Sunday, July 1, 2012

White City


At the bottom of Cambridge street you can see the back of the White City tennis complex.  Tennis has been played here since 1922.  Before the NSW Lawn Tennis Association moved in there was an altogether different White City here.  An amusement park.  Apparently "White City" was a style of amusement park common throughout the US, UK and Australia at the turn of the 20th century.  The enterprising chaps at the NSWLTA figured the park had done enough advertising so they kept the name when they took out the roller coaster and put the courts in.

The National Library of Australia has a pretty good digital collection of White City postcards from the time (link here), a selection of which I have posted above and below.  The scenic railway shots show some houses in the background but to my eye they aren't detailed enough to make out the corresponding streets. 

White City ran from 1913 to 1917 when the site was wrecked by a freak storm.  It had canals, a lake, fountains, a Japanese village, roller-skating, rides, high-wire artists, brass bands and side show.  Apparently the original White City carousel is now at Melbourne's Luna Park.

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