Wobbies World
{{Short description|Amusement park in Melbourne, Australia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2012}}
{{Infobox amusement park
| name = Wobbies World
| image = File:Wobbies World Helicopter 1994.jpg
| location = 469 Springvale Road Vermont South, Victoria, Australia
| opening_date = Circa 1980
| closing_date = 1999
| season = All year round
| area = Melbourne, East
| rides =
| coasters =
| owner = Robin Laurie
| slogan =
| homepage =
| coordinates = {{coord|-37.845824|145.174176|type:landmark_region:AU-VIC|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
}}
Image:Wobbies World Fire Truck.jpg
Image:Wobbies World Helicopter Monorail and Airplane.jpg monorail and the Vickers Viscount propeller plane]]
File:Wobbies-world-helicopter.jpg
Wobbies World was an amusement park which operated from about 1980 to the late 1990s in the Melbourne suburb of Nunawading,{{Citation|title=WOBBIES WORLD - (TV COMMERCIAL) - 1988|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRsnmZLXbLc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211217/KRsnmZLXbLc |archive-date=2021-12-17 |url-status=live|language=en|access-date=2021-03-08}}{{cbignore}} Australia.
History
The park consisted of many custom-built attractions, most slow moving and aimed at very young children. The park had some characteristic modes of transport including a helicopter "Whirliebird" monorail circuit, mower motor driven 6 wheeler ATVs, a real Bell helicopter refurbished as a ground-mounted simulator, a "Splashdown" mini log ride, a mini-golf course, trampolines, a ball pit, several food and drink kiosks, a miniature train circuit, a miniature car circuit, four Melbourne W2 class trams and a large Vickers Viscount propeller plane fitted out as a movie-projector simulator. The plane now resides at the Australian National Aviation Museum, in Moorabbin, while the Bell helicopter is dismantled and currently sits in a paddock on Dandenong–Frankston Road at {{coord|-38.06579|145.20047|type:landmark_region:AU-VIC|format=dms|name=Former Wobbies World Bell helicopter}}. One of the Whirliebird helicopters now resides in the front yard of a private residence [http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Fire+Department&sll=-37.680203,145.534451&sspn=0.003125,0.008234&ie=UTF8&t=h&rq=1&ev=p&radius=0.27&split=1&hq=Fire+Department&hnear=&layer=c&cbll=-37.674027,145.531929&panoid=Cg6yGCL_AXbBj5hOfagJJA&cbp=12,32.09,,0,5.31&ll=-37.676824,145.535502&spn=0,0.065875&z=15]
= Demise =
Despite memorable television advertisements over the decades, the park slowly deteriorated in the mid to late 1990s and had closed down by 1999. Its demise has been linked to the high entrance fee for the time ($36 for a family of four in 1994) and the charging of separate fees to use some of the attractions. In 1999, Australand Holdings acquired much of the former Wobbies World amusement park site from owner Robin Laurie and developed the Saxonwood estate, which comprises 32 townhouses and a three-level apartment building with 12 flats.{{Cite news |last=Gurvich |first=Victoria |date=14 January 2001 |title=Discovering the new world of Saxon Wood |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/367229527/155B03A8D8FA4259PQ/11?accountid=13905&sourcetype=Newspapers |work=Sunday Age |pages=2}}{{Cite book |title=Agreement under Section 173 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987, Whitehorse City Council & Australand Holdings Pty Ltd (X886139W) |date=4 July 2001 |publisher=Land Titles Office}} Prior to the establishment of Wobbies World in the early 1980s, the 20-acre orchard had belonged to the Tainton family.{{Cite book |title=Strathdon Nunawading Historic Orchard Conservation Analysis |date=September 1992}}
A plant nursery and the Saxon Wood town house estate occupied the Springvale Road site, but the entrance gate (without road), concrete castle, bridges, a train station, the Birthday Room and the miniature golf course from the former amusement park still remained within the nursery. In September 2012, the state government announced that a new Forest Hill police station was to be built on the site.{{cite web|title=Site announced for Forest Hill police station|url=http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/4874-site-announced-for-forest-hill-police-station.html|work=Media release|publisher=Premier of Victoria|accessdate=2012-10-02}} The plant nursery had now closed. The site is now the location of the new Forest Hill Police Station.https://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/east/march-2015-opening-for-police-station-at-former-wobbies-world-site/news-story/7dab3aa9a6c32c7fcb07a3e23017f0df The park was almost certainly being satirised by the Melbourne-based TV sketch comedy show The Late Show, in recurring sketches entitled Pissweak World, consisting of fictional low-budget TV commercials for various amusement parks under the Pissweak brand, which had a variety of disappointing rides and unimpressed patrons. The style of the satirical advertisements was reminiscent of the Wobbies World TV commercial, which did not have sophisticated production values.{{Cite web |date=19 July 2022 |title=Pissweak World {{!}} The Late Show 30th Anniversary |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75O1ctUfR0I |website=Youtube}}