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After chatting to John for a long while and reminiscing about his own history, his successes and the path that lead him to building Dreamworld, conversation naturally turned to the park’s opening day. (This article continues on from the previous article “Building The Impossible”.)
I asked if John was nervous about the opening day of Dreamworld, now dating all the way back to December, 1981. “I don’t think I could’ve been more nervous! Everything that could’ve happened, happened.” I asked if it was like Disneyland’s first day of opening, where Walt Disney had remarked that the park’s finishing touches were so fresh that even the tar on the pavements was still sticky. John nodded. “Our roads were sticky because we could [only] afford to do it a few days before opening and on a hot day that’s what happened up here in Queensland!” John continued to reminisce about how the other opening day attractions faired in the heat. “We had a steam train running around and some of the tracks were a little bit slippery still (or too steep) and the poor thing couldn’t get up the hill and he had to drop back! All sorts of things [like that happened.] We had the paddle boat that ran aground a few times – there are lots of little things that we just hadn’t had time to run to make sure everything was perfect. Also, when you get a lot of people on a paddle boat or on a train – it’s different altogether to just running it around [with a light load], but you know, as far as I’m concerned it was just all wonderful. It was really exciting. The best time of my life, and it was a big day for me but I never, never thought that it wouldn’t work. At school I was a little idiot and I remember thinking about those teachers and visualising them – I thought “I wish you could be here!”
“…Our roads were sticky because we could [only] afford to do it a few days before opening…”
Premiers & Premieres
To help open Dreamworld, Queensland’s premier at the time, Sir Joe Bjelke-Petersen was on hand to officially commence opening procedures. “I can remember the helicopter landing and Joh got out and walked up to the entryway. He was introduced to me (I had met him before but he was really introduced to me). Also, Lady Flo (Joh’s wife) was with him and I had a golf buggy there. Well, they got on the golf buggy with me and I’d drive them all around the park to let them look at it and so on. It was possibly one of the most exciting days of my life. I was so proud of Dreamworld and showing them what I’m doing in Queensland and how it’s going to go and so on.”




The Disney Touch (or lack thereof)
On the topic of opening day attractions, one simply can’t miss the continuing Disney connection – from the trains, to paddleboat, to the Main Street design, everything felt like a mini-Disney. However, despite what is reported by Dreamworld, John had refused help from Disney or folks from competing theme parks. I had even asked John specifically about the facades in Main Street, a lot of which are mirror clones of those in Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, but John’s answer was the same. “Never [did Disney help with design or construction.] They did send somebody out to have a look at Dreamworld though, because they had heard about our animated show. They had a show over there [The Tiki Room at Disneyland] which their analyst said had cost [Disney] about five million dollars – ours was five hundred thousand and they reckoned ours was bigger. It made me very proud.” When thinking back to Disney’s influence, John remarked, “we had glass makers & lots of little things like that. They were interesting to look at, they were good times.” John had later remarked that many of those things like the glass makers made next to no money, but were integral parts of the Dreamworld experience, a true testiment to why Disney continues to have glass-blowers, steam trains, quartets and other nostalgic touches still in their parks today.





Uncle John’s Fried Chicken
Going through more books, I noticed a few books about Roy Kroc, the mastermind behind McDonald’s. “Oh well yeah, I can tell you a little bit about it – I was going to go into the fast food business at one point!” At this point John retrieves a small polaroid of a fibreglass building model. “This was going to be Uncle John’s Hamburgers! There’s a window, which was going to have a little John up in the top there and that building was made out of fibreglass. I wanted something different that people look at it, was quite funny. When I lived in Sydney before I came up here I was thinking of doing that. I was looking for sites but it was so hard to find sites that I believed were the right places. And I had a song called Uncle John’s Fried Chicken!” John, with razor-sharp timing, was able to sing every word of the jingle he had come up with for his fast food enterprise.



“We never stopped. It was an ongoing thing that every year we would have kept continued to build and improve whatever we had.”
Growing Dreamworld
We continued to chat about the park and how it continued to evolve whilst John owned Dreamworld. “We never stopped. It was an ongoing thing that every year we would have kept continued to build and improve whatever we had.” After the park first opened, John had added Village Green, a quaint European-style town, Blue Lagoon, an elaborately themed waterpark and Gold Rush Country, home to Eureka Mountain Mine Ride and the now infamous Thunder River Rapids Ride, all of which have since been closed and demolished. “With Gold Rush Country, that was a massive earthmoving project and it was a quite a large area in itself with the River Rapids. The park was open and it was great and you thought, okay, what’s next? I had so many ideas to make that place so fantastic. One of the best rides at theme parks in my opinion are dark rides because people don’t know where they’re going and what they’re doing and you can do so much with the senses of a person. With the lighting you can make them appear to roll over or go up and down, faster or slower. With lighting & sound effects, with fogging machines and all the rest, I could have made some of the most magnificent rides in my mind and that was the future of Dreamworld that didn’t happen.”

Why sell the dream?
One of the most interesting questions to me, one that I wanted to ask John perhaps more than any other question was in fact quite a simple question – why sell Dreamworld? Why sell his dream, his pride and his joy? When I asked John, he took a long pause this time before he began, as if to refocus himself away from his life’s passion and back to his family.“…I don’t think it’s fair for two or three to come and do what dad did, while the other two go and do their own thing. I thought that it was better that they all go and do their own thing.”
“Dreamworld came out of my head, and it was for me. I had five children and I wasn’t expecting them all to come up [to Dreamworld]. The ideas didn’t come from people that worked for me, they came out of my head – I would give instructions to the people that worked for me, how I wanted things done and that’s the way it had to be. So I trusted myself in what I was doing. I was a little bit scared to leave it to my family to have to come up with new ideas and make sure things were done. The other thing was that I wanted my children to have their own challenge and do whatever they would like to do, not what their dad did, just because I liked theme parks and just because I wanted to do certain things. That’s what life’s about, you’ve got your own challenges that makes life exciting and interesting. If you’re just going to go along with what dad did, that can be okay, but if you’ve got four or five kids, they don’t want to all do the same thing, I don’t think it’s fair for two or three to come and do what dad did, while the other two go and do their own thing. I thought that it was better that they all go and do their own thing.” As John continued, he noted his own beginnings to me, fetching out a pair of old steel leg braces that he wore as a child. “I always was the stupid kid from school who was never going to get anywhere. I just did my own thing, and I wanted my kids to do their own thing, Tony did that with his car racing and he’s running the boat works up there now, doing an excellent job. He’s a good little manager. Both Tony & Rodney – they helped me, I don’t know how I would’ve done Dreamworld without them. Because I would tell them what I wanted and I had all the architects and draftsmen there. And we would utilize him and he would push them and make sure it was done. And sure, I had a few rows with things, but eventually they understood if I wanted something a certain way, that was the way you did it. And I couldn’t have been happier with that. I would always think that anyone that has children, don’t necessarily push them in what you think they should do, but let them do whatever they decide themselves – their own thing. Be proud of whatever [they do], remember that they can do it if they want to do it. You think how many people, especially young people who are lost, and can’t get a job. They don’t know what they’re going to do and and how can they ever get a house – it’s so expensive! Well go buy scrap timber or something and build the damn thing! Work a weekend or do something to find a way to do it. Don’t say I can’t, you know, cross off the “t” and say I can – I’m going to find a way to do this thing to help myself make a better life, if it’s meant to be, it’s up to me.”The dreams they are a changin’
In a subsequent chat with John after our first interview, we had spoken further about selling the park to Bruce Jenkins and his company, Dreamco, back in 1989. John at this point was already overflowing with ideas for the future, mentioning concepts to bring tigers to Australia in an environment similar to Busch Gardens’ exhibit. “We went to a park in Florida by one of the big breweries and they had Tigers! And I said, I’ve got to compete with dolphins and I think the Tigers can do it! And so that’s what I went there for and it was my intention to have them, but I came back and I just couldn’t get them.” John also had plans for building a resort in part where the offices and entrance to WhiteWater World stand today, topped with a giant lake and yacht right out the front in hopes of dazzling highway drivers on their commute past. John had also detailed visions for world-class semi-submiserible dark ride attractions (much like Finding Nemo at Disneyland) for potential hotels and resorts up north, but sadly these never eventuated. Bruce shared John’s passion for many of these concepts and had promised to continue John’s legacy, which was largely in part what helped John to feel at ease with the sale of Dreamworld at a time when business was booming. Much like Walt Disney’s opening day remarks about Disneyland never being complete, John Longhurst also quipped many times over that he hoped that “Dreamworld will never be completed during my life, and I hope beyond it.” John felt Bruce was the right man to continue that vision. Sadly, Bruce’s promise was short lived, swapping grandiose ideas for what had become Australia’s #1 tourist destination for flashy cars and even flashier homes, and within months, Ernst & Young were appointed by the mortgagee of Jenkin’s Dreamco, IOOF Friendly Society, to undo his mess.



Regrets, and the future
John had recently sold his share in a giant local shopping centre (Logan Hyperdome) for nearly $350 million in part it would seem, out of frustration, mentioning that despite his best intentions for the centre and it’s shops, people refused his support and ideas for success. John went as far to even design a new theme park at the shopping centre’s door-step and restart his passion for theme parks, but John grew frustrated and tired of being a land-lord and opted instead for a more tranquil lifestyle more akin to his age, spending more time with his much cherished grandkids.



Finality
The last time I spoke to John was a few weeks before he passed. He was, as always, incredibly cheerful as I would sit with him for hours at a time and attempt to help him unearth memories that had faded greatly over time. At one point his assistant Tony (more over best mate and confidante) helped us find a box of treasures, including an opening day bottle of port and a business card, which was offered to me as a souvenir. I continue to cherish it to this day. We also uncovered what appeared to be a stack of John’s flight trip receipts from the 70’s, with a few receipts documenting flights to and from Hawaii. Were these the flights where Dreamworld became reality? We may never know. Towards the end of the last time we spent together, I asked him about some future career ideas. I wanted to do an MBA but was on the fence. John’s advice, as always, was simple and clear. “If you believe in something, you should just do it. Simple as that.” I left John that day in a bit of a hurry – we had already gone over a few hours, getting lost in a sea of nostalgia, and I had left some friends hanging in the process. Having said that, had I known it was our last time together, I would’ve cherished our time all the more, and perhaps would’ve been brave enough to finally get a photo together. The fact that I didn’t is a stark reminder to cherish the moments we all have together. Fair to say that photo or no photo, the time I was able to spend with John will be cherished forever. It’s a few years later now. I’ve completed the MBA and I’m looking towards the future. What will be my Dreamworld? And what will be my origin story? Only time will tell.


