coast even now.
Mr Loats said much of the appeal to visitors, both local and from abroad, was the pineapple farm that spanned the grounds.
ABC News: Owen Jacques
)"They would climb up the top of the Big Pineapple and look over the whole farm from there," he said.
"I grew up in a southern state so I didn't have pineapples growing at my doorstep.
"People had no idea how a pineapple grew â€" in a tree, or underground? No, just on top of the ground."
Can't keep a good pineapple downDecades after its hey-day, the Big Pineapple went into receivership in 2009, closed in 2010 and the famous Nutmobile was sold off and moved to the macadamia-growing town of Bauple, north of Gympie.
But just as pineapple plants can die back then produce another generation, the Big Pineapple returned after being purchased by a consortium in 2011.
It's now been home to the Big Pineapple Music Festival since 2013.
Supplied: Charlie Hardy
)The festival was one of the few to go ahead in 2021, as much of the country bounced in and out of lockdowns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The property has also grown to include a high-ropes and zipline course, and the relocation of the Alma Park Zoo, which has been recreated as Wildlife HQ.
On top of that, it's home to a yoghurt producer and the Diablo Ginger Beer Distillery.
Carriage fit for a princessIt was distillery owner Dimitris Limnatitis's love of Princess Diana and local history that led to a crucial piece of Big Pineapple memorabilia being unearthed ahead of its 50th anniversary.
ABC News: Owen Jacques
)After watching a documentary on the princess, which featured a snippet of her 1983 visit to the site and her trip on Mr Loats' train, Mr Limnatitis suspected the royal carriage had to be on the grounds somewhere.
After a bit of sleuthing, he found it, under cover but long forgotten and surrounded by bush.
"I didn't realise it was a particular [carriage] until I actually found the plaque," he said.
"When I read the plaque, it seriously gave me goosebumps â€" it still does."
ABC News: Owen Jacques
)The carriage has been cleaned up, the plaque polished, and it now sits proudly on display.
"The Big Pineapple is an historical place â€" not just for the Sunshine Coast or for Queensland, but the whole country and the whole world knows about the Big Pineapple," Mr Limnatitis said.
"I don't think I've met a person in this country that hasn't been to the Big Pineapple, and everyone's got a memory to tell."
The Big Pineapple will mark its 50th anniversary on Sunday with a country music event on the grounds.
0 Response to "Nothing rough about royally loved Big Pineapple as the icon turns 50"
Post a Comment