From roaring ’20s fun fair to modern-day community centre: The evolution of Sydney’s White City
The White City Amusement Park operated for just four years, from 1913–17. It was built by T. H. Eslick, an eccentric Englishman with an impressive (and possibly exaggerated) portfolio of amusement parks and ballrooms worldwide. He helped design Melbourne’s Luna Park and built a second White City Amusement Park in Perth, which operated until 1929.
Sydney’s White City was a roaring success, drawing tens of thousands of visitors each day in summer (the only time of year it was open).
Its attractions included a scenic railway (rollercoaster), Ferris wheel, shoot-the-chute and carousel, as well as promenade concerts, carnival games and sideshows.
The park was visually striking – think tall white buildings strung with fairy lights and immersive scenery such as mountains, lakes and fountains.
Contemporary newspapers published glowing editorials about the park and its amusements.
“The merry go round, the captive flying machines, the crystal tangle and a hundred side-shows, from hoopla to the assassination of the Kaiser with a cricket ball, provided infinite amusement,” reported The Farmer & Settler on 15 December 1914.
The park also hosted masquerade balls and fancy-dress carnivals.
Entertainers including aerial trapeze artists and tightrope walkers were hired. One was fire diver Marie Thelin, who thrilled audiences by setting her clothes alight and jumping 20m below into a tank of water.
The Tweed Daily described the act on 10 January 1914: “The huge crowd was hushed as the intrepid girl made her leap, and swept like a flaming comet from the sky into the tank below.”
But the act didn’t always go as planned; less than two weeks later, The Bathurst Times reported Marie Thelin “narrowly escaped death last night” after “her costume ignited before she was ready”, prompting her to hit the water heavily and become unconscious.
White City Limited went into voluntary liquidation in December 1917 after a lightning strike caused a fire that spread quickly and destroyed its timber buildings. Eslick appears to have parted on bad terms with the company’s shareholders: on 23 December he took out an advertisement in The Sun to promote his upcoming New Year’s Eve Fancy Dress Carnival – and refute “exaggerated” rumours about his character.
He confirmed he wasn’t dead, bankrupt or in jail, and he certainly hadn’t “cleared to America with the White City’s takings”. Eslick concluded: “The White City story’s just silly – they wouldn’t let me get near the takings…I’m not in gaol, but if I ever get there I’ll cheer the boys up a bit inside.”
After White City Limited went into liquidation the site was considered for a housing scheme, but in October 1920 it was bought by the NSW Lawn Tennis Association (now Tennis NSW) for £13,600 (about $1.16 million today). The tennis venue was built in 1922 and went on to become NSW’s premier tennis arena. For almost 80 years, the open-air tennis centre hosted prestigious tournaments including the Davis Cup, Australian Open, and NSW Amateur and Open championships.
When Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre opened for the 2000 Summer Olympics, Tennis NSW relocated to Homebush, and White City’s historical grandstands and tennis courts soon fell into disrepair. Throughout the 2000s, the Woollahra Council rejected development applications for the site, recognising its heritage value. In 2010 it was bought by the Hakoah Club, which has since demolished its main grandstand and clubhouse to build a modern gym and tennis venue.
