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A look at Atlantis Marine Park

...19 years after it closed

I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty sure that I went to Atlantis Marine Park as a kid – as did many people who grew up in Perth in the 80's. There are a few photos still floating around of what the park looked like when it was still in its prime. But its prime was almost two decades ago.

Now, at the end of 2009, the park is an almost empty block of land. There are few remains of the original park. The biggest and most iconic remanent is the statue of King Neptune (though in some places it is referred to as a statue of Poseidon).

I went for a wander through the land there the other day. The place is technically private land (it is still owned by Tokyu Corporation of Japan) though it is unlikely that anyone from the company has set foot in the park in the last fifteen years.

Update: Actually, the Tokyu Corporation still maintains an interest in the area. As recently as 1998, they paid for the construction of BreakWater Drive, which connects Two Rocks to Wanneroo Road. (Source, page 15 - pdf)

Most of the gates are wide open and the fences have many holes in them.

It is quite interesting to walk around the place. There is almost nothing there now to show what it once was. There was a large theme park, lots of tanks for the animals (of which there were many). You can get a rough idea of what was there from this pamphlet:

Apart from the King Neptune statue, the most iconic image of the park is the intricate Dolphin Statue that used to stand next to the main entrance:

I originally wanted to get a photo of the statue from the same angle, but there are trees and bushes in the way. The statue is now more isolated as the sign and wall that were behind them is now gone.

It is a totally different experience to walking around other abandoned places such as the old Carine Tafe in Perth. Because the park is out in the open, plants have taken over almost all of the remaining structures.

Of note, many of the plants in the area are exotic tropical plants that have no real business growing on the Western Autsralian coastline. There is a dense proliferation of tropical plants that have survived on the marine park land which aren't found outside the fences.

Not that there were many structures to begin with. Looking at some of the old photos, it's pretty clear that other than the main pools, a few small buildings and the spectator stands, most of the land was flat and open.

The most interesting building is also the one that is not mentioned anywhere. In the above photo you can see a white domed building in the background. This is the only known photo of that building and its function is not written anywhere. If you know what it was, feel free to drop me a line.

However, the other building in the background (the one that looks like a star) is still there:

I don't know what it was for originally, but after the park closed, the Two Rocks Sea Rescue took it over and moved it. In the old photo it is near the wading pools, but it is now nearer the coast.

It seems to have been converted over to a small office, although it too is now abandoned.

The building is quite dilapidated and next to a publicly accessible area that is used for parking vehicles with long trailers (next to the marina). The third building in the old photo above (the brick one) has been totally removed, not even the foundations remain.

I wasn't able to find many photos of the park from when it was open. Other than King Neptune, most of the remaining elements don't show up in the old photos, or there aren't any photos of what is there now from when it was all still shiny and new.

There's lots of little things to show that something substantial was once there.

These cables are jutting out of a wall in the middle of nowhere. Clearly there was something here before. One has to wonder how many ducts, pipes and other assorted debris is buried under the ground.

The two main structures that remain are the large water processing tank:

And of course the Neptune statue. Incidentally, Neptune is hollow: I used to think that it was solid sandstone / limestone and that was why it wasn't removed. Turns out I was wrong.

It is quite obvious that many of the locals (presumably the youth, with little else for them to do in the area) use the park in various ways. There are plenty of discarded food containers and smashed bottles plus signs of camping.

In the background of the above photo you can see cars in an area next to the marina. As you can see, large sections of the fence are missing, so going in and out of the park is not an issue. Presumably if the owners wanted to keep people out, they would keep up the maintenance on the fences.

There was this one sign that one would like to think is from when the park was originally open, but since it is near one of the roads, it was probably thrown there by someone after the park closed.

There are also some strange elements that I couldn't work out what they were for. For example, I found this tunnel:

What isn't obvious from this image is that the tunnel is only about four feet high. It is quite small with a steep staircase at the end. It is at the end of a path and was obviously meant to be used by the public rather than being a service area. My conclusion is that it was part of the "kids area" due to the size, but the steepness of the stairs at the end seem to suggest that it was something else.

There's a few other remains of what was once there.

The above paving is near the original main entrance. It appears that heavy vehicles drove over it after the park closed (demolition equipment?) and some effort was made to move the loose pavers off to one side, though it was only a half hearted job.

It isn't very clear but in the last photo there, the rock formation and waterfall are all artificial. There are several places where the stonework is broken and the steel reinforcement is sticking out. Also, the waterfall was turned off long ago.

There is still plenty of life in the park:

However, other than a few stairs:

...there is almost nothing to suggest just how many people once went to the park. For those that are wondering, at the top of the middle flight of steps is a flat area with a flagpole. This would be Area 9 "Celebrity Rock" on the pamphlet.

There are a number of statues still scattered throughout the park. Many of these (including the Neptune Statue) were made by a man named Marc Le Buse (deceased).

I dubbed the above statue the "Charlie Chaplin statue" for no particular reason. I have no idea who or what it was originally meant to be.

I received an email from Darren who informs me that Marc Le Buse was a Canadian, and that there used to be a large carved clock near the Neptune statue which had celebrities for the numbers. Darren wrote in his message:

Having looked back over some of the photos that I took, one of the photos is of a plaque near the shopping centre statues which clearly says "the statues were made by Marc Le Buse" (actually, the plaque is written in all capitals which is why I didn't make the connection before this).

I did find one other statue, hidden in a corner of the park which although it is inside the park grounds, it does not look like it belongs there:

It seems to be more Balinese in nature and seems to be carved in a different style than the other statues. It has been there for some time and is not as well known as the others as it is hidden behind a group of trees. As you can see from the background, it is right next to some of the shops next to the park.

There are many paths still intact. Many of them (now) start nowhere and end nowhere, but if you look at an aerial photo you can probably work out where most the pools and concession stands were. (Note to self: add an arial photo with markers showing what is where!)

Interestingly, there are still many wooden structures around, though mainly the smaller ones. There were at least two bridges that I found which don't cross anything, at least not anymore.

Presumably there was a small water course or other feature there originally. I did find one of the old “jetties” for lack of a better term where the visitors who hired the small ride-on boats would launch and land.

Actually, looking at some of the old photos and looking at what is there now, it seems that the main pool has either gotten bigger or has been removed.

Update: Comparing these photos with information that has been sent to me after this article was originally written, I think that the lower photo shows the edging around the Pedal Cat rides (Area 15 on the pamphlet). It is too big to have been one of the animal tanks, but the pamphlet makes it look smaller. Presumably it is not a scale map.

This photo shows a bit clearer what was where:

It looks like what I thought was the main pool was actually a boat lake with some small boats that visitors could ride on.

I wasn't able to conclusively determine where the main performance pool was. When I went there, I was still going on the assumption that the pools were the same size as some of the pools at places like Sea World on the Gold Coast. Looking now at the old photos, it is clear that I was looking for the wrong thing. Atlantis Marine Park only had a handful of dolphins and a few sea lions. No orcas or other large animals.

Update: Apparantly one of the sealions was named "Popeye" and was used in several promotional posters. One was in a "wanted" theme and the theme changed from year to year. Note that the image above is not "Popeye", it's one of the leopard seals (name unknown). Popeye was apparantly a New Zealand fur seal. (Correction provided by Damion)

I had heard a rumour a while back that the new shopping center was built over the top of the old tanks and that they were among the few buildings in Perth that had basements, but I didn't see any evidence of that when I was there. The shopping centre does have multiple levels with lots of stairways, but it was built at the same time as the park.

The shops are built in the same style as how the park was. Parts of the marina certainly look like they have been there since the park was open. The only exception is if one stands on the roadway running along the western edge of the park with the marina behind you and look up at the large retaining wall, there is a very distinct colouration difference where the shopping centre and park site meet. This could lead people to think that they were built at different times, but the two were built at the same time.

The only explanation that I can think of for the distinct colour change is that the shopping centre half has received care and maintenance (cleaning) since the park closed whilst the rest has not, giving the shop side a cleaner "new" look.

There are a number of stone heads and statues between the two which look fairly old. These might be from the old park or they might be more recent.

I received an email from Brad who informs me that the clock had a feature whereby as each hour was struck, a recorded message played giving a short biography for the person who was depicted on that hour. He distinctly remembers that Walt Disney was the head in the 6 o'clock position as he really wanted to hear the biography at the time. However, he says that now that he is older, he assumes that there would not have been a message recorded for times when the park wouldn't be open (such as 6am and 6pm).

You can stand next to the heads and see Neptune. Indeed, the two are practically a stones throw from each other.

There are other statues closer to the shops that are as old as the park. There are a number of Aboriginal-themed statues (not pictured) which were also made by Marc for Telethon. The most famous (and most photographed) would have to be the wooden Waugal statue.

It is built like a Wyvern and looks really old due to it's being made of wood and being near the coast - it is very weather beaten. It is, however, not a part of the old Atlantis Marine Park materials. Also, the Waugal is normally the Rainbow Serpent which isn't described as having wings anywhere else.

Presumably, these statues where put into place as a bit of a "primer" before entering the park proper. Or if I want to be cynical, to attract kids over to the shops to buy ice cream and such. Of the other statues in the park next to the shops, the most interesting is one that appears to be of Icarus, from Greek Mythology.

There was once a placard of some type on the statue, but it was long gone when I was there. It is clear that a skilled artist made it, but there is no indication who made it, where it came from or why it is in a small park next to the Two Rocks shopping center. It might also be a Le Buse statue, but to my eye it seems to have been made in a different style. It might have been put here in "statue park" after the heads were dumped there.

So other than a few small statues hiding in the bushland, little remains of Atlantis.

Just King Neptune, eternally looking out to sea.

This is the view that Neptune sees. Since this is the west coast, he gets to see some kick-ass sunsets!

I hope you enjoyed reading this article. I have certainly received more emails about Atlantis than anything else on my site. If you have any information to share or corrections for any mistakes I have made, feel free to drop me a line and let me know.

Sources:
Kelly Waples Ph. D. Paper on Atlantis Water Park dolphin's rehabilitation
Leopard Seal photo: ZooChat History
Atlantis Photos from 1982: State Library of Western Australia Records
Dolphin jump person photo: Virtual Tourist Member Pages
How Neptune used to look: Virtual Tourist Member page
Abandoned Perth buildings: Carine Tafe - left standing after being abandoned.

There is also a FaceBook group which has a number of photos (some of these are on there as well) from when the park was open and is worth a look if this article interested you. I think it links back to this article as well.

Last updated: July 2010