Paronella Park, Queensland, is now on my bucket list

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A friend gave me a brochure of a tourist attraction in Queensland called Paronella Park. The Park was the dream child of José Paronella, a Catalonian who arrived from Spain in 1913. Single-handedly and with great determination, he created a pleasure garden and reception centre on 13 acres of virgin scrub. He wanted to recreate a Spanish castle with ornamental balustrades. He created his own hydro-electric power, installed a tunnel, waterfalls and ponds, and planted 7,000 trees. A unique feature in the theatre/reception hall was a rotating mirror ball suspended from the ceiling and covered with 1270 tiny mirrors. Pink and blue spotlights shone on the ball as it revolved. They might be commonplace now but it was a real novelty back then. The facility opened in 1935 and was very popular with the locals. However, in 1946, most of the buildings and features were destroyed by flooding and it took three years to repair some, but not all, of the damage. Paronella Park is now on my bucket list of places to visit. I don’t have a photo of Paronella Park but here is one of a waterfall in Queensland. Here is the website if you’d like to know more: